I've been hearing an ever increasing grinding noise out of the front end, and tonight, I was able to isolate it to the lower passenger side ball joint. The rubber is pinched and the grease has spilled out. I'll be limping it to the dealership tomorrow, where they hopefully won't have to order the part. If they do, I'll be expecting a rental van. Its a bummer, but that kind of thing can happen. I'm not sure why it happened, but at least it is an easy fix.

We're up to 31k miles on the Transit. We love it! (I don't love the proprietary windshield wipers, though. I don't like being forced to buy them at the dealership, who doesn't stock them. (Edit: wipers came in, and aren't priced too badly, considering the size and unique fastener.)

 

Hi IndyFan,

Let's see what I can do to help quiet the grind. PM me your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership; I'll get this on the radar of your regional customer service manager.

Crystal

 

I'll get the VIN for you when I can. I'll PM the rest of the information to you tonight. I'm pretty confident it is the lower ball joint and that they'll take care of it. Hopefully, they won't need to order the part, but we'll see. If so, I'll have to ask for a loaner van until it is fixed. It is really hard to move 9 kids to and from school without it!

PM on its way. Thanks!

 

I sent you a reply this morning, IndyFan; thanks for reaching out!

Crystal

 

Update: The van is at the dealership and they confirmed the bad ball joint. They said they haven't seen that kind of failure before, but that the replacement ball joint is on national back order. They hope to have the part in by tomorrow or baFriday. In the mean time, they gve us a rental Transit.

I'd speculate they must have gotten a bad batch of ball joints from the supplier. While they haven't seen this before, they also haven't seen many customers' Transits with over 30k miles. My wife drives the heck out of this thing, driving our kids all over the place. Anyway, the fact that ball joint is backordered tells me something is going on with that part on larger scale. I'm sure that kind of thing happens frequently with new models, and ours was fairly early production.

The rental Transit is nice, but man, that low roof makes the rear feel confined. The mid-roof on ours feels much more spacious. The 3.7 has more than adequate power. It fells about like an Express or Econoline with a V8, but with much better mileage. It doesn't have the massive power of the Ecoboost, though. Not even close. It is also much more noisy when on the pipe. All in all, though, a very nice ride.

Our delearship has treated us really well, and with the rental, we're fine if we have to wait a bit. Also impressive is FordService who is trying to help us out, too.

I'll update if I hear anything new, or when we get the van back with the repair. (I really miss that Ecoboost. That thing is such a powerhouse, and really makes the Transit fun to drive.)

 

Them coming on board here is very impressive and quite a welcome feature of FTE. While I'll almost never have need for their intervention (I only buy gently used E-Series ) seeing how quickly they're able to resolve most issues presented is pretty much amazing.

Thanks for the update BTW!

 

Thanks for the kind words, gang! It's my pleasure to help.

Crystal

 

10/10 Update

The latest is that the new ball joint should be here on the 16th, at the earliest, due to "delays by the supplier."

Not a problem. The rental Transit is serving us just fine, and I'm happy for my wife to pile the miles onto it.

Sounds even more like they really must have had a bad batch of these ball joints, requiring a large number of replacements. Just guessing, but that's the only explanation that makes sense.

 

12/20 update:

Part still on backorder. I've been told it should be done the week of January 4, if the part arrives as planned.

Meanwhile, the rental Transit fits our needs just fine. We're going to pile our kids in it tomorrow for a trip to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton. We'll see how the highway mileage of the 3.7 low roof compares to the Ecoboost mid-roof. This 3.7 engine is nice and it does the job just fine, but it has to get some high revs to find any power. The Ecoboost gets it right off idle and breathes fire right up to red line. Anyway, I'm happy to pile the miles on the rental while waiting.

 

Drove from west of Indy to Dayton and back today with 14 of 15 seats filled and got just under 17mpg with the 3.7 low roof. That's a couple mpg lower than the same trip with the mid-roof Ecoboost. The van was great and the 3.7 cruised just fine, but passing requires planning ahead. The Ecoboost feels like afterburner when you mash it at 70mph to pass. It doesn't work as hard to keep the big beast rolling, either, so that probably explains the gas mileage difference.

I can't say enough about what nice highway machines these vans are. VERY comfortable, especially in the back. The passenger seats (and driver, for that matter) are light years ahead of the old Econoline and Chevy seats. They recline just a little, but it makes a HUGE difference for snoozing or relaxing as you head down the road. Same for the seating arrangement.

We've put about 1,000 miles on the 3.7 since ours went in the shop. I'm enjoying the opportunity to compare the two. I only wish mine had the rear view camera like the rental.

 

Those can be easily added with aftermarket kits----not that spendy and not overly challenging to most DIY's.

 

I've thought about adding one with the screen in the rear view mirror. Maybe one day.

 

Update: Great news, got the Transit back, and it is fixed. The new ball joint looks great and is silent and smooth, as it should be. The steering feels nice and tight. They also fixed a few interior plastic bits that had broken, all under warranty. I also replaced the original windshield wipers. They have a new fastener on these that appears to be a proprietary Ford design, as no aftermarket wipers even have an adapter. They were a little over 20 bucks each, but the originals lasted over a year and they are actually the easiest wiper blade fastener I've seen.

I've got to mess with the wiper arm on the driver side, though. It now creaks and groans on every wipe.

We affirmed our original decision to go with the mid-height roof. Man, is it MUCH nicer to live with than the low roof. The difference is night and day. The windows are so much bigger, too, so the van just feels MUCH more spacious.

Finally, it is so good to have the power of the Ecoboost back. Man, I can't say enough about how this engine moves this beast around. To say it is is a night/day difference over the 3.7 would be an understatement. All in all, though, that standard 15 passenger Transit has to be the best bargain going in full size vans. It did everything well, and is light years ahead of the old Econoline and Express vans in every measure, from comfort to efficiency, to drivability.

Overall, Ford and our dealership took VERY good care of us through this issue. Hat's off to them!