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Do you think my AU is knee-slappingly good or a little bit shit? Let me know your thoughts below.

20 something years old and that was the list of issues, good value.

someone tell tyler hoover to take one of these to america when he can.

As an American, I've always had the impression that aussie fords were tougher than American fords. Maybe aussies just do crazier things with their Falcons than we do with our Taurus. I've seen pics of such common looking Falcons towing like a truck and chucking skids that I'd never do in a US ford sedan.

The Ford falcons were the perfect family car back in the day and even now they are still good. The engines will do a million kms before needing a rebuild. They don't build cars like this anymore.

Everything that broke on my Ford... Gets chair...

As much as everyone hated the AU's design, it did spawn the BA, and with it the XR6 Turbo, one of the greatest value for money cars ever.

time delayed sports exhaust ... hahaha this is gold

I had a series 2 AU XR8 and a series 1 Forte and they were the most reliable cars I ever owned. The XR8 got totalled in 2010. I would probably still own it now if it didn’t cop a massive hit in the rear. Loved that car.

the ford AU has earnt my respect , I had a 2000 series 2 Fairmont ... it had only 80.000kms on it when I bought it off an old couple .... November 2018 i hit a tree at 110kph with cruise control on on my way home from nightshift , apart from a broken back and hand I'm still here .... its a great car if properly looked after

Just re bought an AU falcon after having a nice euro car for the last 3 years. They’re one of the best cars ever made

Keep it , keep it , keep it ,, Mechanically the most reliable falcon of the later falcons hands down

Approx. 2 years ago I bought an AU Ute. It has been incredibly reliable, drives beautifully. Has 333000kms and people have commented on how good it sounds. I live in the country and do a lot of miles. As a female, a reliable vehicle is very important to me on those long drives. I love my car lol...it suprises me how well it really runs. An oldie but a goodie.

As a car-enthusiast living Europe, I have never heard about the AU! Growing up watching Mad Max; Australia and their cars has made an impact on me, although I have never been a Ford fan! Sad that GM/Holden stopped production, they were true to V8 rear wheel drive cars all along and, in my opinion, can take the credit for the 2010- Camaro... Keep up the good work!

There great . Got one 2 months ago as an in between cars car , well im now keeping it as I've now fixed everything i needed to and it drives great . I do 200 km a day to work on country roads and its been hassel free so far . And its quiet comfortable and good on fuel.

All non-issues really. The AU is cheap and easy to fix. Common problems are well known and simple to solve, but try fixing any number of dozens of sensor issues in European wrecks (especially 1990s-2000s ones) or the other rubbish cars like Craptiva, VZ/VE Commodore, Volkswagens and so on which regularly send owners with $5000 repair bills.

You're class act mate. Killing it with these uploads!

It's getting pretty long in the tooth so theirs bound to be some thing's given the vehicle's age but it was generally one of the more reliable vehicle's on the market, I'm always a bit suspicious of cheap car's that are priced well below it's market value.

I have an AU2 2000 Fairmont and can definitely relate everything you mentioned... and then some. I've fixed most problems myself, but thanks for the tip on how to fix the LCD screen on the MDC.

I had a 1999 Falcon XR8 (a photo of which graced the Wikipedia entry for some years) which was eventually written off after being rear-ended. I loved that car and have never quite gotten over losing it. I maintain that cars of that era were at the "good enough" stage in technological development. They had enough electronics to be useful, but not so much to be a pain in the arse. And yes; all the window switches had been removed and the contacts cleaned. The other small problem is the door lock motors. The plastic worm gears break. One major problem I fixed was the firewall cracking where the clutch cable sheath attaches. This was a dash-out weld and reinforce job. The steering column mount spotwelds were also drilled and plug-welded while I was there, which permanently fixed the water leak (which was temporarily fixed with vinyl tape). These latter problems were exclusive to the manual transmission equipped cars.

if that is 'everything' that could go wrong, you're doing ok

I had a few falcons,this model i did 300,000klms as a rep with the Cruise set on 178kph (would hit the limiter at 180) most of the time, Never had an issue at all... Bloody great car...

Au’s are notorious for rusting in the boot lid just under number plate keep and eye on that, and I think it’s either power steering or coolant can sometimes leak on the alternator causing damage,

Your channel is criminally under-subscribed. Such amazing quality content.

Here's a list of everything that is broken on my dad's Series II AU Falcon 1. None of the windows go back up once they're put down, much like yours. 2. The remote key does not lock the car anymore, there the car is always unlocked. 3. The fuel gauge does not work, neither does the DTE. Therefore we must use the trip odometer and refuel it every 300km to be safe. 4. The engine randomly stalls and completely shuts the car off whilst driving. 5. The handbrake does not always work, and the car will continue to roll. 6. The automatic transmission will sometimes shift gears at 4,000RPM from 1st, leaving the engine being way too loud, and pissing off all my neighbours. 7. It's an AU Falcon.

