The Car Thread ... !

[Huntn]

Going to get Xpel Ultimate done on the 6th for the rocker panels. Noticed some increase in minor clear coat/paint chips in areas not covered by the factory PPF. Will probably do the front end too eventually, but so far no damage there.

http://www.xpel.com/xpel-ultimate-plus-paint-protection-film/
How expensive is this? We had a bra made of the 3M film on a Mirano, and it held up quite nicely for 7 years. If I had a concern, it would be what will it look like in 10 years? And can it be removed without boogering up the paint, and will the paint fade differently from a treated to an untreated area?
[doublepost=1532698638][/doublepost]

The New Q3. probably overtaken the Q8 as my favorite Audi product for one simple reason. It has buttons and knobs for climate control. Halleluyah. I also like the blue and it just looks clean overall. Apart from the fake intakes but...meh.

Oh yeah there's a Macan facelift too

Nice looking vehicle except for the color. I’d have to see their pallet of colors, but I’ve always been found of a creamy metallic white.

 

[quagmire]

http://www.xpel.com/xpel-ultimate-plus-paint-protection-film/
How expensive is this? We had a bra made of the 3M film on a Mirano, and it held up quite nicely for 7 years. If I had a concern, it would be what will it look like in 10 years? And can it be removed without boogering up the paint, and will the paint fade differently from a treated to an untreated area?

It has a 10 year warranty so we shall see. In theory it should be able to be removed without issues, but we shall see especially when they go to remove the factory PPF.

 

[44267547]

http://www.xpel.com/xpel-ultimate-plus-paint-protection-film/
How expensive is this? We had a bra made of the 3M film on a Mirano, and it held up quite nicely for 7 years. If I had a concern, it would be what will it look like in 10 years? And can it be removed without boogering up the paint

I don’t have Xpel on my cars (Ceramic coated instead), but there is a multitude of dealerships in my area that do install Xpel and from the from the reviews I have read, it is a very good product. The important considerations would be to find a dealership that applies it properly and neatly (And stands behind their work), as you don’t want to have any bubbles, air gaps or shortages where you can physically see where the sticker meets the paint.

This is strictly my preference and I mentioned this prior, I just don’t like the idea/concept of having a plastic sticker on *my* car, but then again, maybe my mindset would change if I actually -daily drove- my peformance cars, fortunately I don’t have too.

As far as your question regarding how it looking 10 years, I think that will be entirely subjective on a lot of different factors, but I would imagine the protection from the UV, paint chips, Road tar/grime, etc. would protect the paint fairly well. I don’t believe its difficult to remove, but would be easier to do so in warmer temperatures.

 

[jca24]

The car already comes with a factory PPF on the rocker panels. It's just not enough to cover where there are chips. And from what I gather it's not necessary chips from rocks that are kicked up from the tires. But from how air flows around the car and the dust, etc in the air hitting that particular spot. It depends on who does the installation, but if you have a good installer for like the front bumper, they can hide the edge of the Xpel by having it go into the panel gaps. Like I said I think I will just start out with the rocker panels since that is where the damage is occurring right now and the front end is fine.

I drive my parents Suburban in the winter or that is what I did this past winter and then driving the Camaro around for 30-50 minutes when it was dry out and the salt was washed off the roads. I am looking at second vehicles when the time comes. Considering the new Blazer or a Subaru Forester. Any vehicle that comes with full time AWD and has the ground clearance to not plow snow.

Also what is everyone's thoughts on running a fuel system cleaner like Chevron Techron through a DI engine? I know the stuff won't be touching the back of the valves, but it could still benefit cleaning the injectors and pistons. But I also know the carbon build up on DI engines is a harder type where if they break free it can cause damage to the engine. But I can't imagine there being any of those hard deposits built up with only 3400 miles on the car so far.

Here you go, the best there is.
https://www.rxp.com

 

[bunnspecial]

I seriously doubt you need any paint protection on a car that lives in the garage and gets driven less than 3000 miles a year.

 

[Huntn]

I seriously doubt you need any paint protection on a car that lives in the garage and gets driven less than 3000 miles a year.

The paint protection as I see it involves dings to your hood thrown up by other vehicles, while driving down the highway. I've certainly noticed it in my vehicles.

 

[quagmire]

The paint protection as I see it involves dings to your hood thrown up by other vehicles, while driving down the highway. I've certainly noticed it in my vehicles.

