My employer runs one of the new Ford 75E17 (Cargo) trucks as a hire vehicle.
Recently a slipping clutch was replaced under warranty. The Main dealer said that pulling away in 2nd or 3rd gear had caused the problem and that a clutch modification was a 'pull away in first gear' sticker in the cab. A couple of days ago the same truck was back at the dealer for an engine fault. The computer readout showed that since the new clutch had been fitted, the truck had been moved from stationary in a gear other than 1st or reverse 255 times. The workshop foreman told me that under the new warranty guidelines this would be classed as 'abuse' - warranty void.
Is this something to come on cars, or is it already here ?
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Blimey, my Toyota is quie often reluctant to select 1st gear, so I just pull away in 2nd. No prob, as it's a 190BHP T-sport, but if the clutch does croak early I wouldn't want a 'void' warning!
What next?
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sounds like you should be taking your Toyota back under warranty to have first gear selection investigated. By pulling away in second regularly you are treating a symptom and not curing the disease. The clutch is almost certain to wear out prematurely - there's no certainty that the "sporty" engine has a beefed up clutch.
Try putting the car into neutral and release the clutch fully when at a standstill, rather than trying to go straight to first from the last used gear. This way the layshaft gears are given a chance to come to a standstill which should help selection of first.
Ford are quite right to monitor abuse. Those who abuse cars and expect the manufacturer to pick up the tab are pushing up the price of all cars so the costs can be covered. This hits the majority of us hard in the wallet and simply isn't fair.
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superb posting by cyclone cyd
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Steve - I'm stunned that the electronics check such things.
The implications are massive.....
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Thanks for the tip, Cyd. More often than not selecting 2nd gear first helps to get it right, and the temptation is just to pull away using second.
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Sounds more like the clutch just aint up to the job. When I did my HGV 1 I was instructed NOT to use 1st to pull away unless well laden or on a hill. Also 'block changes' were the norm i.e. 2nd to 4th, 5th to 3rd etc. Bearing in mind the Ford 'NoGo' had a rev range of about 800 rpm with max power at about 1500 you had to be careful. I remember also how damn heavy the clutch action was. While on test waiting to pull out of a junction your thigh muscle felt like it was on fire!
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In respect to cars, the number of starts in any gear would be a very poor means of defining "abuse". You might always start up a hill in the morning, or do a lot of toing and froing with a caravan on sites, or always floor it on takeoff, or all sorts of things which would be worse than starting gently downhill in second.
How many changes will you be allowed before "abuse" of the gearbox is claimed?!
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Hmmm! Do your car manual and driving manual(s) not advise ALWAYS starting in first?
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Along the lines of this thread, if you 'chip' a car, this can show up on the diagnostics when you take the car in for a service.
In the case of my old Audi S6 (2.2) the chip did not retain the fault memory. However, the dealer was friendly about it and continued to honour warranty, but this might not always be the case... BTW Audi dealers sell 'approved' performance chips on some models.
Martin.
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I am suspicious about the number 255, which looks to me like a binary glitch. My guess is that there may be a register which counts this 'number of naughty starts in wrong gear' and can hold a maximum of 2*8 - 1 (i.e.255) occasions. Try asking the Ford experts if this is true. If so, there is a bug somewhere.
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