Good video and review. My 2000 series 2 , straight 6 cylinder forte sedan, I've had for about 8 years. I've had replaced, coil packs, intake manifold gasket, power steering switch, twice, air conditioning compressor, radiator, water pump, bottom balancer pulley. In that time also the paint on the roof and bonnet has faded . It's now got 330,000km on it, still runs very well and tows the boat regular. Any car needs repairing and replacing of parts. Most people finance a new car, then wait till it starts having problems then they quickly trade or sell and re-finance another car.

ive got a 99 classic i bought off an old guy at work. mine has done multiple trips from brisbane to melbourne. Currently has 412km on the clock, exhaust has rusted on the back of the muffler, ive got the same knock in the front, few paint and bodykit cracks, but other then that, its been worth the $500 dollars i paid for it. not the best or funniest falcon in the range to have, but they are almost bulletproof and cheap and easy to work on.

Nice to hear your list didn't contain anything major, I hope whoever ends up taking the car off your hands continues to show it some love and doesn't just neglect it till it blows up.

i just love how your just listing everyone of the problems ive discovered with my car

Did my neighbours wife up the shitter in an AU Happy days

Hahah, I had all of these issues with my AU, minus the MDC because mine was a Forte. If nothing else, they’re cheap as anything to fix up. I made everything right with mine.

Let’s see how the KIA’s Hyundai and Mazda’s and the like are going in 20 years! Because you don’t see the early ones of those now. Keep up the good vids

I have a 96 holden vs acclaim II, just got the AC compressor done, replaced windscreen, replaced water pump, power steering pump, radiator, transmission hoses and the same exhaust issue happened as yours. It also has a saggy roof but im never gonna fix that, i like the tent atmosphere! Also got all 4 tyres done and spark plugs and leads, phew!! List was big for 2019!!

Love old Falcons! I used to own a 1993 Fairmont! Best car I ever owned! Contemplating getting one of these now 😂

Ah....the old saggy headliner! Happens to EVERY AU. I had a nice 2002 AU III Station Wagon with bench seats, column auto. Added a reversing camera and decent head unit and loved it.

Bought my AUII SR series 3 last year. It’s only done 127kms. Love the car.

She’s a beautiful looking car... I just got mine a few months and got her back to a good condition.

A real "bang for your buck" vehicle. I have an FG mk2 work ute. Transmission recently failed at 410 000km: possibly the "Mechatronic" unit. New ZF's are dear, I've heard. Got a good low mileage one out of a write-off. Running again now as sweet as ever. Motor is still strong.

One of the rare KZfaq channels I watch with a genuine smile

I had the same noise in the front end of my AU. I was told that my sway bar bushes were worn but my front struts actually needed replacing

You beauty. I'm gonna try that little clip hack on my AU Fairmont Wagon. Thanks mate, I thought I was in for hundreds to replace the screen.

on my BA Falcon, I fix the headliner by removing the door frame gasket, not the one on the door from the top stretched the roof headliner then hold the liner with one hand & with the other pus the rubbers frame gasket back in place over the headliner as well. I only needed to do this to the right-hand side front & back.. I also found the door gasket kept coming of it was in good nick so I super glued it in place now no worries

Couldn't say why but I've always had a strange fascination with AU Falcons. I'd kill to find a cheap one like this example.

Perhaps weirdly, perhaps not, but I've never needed the code for the head unit in my Calais. I believe this is because it authenticates with the BCM and shares the immobilizer key, or has some other way of authenticating to it. The exhaust on my car looks a tad rusty after 300,000km but it still looks fine. Probably all of the driving on farms I've done. I believe the VY was also among the first cars to use LEDs for everything, so have never had a bulb issue. There isn't even a standard rheostat for brightness, it's all electronic, all the modules get sent commands over the ALDL bus. Fantastic stuff, because it means less to go wrong. I've done sway bar links though. Get some polyurethane units, instead of rubber it's like a very soft plastic. It may stiffen things up a bit, but I haven't noticed it over the already stiffer (but very nice) FE2 suspension. These don't wear out anywhere near as often. Make sure you loctite the nuts while you're in there. I neglected this and they came loose again. Nothing a quick nip-up couldn't fix though. You need both sway bar links, because as with almost all suspension components, they wear in pairs.

The fords and holdens after about 1995 (VS and EL) were rock solid from a drive train/engine perspective. Especially after holden stopped using that crappy rope rear main seal and ford heads stopped cracking. It's just everything else that breaks, e.g. trim pieces and the general lack of refinement against other contemporary vehicles that give them a bad rap. Bushes should be considered general wear and need checking out after 10 years on any car.

