2005 Ford Ikon 1.6 ZXi: 20000 km review

[Absar]

Originally Posted by VC12

Neat review ,

By the way ,Absar is your IKON covered under extended warranty? let us know if this worth ,considering the cost of parts from Ford.

Thank you. And No, now it isn't covered under extended warranty. It expired in March 2007. I got 2 years extended warranty when I got the car. Didn't feel like renewing it. Maybe I'll renew it now or shortly. I hope Ford allows renewing it again.

Originally Posted by VC12

During one of my visits to the service center, i noticed a small portion of the exhaust chamber may be catalytic converter chamber has some rust, for which the work shop folks said that no worry and is common.

This issue is in back of my mind, should I insist to get it rectified or ask for replacement?

Unless the rust is big, its ok to leave it, or if you feel its in such a spot where it could worsen, replace it. Btw, I dont think catalytic converter is covered in the extended warranty period. I may be wrong.

Originally Posted by VC12

Also let me know wht are other symptoms one should look out for in a Ikon and take advantage during the warranty period.

Look out for the water diverter valve problem related to the a/c.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Absar, checked out your gallery. Nice pics in there, i must say !!

Thank you.

Originally Posted by VC12

By the way I liked your Philips headlights, thise blue/white light is much appealing.

I suppose one can have these philips blue vision for headlights, fog lamps & for reverse lights? In a way i am bored of this yellow light....

Let us know how good or bad it is and will it effect any electricals or warranty.

they aren't Philips BlueVision or anything. The title of that picture mentioned it "Ikon fogs and strobes". The blue light is of the strobes.

Btw it may be possible to have it for the headlights and fogs provided correct wattage and bulb type is asked for. For Reverse lights, I would considering leaving it as it is.

cya
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[vnabhi]

Hey guys, where do I get a good FM signal converter from? How much does it cost, and is the sound as good as FM radio?

[VC12]

Thanks Absar,

I am sure Ford would be eager to offer old ford owners the extended warranty or called as Total Maint.

Check , in btw I ll let u know.

Could you suggest more insights abt wht exactly is the a/c water diver problem? It reasons etc?.

By the way this post is right now after my Panther -ikon has got it new Alloys( 12 spoke).

Shall post the pictures as I take them over this weekend.

Benny,

They look just the ones as for your car seen in the Mike's gallery.


Cheers!!!

[Absar]

Originally Posted by VC12

Thanks Absar,

I am sure Ford would be eager to offer old ford owners the extended warranty or called as Total Maint.

Check , in btw I ll let u know.

Ya I hope so! I will find out this weekend from them.

Originally Posted by VC12

Could you suggest more insights abt wht exactly is the a/c water diverter problem? It reasons etc?.

The water diverter valve problem happens when the a/c suddenly blows out real hot air, even if compressor is on. This happens when the water diverter valve has malfunctioned or failed.

There's a thread on this..
Ford Ikon: A/c Water Diverter Valve problem

Originally Posted by VC12

By the way this post is right now after my Panther -ikon has got it new Alloys( 12 spoke).
Shall post the pictures as I take them over this weekend.

Cool! Waiting for pictures.. I'm sure they'll look impressive. Btw are the alloys R14?

cya
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[VC12]

i kept the stock of 13"

[1100D]

Originally Posted by Absar

Hey 1100D, I just checked up my fuse box. Its all the same, 4 is the ECU fuse, it has 15 amps (blue) and 8 is the Fuel pump fuse, which has 10 amps (red).
A

Good that you have found out, now check the table in the Ford Manual, does it say that the ECU fuse should be 15 amp (or it should be 10). My Manual says 10.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Aha! Thanks for the tip. I'll have to look for a FM signal generator that can do the same. I'll drop out the AUX option now.

Hey guys, where do I get a good FM signal converter from? How much does it cost, and is the sound as good as FM radio?

I use a FM signal generator from VR3 procured from US thru a friend. Plenty of such FM modulators are available in US. Sound quality is good, but one has to make sure that the modulator generates Stereo signals. Generally this does not catch external disturbance, but has problem near Army areas.

The Seats on the Ikon are seat covers, as against complete Seats in the Fiat. I dont exactly remember the price. Actually am pretty bad at it. Will have to check my Invoice, but unfortunately I cannot do that in the coming few months. Go to the Ford dealer, he might be able to help you, but my guess is that this particular set was phased out owing to the ease with which it gets dirty. Infact I was advised against this by the dealer himself, even the workshop guys says why did I get that color. But as for me, I am still in love with it.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by VC12

Benny,
They look just the ones as for your car seen in the Mike's gallery.

Looking forward to the pics, buddy.
What brand are the alloys, and also how much were they dearer by?

[VC12]

Benny pinged u with the deatils , Neo alloys 13" costed 14 k for set of 5 with warrnaty got the perfect made for Ikon pcd 108.

[VC12]

Hi All,

Check out the picture of the Alloy wheels thats fitted to my Ikon for now.

Image hosted with 4FreeImageHost.com

Cheers!!!

[Absar]

Nice rims VC12. Good deal too! Multispokes are cool. Looks like you beat benbsb29 on his dream set of rims??

I'm delaying the 20,000 km service now. Will do later. Besides, Ford hasn't sent me the reminder for service so I'll wait for it.

Originally Posted by 1100D

now check the table in the Ford Manual, does it say that the ECU fuse should be 15 amp (or it should be 10). My Manual says 10.

