Its been almost 5 months since I have bought this black beauty!!! And all was well untill lately. Yes, the car is amazing in terms of ride, handling and fuel efficiency. But I am here today to get some advice from the GURUs out here for the problem I am facing right now. I am also in the process of getting the problem rectified, but in the mean time I thought, I will also bring this to the notice of all the BHPians... Well here goes the problems (the detailed review of my ownership will follow once the problem has been rectified).

Problem Area 1 (Water in Fuel): Well it was a great friday evening, all geared up to drive to hubli on staturday morning at 3:00 AM. Had a sound short sleep late friday night and started for hubli as planned. All was well all throughout the drive upto hubli. Reached Hubli at 10:30 AM on saturday (yeah had a lot of stops in between). So I reach hubli and drive upto my frens place to drop him, switched off the engine to unload his luggage... Bid goodbye and then once I turn on the ignition key upto the level where the battery is turned on. This the position where the "Water in Fuel" is also checked. To my surprize the indicator did not go off!!!!!. So immediately I called up the hubli Metro Ford and mentioned the situation. A technician was sent, who cleaned the fuel filter and the problem was resolved temporarily, since they said it is only clean the filter and drive upto the service station. At the service station the whole fule tank and the the fuel line including the filter was cleaned (I lost 20 ltrs of diesel!!!!!). So the saturday whole day was spent at the service station where I monitored all the work they do (happened to see the new ikool version too... I felt its worth the price minus the ICE, since the knwood HU is a old model and front speaker are 4" coaxial). After the tank cleanup I got the SHELL diesel filled. Well the sunday morning was spent for the Ganesh pooja. Started for Bangalore at 3:30 PM and reached bangalore at 11:30 PM with no issues except a cabin noise showing up in the front whereever the road is bad with pot holes. The sound seems to be coming from the air vents inside the cabin. Had a sound sleep driving away the monday blues. But Manday blues turned out to be not because of office work, but due to the water in fuel indicator turning on again!!!!! This tiome its wierd, since the "Water in Fuel" check which should happen before the engine crank is not happening. But Once I crank the engine the indicator goes on. Since I was already on the way to office, I kept moving on, after a certain distance is covered, what I see is that the indicator is no more glowing. At the next signal I turn off my engine and start again... I did this at several signals. What I see is that the indicator glows on only when engine is cranked and goes off after a ceratin distance is covered. I have called up the Metro Ford and they will be arriving to my office soon to chek it out. They will also take the Car to the service station where they will also check the sensor of the indicator. I have firm belief that its a sensor problem, since the indicator is supposed to glow before the engine is cranked. And the ideal behaviour would be that once it detects the water in fuel, the indicator should never go off by itself untill the water is cleared.

So GURUs or fellow ikon owners please provide some inputs ASAP.


Problem Area 2 (Break Noise): I have mentioned this problem earlier in one of the ownership reports. The problem is that, there is a signinficant break noise after long parking hours i.e. when I take out my car in the morning and in the vening after office hours. But the break noise disappears after certain period of running. This pronlem was also mentioned during the tank cleanup at hubli mentioned above. They suspected it due to the dust accumulation and have cleaned the discs. The problem was not noticed today morning, and hence I am hoping its rectified. I mention this as a problem yet here, considering the fellow ikon owners might also provide some advice if they have faced this problem.

[Astleviz]

Problem 1: Most probably it's a sensor issue which should be rectified by cleaning (or replacing if something is wrong with it). The first time you had water in fuel, did they fiddle around with some wiring (maybe disconnect some wires to take out some component)? Sometimes, the mechs forget to connect some wire or screw up with the wiring.

Problem 2: Is it a grinding noise? Like metal rubbing against metal? Usually it's brake dust or worn out pads. Since your car has only done 6000 km, one would assume that the brake pads are fine. So a thorough cleaning should do the job. BTW, do you get this sound everyday or occasionally?

I don't think you have any cause to worry at all, these sound like minor problems which can be addressed at most ford service centres.

[Jaguar]

I have noticed problem 2 in my Ikon Flair as well. The sound is there only when I start the car in the mornings. I guess its due to the cooler night temperatures and once the brake pads are warm, the problem disappears. Very difficult to re-create the issue at a service center.

[phamilyman]

problem 2 = rusted pads/dust

Well, here's the update on the how the issues were fixed:

Problem 1: The Metro Ford sent a technician to get the problem rectified. I mentioned the guy that the tank has been cleaned only two days earlier. So he suspected the water might be due to the the water accumulated still the the fuel line from tank to filter. He showed me the fuel from the filter, which actually did have some water traces. He also said the water might have accumulated around the sensor head. So he cleaned the sensor and the drained out all the fuel from the filter and pumped fresh fuel into the filter. This has resolved the issue temporarily. He asked me to keep a watch for few more days. Its been three days since the problem has been rectified and no issues currently.

Problem 2: As suggested by everyone that it might be due to the dust, the same was suspected by the service engineer of metro ford in hubli (I must say he is really a good guy and I have watched him personally checking the jobs once the mechanics have done their job). So for my car all he asked the mechanic was to remove the wheels and the disc pads. He checked the discs and the pads and he said everything is fine. So all he asked the mechanic was to clean the pads and the dics with some paper (which did not look like sand paper). After that cleaning the problem has been solved for now. I need to wait and watch for some more time.

Well thats it for now. I will come out soon with a detailed owner ship report.

And I must mention it here that, it really feels great to be a BHPian. It has made me believe now that the BHPians out here really know their babies (cars). And this will be the first point of contact for me for anything related to taking care of the baby rather than approach the service center first. thanks to all the BHPians and special thanks to the creators of Team-BHP. Everyone rocks out here.