Had time to watch the whole video. Gee the AU shape has aged well. Can’t believe how we all laughed out loud when it was first released, although I suspect it had something to do with the base model plastic waterfall grille as it presents very well in Fairmont trim. Selling it? Name your price.

Ever since you bought that AU, I've been feeling all nostalgic about my former AU series one wagon and my 89 EA Fairmont... They really were good honest, reliable and comfortable budget transport. It's pretty shit to think that the current obsession with crappy 4-pot FWD SUVs is going to mean future first car buyers and battler families will be denied a similar good value cheap option.

My 98 AU is a legend. Mechanically it hasn't missed a beat for 20 years and has taken some pretty rough treatment. Unfortunately, it is starting to rust badly so time for it to go. Best value for money I ever spent on a car.

Be glad you have a working heater. I have a BA Xr6 enough said :)

It has the number 69 in the number plate so you are obligated to keep it no matter what...

A friend used thumb tacks for their roof liner in their falcon! Studded

Don't know if you've had this done yet, but originally this car has both the coolant and transmission oil running into the radiator. It's highly recommended to buy an after market kit which essentially moves the transmission oil to it's own small radiator position just behind the normal radiator. Reason being the standard radiator isn't that great at keeping the temperatures of the oil down, and so this kit extends the life of the transmission, which is pretty much rated to 250,000k's. I can confirm a transmission dying at about 300,000k's on my old car a long time back. Anyways, the door thing is simple, if you press the button slightly, you can hear a gap spark, and this spark creates a burn on the contacts, so you do need to clean them, you worked this out easy enough. Very common. The inbuilt stereo is pretty bad, on my car the actual disc stacker died. Unfortunately when this happened and a new stereo went in, the volume buttons became useless. I really hate the way Ford have forced these gigantic pieces of shit on car drivers. I mean, mine literally is required for the operation of the air con, it cannot be removed. It's a real shit show.

if you blow globes in the cluster and have to remove it I have found the easiest way in a Fairmont is to partially remove the climate control and remove the two screws athe top of the cluster then you can put a hand behind the cluster and push it out. If not in a Fairmont then you pull out the air vent at the right of the dash to get access.

two years later ans still not passed it on. it has grown on you mate

I've owned my 2001 AU forte since January this year an recently my driver side window is having same problem and also my door handle broke so I must put window down to get out then the window gets stuck halfway there minor problems but I can fix them but other then that she is going well fingers crossed she stays good

I had an AU for 360,000km and did nothing other than basic maintenance (plus a fan belt tensioner and harmonic balancer) and it still ran like new until it was kindly written off by someone a few months ago...

You legit helped me with my heater display awesome vid can't wait to see more 👌

I've owned my AU Falcon wagon for 9 years now, I've rebuilt the engine (even though it didn't need it) XR6 spec head and sports exhaust, lowered 2", new roof lining and that's it. Will be giving it a respray this Xmas as its got ant theft paint on it (clear coat peel). I won't be selling it....... ever.

Thank you mate I've subscribed I just got one on factory gas October 2019 cheers

Thanks for posting this. Out of those problems, mine only has the dash display issue. I'll try the clip method. Oh, my stereo won't play CDs, but I guess it's time for a new belt.

Had one of these in monsoon blue full tickford optioned loved it especially that momo steering wheel a 1K option back then

I worked in automotive for just on 10 years, spares, engine builds, imports, race, rally, drag, standard cars....all cars have issues...no one particular brand survives... , saying that, Im going to get the water pump and power steering switch replaced on my trusty AU on the weekend .

This was my first car that I bought when I was 18, 5 years ago. I miss it every day

Great car mate!! Hope the gearbox keeps going ! I reckon she s great

I'm sincerely glad that you didn't have to experience LPG backfire with your AU. ☺

It’s better than the front wheel drive shit ford has been making

You're in Queensland and you were worried about the heater not working? Come down to Tassie mate. Great video by the way :-)

I can't think of a polite word for the 'previous owner'

You should swap the orange side indicators for the clear AU3 ones. It's really cheap and easy, and makes the car look way better. The clear indicators look much more modern. Thanks for the videos. You should cover some more underrated Australian cars like the FG Falcon Ecoboost or the VZ Commodore SV8.

That head liner is easy fix just go to Bunnings and find the color and buy a test pot, then you have to to is paint some thumb tack's and pop em in to hold it up, job done.

Please get a Commodore next!!!! Preferably a VT/VX or a VY (I have a 2004 VY II and she’s a beaut)

The styling was ahead of its time, definitely aged well imho. We've always had Falcons, from dads company cars, the EB and EF. My grandads EL. My sisters AU. And my own BF.

Coincidentally I just performed the same 'temporary permanent' fix on my drivers' window. It too would go down but not up and I couldn't be bothered spending half a day mucking around with it, so just disconnected the plug.