In my manual, the ECU fuse should be 15 amp.

Originally Posted by 1100D

I use a FM signal generator from VR3 procured from US thru a friend. Sound quality is good, but one has to make sure that the modulator generates Stereo signals.

Thank you for the advice. Looking at the idea to source it from Canada.

Originally Posted by 1100D

The Seats on the Ikon are seat covers, as against complete Seats in the Fiat. But as for me, I am still in love with it.

Boy! They look like seats and not seat covers. I agree that they look wonderful. To keep them clean the professional cleaners would take care of it. Not a problem I guess.

cya
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[VC12]

Thanks Absar,

Finally got to click some snaps from my Mobile camera, wanted to post as promised.

However shall try and get some more cool angles.

Check them out alloys section under Tyre & Alloy section and also in my gallery.

However check out one as below.

ImageShack - Hosting :: dsc00064co9.jpg

[Absar]

This morning I had an appointment with Ford at 10am. I went to Ford at 10:30am. There were no Queues. I went straight inside the lobby with my car. One person came and asked me do I have an appointment, he has a sheet of paper which has all the car reg nos written on it that have an appointment. I told Yes. So he calls out one name loudly and one person comes and starts jotting down checklist and damages around the car. After he's done, he asks me to sign it before even getting my complaints about the car.

So I'm directed to another person who's known to me to take down the complaints. First I say check the shock absorbers. He asks why? I then say excessive noise is heard from the suspension over bad roads. So then the car is jacked up by the lift.

After the car is lifted, he spins each wheel and keeps his hand on one pipe like tube next to the wheel for a few seconds. He's not able to feel any difference. He says front shock absorbers are fine. I'm not satisfied.

So he calls one advanced person who deals in the suspension work. He does the same and finds the front wheels okay. But the rear wheels he finds some defect. So we get back to Ford and he doesn't even tell it to be done in job card..

I then tell for cleaning throttle body to be done. He says not necessary. I say please have it done because acceleration is not smooth and jerking is there. He replies its okay its normal. I'm again not satisfied here. I then ask do you decarbonize the engine at 20,000 km service. He says no sir, again not necessary.

What the heck..?? What does he do then in the service.. I didn't request for rubbing polish to be done as usual, because I wanted to try 3m car detailing.

Also had requested him NOT to change the airfilter because it has a K&N and I'll clean it myself with the kit after it comes back, because they dont' have the kit.

Till now the bill estimate has come to 2999.98. Its a lot! I wonder for what..??!

He even said the car will be ready this evening at 4pm. I'm feeling suspicious and not sure of the work being done properly cause its too soon. Atleast 1 day would be a good timing. I then tell him, no please deliver it tomorrow afternoon, because I want the work to be done properly and not fast and improperly. He then gives a suspicious smile which I don't like.

So that's what happened. I'm kind of dissatisfied with what happened today. But I hope the car comes out good.

I shall update later after the car comes back from service.

cya
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[VC12]

Hi Absar,

Well my Ikon is also due for service during 1st week of oct.

Last week while i was passing from the workshop area , i asked ot chekc the car and give me an estimate for service.

He said though the car hasn't done muc kms it is must to get serviced by changing engine oils etc and the quote came around 3k.

I understand service charges are 750 + engine oil of some 5-6 lts 1200,some other oil i am not sure?.

I am confused why is that a normal service cost lands around 3k?????

[Absar]

Hello! Today I went to Ford around 2:30. The Ford Service Center was SO full of cars. I didn't have a camera with me to take pictures of it. It looked like it had rained Ford cars the previous night!

I inform the same person who attended to me when I came to leave the car for service. He told me to wait for a few minutes. The bill was generated in a jiffy, and I paid by card. This was my first time I paid by card. Before always I used to do cash payment. Somehow card payment is faster and much quicker. If I remember exactly, for cash payment, they used to count the cash thrice, write down something in 3 huge books, and then do addition and subtraction on the bill and finally count the change thrice before giving me the change. Used to take minimum 5 minutes. But for today's card payment, everything got over in less than a minute. I was puzzled.. "So quick it got over.." I was thinking. Perhaps I should consider only card payments here.

The billing was as follows:



After the billing process, I was given a gate pass that said "I have seen the car and the work is satisfactory to me and the failed parts have been returned.." And I hadn't seen the car and they expect me to sign it. I told First let me see the car then I'll sign it. He insisted to sign now. The same person who assisted me here intervened and told let it be, let the car be examined and then let him sign it. It gave me little confidence and relief. The car took a long time to come though because of many cars in the service centre. I mean, it was all crowded, they had to move some cars for my car to come through.

After I saw the car, it was ok from the exteriors, interiors were clean. But I did not drive it for a test drive. So I signed off the gate pass and left to take the car away.

When I began to take away the car, in Ford itself, speedbreakers were there, and I could still hear the creaking sound from the steering wheel. Arrrgh! He did say they couldn't find out the sound but he had lubricated the steering shaft!! How can they not hear it when I hear it so clearly and its irritating!

I came off, shall complain to them in the weekend perhaps! Other than that, all is good in the car. But still jerking is there, but reduced. However, I don't know if an engine tune up has been done or not..

cya
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[VC12]

Absar,I suggest u write a serious a detialed mail to ford india.

cxheck at ford site, i guess it's custmail@india.ford.com

This will certainly work in some way