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thefranchise713's 2014 Taurus SEL AWD (Bull 2.0)

27K views 112 replies 22 participants last post by  thefranchise713 
#1 · (Edited)
Meet the vehicle I refer to as "Bull 2.0," the AWD successor to my first G6 bull that was FWD only. Much like Bull 1.0, it's Tuxedo Black with black cloth interior and 3.5L N/A engine:





Getting interior cleaned at Delta Sonic:





Ford Factory Options:
-201A (MyFord Touch w/backup camera, center speaker, reverse sensing, non-memory adj. pedals)
-Rear Spoiler, non-SHO style
-Non-Flex Fuel (California Emissions)

Mods at this point in time:
-Separate snow tires and rims (General AltiMax Artics)
-Police Interceptor grille
-New Kenwood speakers (4)
-Lukas LK7900 dash cam, hardwired
-Ford Remote Access (smartphone based cellular remote start, impact alarm, and SMS alerts)
-AWD Torque Gauge (As Built Data change)
-Amber Daytime Running Lamps (IDS option)
-Mounted ScanGauge 2.0
-Factory Navigation courtesy of Ford PI Mods

Troy McClure says: "You May Remember My Car From Such Meets As:"
-Ford Nationals @ Carlisle, 2014
-TCCA Albany @ Crossgates/Thatcher, 2014
-TCCA Toronto/Oakville, 2014
 
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#2 ·
Repair post:

-Body shop is going to repair the car wash's damage, at the car wash's expense. A terrible scratch was put in, ugh.

-Also going to see FMC body shop for warranty work. The trunk mounted light on right side was not aligning with it's tailight counterpart. Upon closer inspection, Chicago did a poor job installing the lamp, and did so in such a poor fashion that it wore down/scraped/damaged some paint on the trunk above the lamp with some wear on the part itself. Bummer, but hopefully will be easy to get covered.

Dashcam is running well on the vehicle and hasn't killed the battery. Woo!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Bought it new, but those are winter-designed wheels from Momo.

win-pro-black

Threw some General AltiMax Artics on there and it's a force in the winter. Both wheels and tires came from Tire Rack.
 
#7 ·
Maintenance update:

Body shop work kept the bull down for 3.5 days last week. Two working days were needed to repair the damage Delta Sonic inflicted, and another 1.5 days were needed to correct some paint damage on the trunk from a misassembled light module on the right side. Paint had chipped and was severely uneven with the corresponding right tail lamp on the body.

The lights are more even now, though not perfect. The paint damage on the trunk was also corrected.

Also threw some cash out of my own pocket to PDR a weird dent that didn't appear up close, but distorted the continuity of the door on the rear pass/driver side. Cost way more than I expected (almost double my last PDR, and above the price I was originally quoted by nearly a third), but it was worth it just to get it all done during one of the body shop visits. Good to have a slush fund.
 
#8 ·
Picture update and repair (sort of) update.

Went back to the selling dealer to get a TSB done that re-enabled the Compass menu in the right hand side of the cluster. Except we couldn't do the TSB as written.

A while ago, a source figured out how to enable the AWD gauge in the LH side of the cluster. Applying the TSB as written would pull OASIS as-build data to blank this change out. So the dealer went ahead and made manual programming changes to the cluster to retain the AWD and enable the Compass selection.

It worked.

And for posterity, have a money shot.
 
#9 ·
Put a monster battery in tonight as the stock battery was questionable for supporting the parasitic loads on it now -- Ford Remote Access and the dash cam.

Went from 540/675 (0F and 32F) CCA BXT-59 to the 850/1090 CCA BXT-65-850.

Huge boost in reserve capacity, too. 100 -> 165 minutes!
 
#11 ·
Sure, Paul.

It's a Lukas LK-7900 unit. Bought it with an included 16 GB Class 10 SXHC card.

It's running 24/7. My unit is configured to run in 1080P HD when driving, and saves footage selectively in "parking mode," so if it detects an impact, it'll write to the card. Motion sensor settings are also available.

I'm fairly happy with it. It's pricey, but I think it works well and should last (knock on wood). You can get cheaper units, though, this one goes for over $200. Night quality is acceptable, day quality is reasonably good.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Might or might not have a new project here.

Unbeknownst to me and only discovered while parsing through the Workshop Manual, the 2014 Taurus could come equipped with a heated, power, AUTO DIMMING, driver's side external mirror. I would LOVE the dimmer mirror. Never understood why our Fusion had it, but never the Taurus.

