AlunS

Hmmm, I don't think I've ever experienced it in the situation you describe, but then I don't generally cruise very often below 1700rpm anyway, and if I am and I want to accelerate, then usually I'm wanting to overtake someone, so I'll drop a cog anyway. Like you, when in the lower gears, I'm usually accelerating reasonably "briskly" anyway, so don't notice it then, but I've occasionally experienced it when I'm forced to accellerate slowly away from traffic lights because someone in front is dawdling. My car is due for a service soon, so maybe I'll double check with the garage that I've g

Gwyn, is yours a CVT like the other two posters, or a manual like mine? And how exactly does the problem manifest itself?

Mine's an '04 1.6 TDCi and I've had one or two funny 'moments' recently ... not sure whether it's the dreaded flat spot or not. On one occasion I was stuck behind a really slow car going uphill, and was in second gear, can't remember at what revs, but probably just below the kind of revs when the turbo kicks in, or should do. An overtaking opportunity arose and I floored it to get past ... nothing at all, not a sausage. In desperation, I dropped it into first, still nothing at all, not even accelerating at the pre-turbo rate. Then, all of a sudden, whoosh, and we were away. The BMW who was

I've got them on both the driver's and the passenger's side! I can only imagine that it's to stop the seat belt latches knocking against some up-market centre console thingy that mere Zetec owners such as myself are deemed not worthy to own :) Still, there are so many other squeaks, bangs, creaks and rattles in this car I doubt you'd even notice!

I don't see why. There's nothing to wear out in the mechanisms that hold the blades, even less so for the type used in the C-Max where it's just a bendy piece of plastic that the blade slots into. For my previous car, a Nissan Primera, I never replaced the wiper for the 4 years I had it and only replaced the blade. You save (quite a lot of) money, and you're not needlessly throwing away stuff that doesn't need replacing.

It's just the blades I think. Is that a problem?

There's a German company on Ebay selling them for €11.99 a pair. www.wischergummis.de I haven't tried them but I will when mine need replacing.

It's the same on the Megane Scenic too. I hired one in England a while back and it was really easy to use even on the hills in the Yorkshire Dales. It automatically applies itself as well when you stop and take the keycard out of it's slot.

I've never found the need to wind my windows down every few miles to clear the windows. Usually, after driving for a bit they clear anyway because of airflow over them, and if you just take a minute or two before you leave in the morning to run round with a squeegee you'll have got rid of the vast majority of the condensation / drops of water anyway.

The primary purpose of the window rubbers is NOT to act as a window clearing device. Just buy a squeegee like everbody else.

Regardless of whether a bulb kit is compulsory or not, it's still a damn good idea in my opinion, and in the AA list is listed as recommended for most countries for good reason. Of course, for the C-Max you'd have to include the appropriate Torx screwdriver to be able to undo the bulb housing, plus a few band-aids for the bruised knuckles ensuing from trying to get the damn thing out :)

I was thinking the same thing. Everythings on the CanBus, so it should just be a software mod to do this. Personally I'd like to hack the code to do 4 flashes of the indicator instead of 3 when you just flick it. So, does anyyone know what processor the cluster uses? I've done a fair bit of disassembling in my time ... all legit, honest :)

SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed, i.e. the missus ... thought everyone knew that one :)

Hi Gavin, that would certainly explain it. I'll be interested to hear your experiences with this unit, as he has another one on the site now with the same initial starting bid of £150. The problem is though that I'd have to get it approved by SWMBO, though, which isn't going to be easy as I've overspent my gadget budget for this year already :)

Well that's strange, because my Ford dealer here in Ireland quoted me a part number for a CD changer to fit my C-Max when I bought mine! I haven't got the part number to hand, because I decided not to go with it, but he was certain there was one available. They could, of course, have got it wrong, which wouldn't surprise me, but then again, making a radio with a CD changer button and not making a CD changer to fit it is pretty strange too.

Yes, you can, but at the moment AFAIK you're restricted to one from Ford themselves. The manufacturers of those little interface converter gadgets that enable you to connect CD changers from other manufacturers haven't cracked the CanBus interface for the new generation Fords yet. I've emailed a few of them but to no avail.

There was a guy selling one of those on eBay recently. I had my eye on it but some one bought it a couple of days ago for the minimum bid of £150 while I wasn't looking:). Was that you by any chance?

It looks like there's an additional metal clip just where the smaller pipe joins the bigger one. Is that right? I've got a very small amount of oil around mine where the two pipes join, but nothing to worry about (yet!).

Maybe the software uses the wrong kind of gallons, i.e. U.S. gallons? :)

I had the same trouble ... just keep on wiggling it about and it will come out, honest! Your dealer is telling you lies :)

It's something that, as far as I know, can apply to any car with rear disc brakes, not just the C-Max, and I first heard of it several years ago when mainstream cars with rear disc brakes first started to be commonplace. I think there was even something on BBC's Watchdog about it. In fairness, I'd guess it would only be something that would happen if a) you'd really been frying the brakes beforehand, and b) you hadn't pulled the handbrake on with sufficient force.

Do the normal run-of-the-mill Foci have rear disc brakes? My C-Max does, and I've heard that handbrakes on cars with rear disc brakes can be less reliable because if you've been braking a lot and they're hot and expand. When you stop the discs cool down and contract and therefore the handbrake effectively loosens. I'd hazard a guess that with drum brakes the opposite would happen, i.e. they would tighten.

Just wondering, does anyone know if there is a TSB for the problem with the 1.6TDCi where there is a kind of "drumming / throbbing" noise from the engine at approx 2400rpm = approx 75mph in 5th? Someone here posted that he had had it fixed by replacing a pipe somewhere (exhaust outlet?), but my Ford dealer is feigning ignorance of the fault at the moment.

And I have a 1.6TDCi (1st quarter 2004) and it doesn't :):):) Is it a date of production related thing maybe?

That's the procedure alright, but on the C-Max, at least, it won't work unless the option is first enabled by the dealer using the WDS. So, are you saying that this will work on any 2005 "ordinary" Focus? We had one guy on the C-Max forum who had his dealer do this, but then called him up later to bring the car back to have it removed for "safety reasons" or some such rubbish.