*Long* ... I recently purchased a 2016 Ford Transit Connect Wagon, LWB, Titanium. 2.5 i4 engine, 6f35 transmission. It's the little van (not the big transit), you see them a lot as fleet vehicles, but mine is a passenger van.
A little backstory so I can get to the point and to my questions for the experts on this forum:
I did a LOT of research on these vans before I bought one. I asked all the right questions, searched the internet, joined online forums etc... (hence my presence here now).
I did a lot of price searching and finally found one that met my needs and the features that I wanted in the van. The van was out of state but close to my parents, so my dad went and looked at it. We determined together that it was a nice vehicle. I decided to send it to a local shop near the dealership to have a pre-purchase inspection. I gave the owner of the shop a list of specific things to look for and he looked over it in detail and with a fine toothed comb, as I asked him to. I was so specific with him that he jokingly offered me a job at his shop when we were on the phone because I knew so much about these particular vans. Point is, I did everything you should do when purchasing a used car right.
All checked out, I drove down (about 400 miles) to get the van. This was Nov. 14th.
I really loved the van. I've been driving it pretty frequently, daily driving and a few longer trips for work or recreation. It's been great *until recently* [insert used car buying horror story]...
On Monday this week, I ran an errand at lunch. I got an emergency message saying the van engine was overheating. I immediately stopped the vehicle, looked under the hood. It seemed the coolant was pretty low. I let it cool, topped off the coolant, and drove to my shop immediately. I trust my shop a LOT, it's my best friends brother who owns the shop, and he's always been straight with me. They found a small leak in the water pump, which is why the coolant was leaking (apparently very slowly). They replaced the water pump, flushed the system, refilled/recharged etc... I went and picked it up. I noticed the next morning that the coolant still seemed low, got in, started it up, and sure enough, the check engine light is on again. I took it back in. They said there was air in the pressurized system (common problem). They flushed it, recharged again and I picked it up and it seemed OK.
Needless to say, it sucks to lose confidence in a new vehicle that you just bought. I've been less than happy about it, the new car joy is 100% gone. My shop gave everything a look while it was in for the second time and told me to stop worrying, it was all fixed up, and to enjoy my new van. (Side note: I have continual car repair PTSD because of my old Subaru, that's had TONS of expensive work done on it).
Amongst all this trouble, I've also had a terrible time with the dealership getting out of state paper work and taxes correct.
So I have very little time left to get it registered and needed to take it to get the emissions test done today. When I started the van this morning to head to emissions, it did have a strange idle and RPMs were fluctuating. So I took it over to emissions and the van DID NOT PASS EMISSIONS.
It's throwing typical emissions codes (oxygen sensors, EGR etc). They said because I'd recently had a repair done and the van had a check engine light on, it likely didn't pass because it needs to be driven to clear codes. That I should take it through a "drive cycle", which as far as I know, for Ford is 150 miles!!!
The check engine light is no longer on. And it's been starting up fine. except for the initial start up this morning (cold) as I was headed to the emissions place.
Sooo, for all the experts on here:
-Would you be concerned about the strange idle? Or could this just be related to the work that's been done and the codes?
-Is the need for a "drive cycle" probably the best explanation for not passing emissions, or should I be concerned about the van otherwise?
-Is the water-pump slow leak something that could have been easily missed in an inspection?
-Did I get completely screwed on this van?
-What would you do?
My only good news/consolation prize is, the dealership does a 3000 mile/3 month limited warranty which is still valid (paid for most of the water pump replacement) and the van is still technically under the Ford Powertrain for another 9,000 miles as well.
Anyway, your advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated...even if it's just to reassure me that I did not knowingly purchase a [censored] LEMON.
A little backstory so I can get to the point and to my questions for the experts on this forum:
I did a LOT of research on these vans before I bought one. I asked all the right questions, searched the internet, joined online forums etc... (hence my presence here now).
I did a lot of price searching and finally found one that met my needs and the features that I wanted in the van. The van was out of state but close to my parents, so my dad went and looked at it. We determined together that it was a nice vehicle. I decided to send it to a local shop near the dealership to have a pre-purchase inspection. I gave the owner of the shop a list of specific things to look for and he looked over it in detail and with a fine toothed comb, as I asked him to. I was so specific with him that he jokingly offered me a job at his shop when we were on the phone because I knew so much about these particular vans. Point is, I did everything you should do when purchasing a used car right.
All checked out, I drove down (about 400 miles) to get the van. This was Nov. 14th.
I really loved the van. I've been driving it pretty frequently, daily driving and a few longer trips for work or recreation. It's been great *until recently* [insert used car buying horror story]...
On Monday this week, I ran an errand at lunch. I got an emergency message saying the van engine was overheating. I immediately stopped the vehicle, looked under the hood. It seemed the coolant was pretty low. I let it cool, topped off the coolant, and drove to my shop immediately. I trust my shop a LOT, it's my best friends brother who owns the shop, and he's always been straight with me. They found a small leak in the water pump, which is why the coolant was leaking (apparently very slowly). They replaced the water pump, flushed the system, refilled/recharged etc... I went and picked it up. I noticed the next morning that the coolant still seemed low, got in, started it up, and sure enough, the check engine light is on again. I took it back in. They said there was air in the pressurized system (common problem). They flushed it, recharged again and I picked it up and it seemed OK.
Needless to say, it sucks to lose confidence in a new vehicle that you just bought. I've been less than happy about it, the new car joy is 100% gone. My shop gave everything a look while it was in for the second time and told me to stop worrying, it was all fixed up, and to enjoy my new van. (Side note: I have continual car repair PTSD because of my old Subaru, that's had TONS of expensive work done on it).
Amongst all this trouble, I've also had a terrible time with the dealership getting out of state paper work and taxes correct.


The check engine light is no longer on. And it's been starting up fine. except for the initial start up this morning (cold) as I was headed to the emissions place.
Sooo, for all the experts on here:
-Would you be concerned about the strange idle? Or could this just be related to the work that's been done and the codes?
-Is the need for a "drive cycle" probably the best explanation for not passing emissions, or should I be concerned about the van otherwise?
-Is the water-pump slow leak something that could have been easily missed in an inspection?
-Did I get completely screwed on this van?
-What would you do?
My only good news/consolation prize is, the dealership does a 3000 mile/3 month limited warranty which is still valid (paid for most of the water pump replacement) and the van is still technically under the Ford Powertrain for another 9,000 miles as well.
Anyway, your advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated...even if it's just to reassure me that I did not knowingly purchase a [censored] LEMON.
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