In any event, the WSM states that the LH external mirror derives dimming information from the interior rear view auto-dim mirror. However, I can't seem to figure out how that passes from one mirror to the other to see if this project will work, and if it can be a drop-in situation. I have a feeling it might be. The harness seems to already be wired with the 2 pins that are required to make the feature work. So the glass and motor(?) would need to be replaced, but otherwise it should be PnP from my estimation.

If I get a better idea of how the mirrors share that information, I might just plod ahead and try this mod if I can get the parts reasonably.
 
#14 ·
Nothing to really update.

Snows went on today. Project in post ##12 is axed because Ford never made a dimming blind spot mirror, only BLIS.

Wax job going on tomorrow. If the weather is good in the next few days I'll get some pictures with the snows back on. But they'll look just like page #1.
 
#15 ·
Detailing came out absolutely great. Shared these with Paul the day after, but this is where it is now.





The bad news is that one of the post-recall plate lamps has already failed. Dealer trip on Friday, unfortunately.
 
#17 ·
Thanks, Paul.

And I gotta say, the tire shine on this--can't see on the pictures--looks nice. Looks like I'll be getting some use out of my Carlisle
winnings after all.
 
#19 ·
Brief update, everything is going quite well.

A week or so ago I almost killed the monster battery by leaving the dashcam on in single digit cold. So for now, the camera remains off (sadly).

On the upside, I did get some winter pics. A sample.

 
#22 · (Edited)
Rapidly freezing Lake Erie. Gotta love it.


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Erie is shallow and should freeze in Jan, thus Buffalo and area should have less snow. But that is not the case for Lake Ontario. Deep and wide, repeat, wind, SNOW.

Once again predicted below zero tonight. My last fill up today, 18.6 mpg, short trips, local driving.
Carchip shows average trip 3.0 miles.
-chart-
 
#23 ·
Passed safety inspection today. Caught dealer tech leaning on hood and forgetting to lock the car, but for state inspection that cost me $0 I can't complain.

He didn't even make any Ford jokes! (It was inspected @ a non-Ford dealer where I had a voucher).
 
#24 ·
Tragically the dash cam is being weird lately, but being that I don't want to sink any more money into it at this time, it's staying as it is and just hoping for the best if I need it for evidence.

Summer tires went back on today, and I got a few MPG back--very happy about that. Smooth and graceful again. It's amazing how much the snows set it back comfort wise.

Considering some LEDs for the front turn signals, but I don't want to wire in a separate resistor. On another forum, non Taurus, a user claimed that he got "CAN aware" bulbs and never had hyperflash. I think they just have an integrated resistor, but we'll see. I don't think anything with an integrated resistor will work, still, because of my DRL configuration.

If that's the case, I may get the CAN aware bulbs, but change the DRL operation to headlights rather than the signals.

But I really love the amber DRL look... decisions, decisions.
 
#25 ·
Big week for the Taurus, but nothing you don't already know.

This week I got my package from jmr061 with my Navigation enabled APIM. Spent about two hours tearing apart and re-assembling the car (a few tough bolts and not knowing what I'm doing), but it was well worth it. The new APIM booted up like a boss, and just had to update it to 3.7.

3.7 update was a little hairy, as when it upgrades it seems to not have the nav tab functional, reverting to Information. However, it did revert back to navigation mode, and all was well from there.

On Tuesday, a dealer will perform a minor tweak to the IPC. However, even before then, turn by turn directions are functional. The change is simply to grant me extra control through the cluster not present with the default non-navigation configuration.
 
#26 ·
So on Tuesday, we performed the changes but they didn't go as planned. Jason did some digging and realized that the data to be put into the cluster was "more wrong" than we thought from Ford.

He corrected the data for me, but I don't know when I'll be back down there to make the chances again. Not that it really matters--the cluster works fine as is, it's just a little extra functionality that I'm missing. Turn by turn display works fine, still.

If anyone is interested in pics, let me know and I'll get some posted before the weekend is out. It's really a high quality upgrade.
 
#27 ·
Tech leaning on the hood if it was my Taurus he would be leaning with one arm. Minor side track I was talking my buddies GMC into a Dodge Dealer for a Oil Change......Yes A Ford Owner, driving a GMC for oil change at a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep dealer...don't read into it as any more than a Coupon.....(Five for $60). Anyway while they were working on Oil Change I noticed two salesmen leaning on the hood of a Chrysler 300..not just any 300 but the high dollar one. I punked them out in a second I told them that I was going to look at it but if that's the way they treat the cars before they are sold how would they treat customers after the sale. About five minutes later the sales manager came out and inspected for scratches.
 
#28 ·
At some point I have to be realistic. No harm, no foul. I really only draw the line at reckless half-***ed repairs, stuff I have to pay for, and stuff that opens me up to legal liability (careless test rides post repair.)
 
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