As proven by my egg incident, it doesn’t matter how often the car is driven crap will still happen. It also doesn’t change the fact there is damage on the rocker panels right now. Once I get home and cash the war, I’ll be glad to take a picture of it......

PS: I have been driving it all summer. But again with my job, it gets driven to the airport and then sits for 3-5 days, drive back home, throw in some local trips to the store and restaurants, of course the miles will be low. It’s not a garage queen.

 

[bunnspecial]

Regarding Techron...

We're talking about a car that's 18 months old and has 3500 miles on it. Figuring 350 miles per tank, that one tank every 7-8 weeks. I seriously doubt that the car has had time to build up carbon on the intake valves. A fuel additive won't touch it, either.

Personally, I'd be more concerned about varnishing and loss of octane with gas sitting that long at a time. I'd put Sta-bil in every tank per the directions(1 oz./3 gal for pink, 1 oz./10gal for blue "Marine"-the latter of which I suggest for all applications in favor of standard pink) and forgo any other fuel additives. I'd also be sure I always used top tier gas.

If I must use a fuel system cleaner(they DO have their place) Berryman's B-12 ChemTool is by far and away my favorite. It's the most aggressive of the commercial ones, but IMO is the best and also one of the less expensive ones. When my MG fuel tank decided to have diarrhea and left brown sludge in the carburetors, after I'd pumped the tank, washed it as best as could, cleaned the hard lines, and rebuilt the carburetors I used ChemTool for a few tanks in a row to keep residuals under control. I still toss in a can occasionally. BTW, I average 1 tank a month in that car. It also gets 1 oz. of Marine Sta-Bil(12 gallon tank, usually put in 10 gallons at a time) and 3 oz. of MMO. I've found that the latter prevents the occasional stuck needle valve, something I use to have a real issue with(although replacing the rubber hose connecting the carburetors helped a lot on that also).

 

[quagmire]

Regarding Techron...

We're talking about a car that's 18 months old and has 3500 miles on it. Figuring 350 miles per tank, that one tank every 7-8 weeks. I seriously doubt that the car has had time to build up carbon on the intake valves. A fuel additive won't touch it, either.

Personally, I'd be more concerned about varnishing and loss of octane with gas sitting that long at a time. I'd put Sta-bil in every tank per the directions(1 oz./3 gal for pink, 1 oz./10gal for blue "Marine"-the latter of which I suggest for all applications in favor of standard pink) and forgo any other fuel additives. I'd also be sure I always used top tier gas.

Now that I have been driving it in the summer, I fill up ~1 month. But I didn't think of stabilizer this past winter since I was planning on driving it over the winter, but ended up only once a week for 30-50 minutes. Will definitely do it this winter.

 

[44267547]

Seems more reports are surfacing about the 2018 Mustang GT engines blowing up, experiencing piston slap, loud ticking, ect. At least from what I have been reading/watching online and then hearing at least two reports locally in my area as well. (And Yes, I realize the Internet is a flocking zone to share negative experiences or voicing concerns, which is a minuscule sample). There is one 18’ GT Owner who is on his *third* engine from Ford, all with less than 5,000 miles and another GT owner went through Fords buyback program [Which Seemingly Can take a few months to rehash all the details/finalize]. To be honest, I’m Sort of glad I didn’t opt for the 2018 as one of my considerations, Which isn’t to say anything would have happened, but still a bit concerning. Which, I’m still very fond of the 2018 refresh and Ford changed so many things for the better over the 15/16/17 model(s). Anecdotally, sometimes it’s better to skip the refresh year with engine tweaks, as issues need to pan out for engineers to make revisions for the following year, but the 2018 GT I experienced is still a great car and I like the addition of the 10 Speed.

 

[D.T.]

It's not anecdotal, there are factual accounts of Gen 3 engines having issues, what hasn't been determined is how pervasive the issue is, the Gen 2 had some issues as well (ex: OPGs shattering), but it was a tiny percentage (not unlike the C6Z06 issue back when ...), I know 3 people with MY18 cars, one who was a very early delivery and tracks his - I'd suspect runs it harder than 99% of the people in this thread - he's had zero issues.

If I was interested I'd buy a MY18 without hesitation.

 

[D.T.]

So we did our first major road trip in the DDRT, it's one of the reasons we went with a 3-row/6-passenger SUV, so our good friends could ride in the same car, and we'd have plenty of carry/storage/tow capacity left over.