Nice video, spent $500 on a 1992 Toyota Camry SV21 model. Haven't done any thing too it for 6 months, 3rd gear shifts a bit slow, radiator has some hairline leaks other then that every think is 100%

Thanks for this video and the earlier one explaining the range. As a Brit I had assumed most of these were V8s and I knew nothing of the history of that straight 6 motor.

Lasted to the Alarm. Good Stuff.

I bought a 2001 falcon forte 5 speed manual brand new from hills Ford in hornsby nsw . Best car that I have ever owned

V informative! Looking fwd to the nxt instalment! Bewdy bonza battler..

Simply a god gift to humanity

Keep making videos mate! It would be awesome to see you get to 100K subs. Some more videos of the Falcon, or videos about fixing the Falcon, or other cars featured would be great to watch 😁 Cheers from another Aussie KZfaqr!

Hah, I had the same exhaust issue with an AU I recently picked up! I went the cheap route though, harvested steel from the rear muffler, patched the pipe and welded on a new bit of tube from the local exhaust shop

When one of these hit 25 I am thinking of bringing one to the U.S.

next job on mine is replace the steering wheel. I found an near new one on a car at the wreckers as well as a great replacement drivers seat (mine had a huge cigarette burn that my boss put in it when he owned the car and i had seen one good enough at convenient times before.

FUCK YES! He's back..... keep the videos coming mate.

For the headliner, either dodgy it by sticking thumbtacks in it to hold it up, or take the headliner panel out, buy some spray adhesive and either re stick the fabric you've got, or go buy a department store bed-sheet and stick it up there. Bonus points for a Ford bed-sheet or other stylistic choices.

love this kinda stuff that most people find boring....

This will be the cheapest and most reliable car you will ever own. You can also lube the window regulator cables by winding the windows down pulling the glass toward the seats with your fingers to reveal the top cable, spray export tyre shine (its silicon oil) on the cables while running the window up and down. The windows will glide like there new again up and down.

For me t the time the AU Falcon first came out it was a love/hate car for me. I was never over fused on the more standard models but I always thought that the XR models did look kind of cool with the Toyota Celica styled front ends and the XR's did look cool as race cars. As much as I would like to have an au XR but these times I wouldn't actually mind getting a series 2 Fairmont the same model as yours because they have grown on me over time because of how well they have aged. And secondly I think that the AU would be a fun project car to have even if it is an XR or a series 2 or 3 models with the base model frond end. I have seen some pretty cool mods for them as well. Though it was always the XR that kept me interest in the AU because of them being motorsports and video games from when I was a kid.

No not really, yes your car looks great. I own one and love it. Just had it for 7weeks, i think its better than my wifes 328i bmw

Ah the saggy headliner, so common. The AU,BA,FG we’ve owned all had the same issue

I had an eb fairmont. Was like driving a lounge chair. So much space.

I have an AU2 Falcon Ute project car which I've been driving around for more than 10 years, the only issue I had with it was the dreaded BTR93LE 4 speed automatic gearbox. It's been taken off the road as I'm going to do a manual conversion eventually. In the meantime I bought a 2015 FG-X Falcon Ute.

Keep an eye on the abs unit, the power steering rack, the upper ball joints, the brake booster. As for the windows not going up or down, try a spray of silicon lubricant in the channel guides. Ford door window rubbers are notorious for "squeezing" the glass. They actually become dry which increases the friction. They just need lubricant.

My ‘99 Falcon has literally ticked ever one of those boxes except dash lighting issue. 😂 At 340,000kms, only real issue I’ve had is a transmission seal leak. Things an absolute sleeper too 🏎

Best Ford Falcon ever built. Providing normal care and service is taken, these things go forever in 6cyl & 8cyl form.

My wife had an AU Fairlane Ghia. 5 Litre. Absolutely brilliant car to drive. But she wanted a Monaro so we traded it. Got next to nothing for it. Should have kept it!

I still have my au and now with 97000 Kms. The only thing besides general maintenance ( oils and filters, break pads and front rotors ) is the body control module. This caused the starter motor not to start the car, by passing the start relay would turn the motor over. The body control module lives under the factory fitted radio and suffers from broken solder joints to the relays on the board or the relays suffering from burnt contacts. Change over was around $400.00 + fitting, This i had done at the local RACV service center as the new control module also needed re programing for the car ??. Other than that the car runs great and i really injoy driving it

I own a V8 VY Calais, but AUs were one of the best Falcons

my BA Falcon cost me 1,000$ but I had to buy 4 new tyers a new battery replace overflow hoses an oil & air filters 7 litres of engine oil the car runs smooth as I accelerate I get a rumbling sound from the rear end the cars was originally owned by an old lady cars is clean as a whistle no rust any where