Well, it's just outstanding. The RT has a slightly stiffer, lower suspension vs. other models, but it was extremely quiet/comfortable, the HVAC system is really solid, has discrete rear controls with ceiling vents, whole vehicle gets a good, balanced cooling. It also has adjustable steering, so I dialed it back to comfort mode, allowed for lighter input, and the active lane mitigation and cruise was a treat on the mostly long, straight highways.

With the 5.7L it just moves along, no problems passing, tons of acceleration capability between 55 and 75, almost no difference with a full vehicle and cargo vs. just me driving it, seriously, this 8-speed transmission + lots of torque V8 never feels underpowered.

The payload In vehicle: 6 passengers (4 adults, 2 kids), 5 backpacks, 1 soft cooler, 4 carry on sized rollers - on a ProSeries hitch carrier: 2 x 40 gallon storage bins loaded with dive/boat/lobstering/fishing gear, 1 roller (watertight model, interior overflow), 1 x 20 gallon cooler loaded up.

We leave Vilano, drive to Plantation Key, ~400 miles, arrive with a solid 1/4 tank of gas, no gas stops, used it for a week here and there for supplies, didn't even have to gas up till the departure day.

*BOOM*

 

[D.T.]

Oh yeah, so if you ever use a hitch carrier, I'd highly recommend one of these (previously posted) hitch tighteners:

http://a.co/0USBFub

~$15, basically a bracket with a U fastener that clamps down on the hitch and carrier bar, prevents any play/movement, really makes it solid, removes any possibility for rattling, etc., and for the money, it's kind of a "why not" type of thing

 

[quagmire]

As promised.... Pics of the chips that the factory PPF isn't sufficient protecting against. Minor right now, but I don't want anymore damage down the road.

 

[44267547]

As promised.... Pics of the chips that the factory PPF isn't sufficient protecting against. Minor right now, but I don't want anymore damage down the road.

Makes sense and its in an obvious area where rock chips would be one of the Most prevalent areas, and nor do you want to use touch up paint every time where you can just add the overall protection from Xpel. Especially on a dark grey or back car, you can spot every defect without even having be at a specific angle or up close, its the downside to darker colored cars.

Every time I buy a sports car, I tell myself to get different color besides black, and I end up always buying black (Aside from the white SHO, Vic and 04’ GT I owned). I just can’t get away from how good black looks, especially with a meticulous detail job, but then I probably would alter my perception if my sport cars was not a daily driver, which fortunately I don’t have to daily Drive anything.

Speaking of Xpel, I’m sure you are aware that Matt Maran took delivery of his 19 Bullitt and already applied Xpel to his car as well. The more I see Highland Green, I seriously would consider that for a color in the future or something remotely similar.
[doublepost=1533030125][/doublepost]Oh, and on the topic of Mustangs, I’m meeting with the GT 350 owner from the track from over a month ago in the next two weeks to find out his viewpoints and his experience with ownership over lunch. Even though this car is still consideration for me in the future, I have been paying more attention to the ZL1, Which is still a front runner, but part of me wants to own something totally different, which surprisingly in my city, there are quite a few GT 350s roaming around, but I have never found a ZL1 yet (And there is a black one for sale at a lot near me) and I don’t usually like to have a sports car that everyone else has or if I do, I make unique to my own. But something about the ZL1 has me leaning, but I obviously have to drive the GT350 first and then the ZL1.

 

[S.B.G]

I'm having an issue with the remote starter on my car and am wondering if anyone else has encountered this unique problem and to learn how you dealt with it.

This all started last year with my previous car, a 2016 Ford Focus SE. I had the Ford factory remote starter put in and it worked just fine for the first two years. Then when last winter came along and I tried starting the car at home it would not work. I had to literally stand next to the car with the remote before it would work. I changed the batteries thinking that was the problem as it seem the most obvious but that didn't help. I did not test the starter in any other location and brought it in to Ford and the dealership replaced the unit free of charge. However the problem remained. Then I began going different places and using the remote starter and it worked every time. But at home it never worked.

As I looked around, literally, there is a cellular tower about a block away and in direct line of sight to my apartment complex and I figure it must be cellular interference blocking the signal. There wasn't anything I could do about and let it be and resigned myself to the fact that I will have to get into a cold car again. Then one day for fun halfway through winter I tried it again and it worked. It worked for a few weeks and then went back to not working. Perhaps there was a problem with the cellular tower for that time and they eventually fixed it.

Fast forward to now and I have a new Lincoln MKZ with the built in remote starter from Lincoln and the Lincoln Way app where you can start the car over the Internet from anyplace. I thought that was the answer to all of my problems since I wouldn't be relying on RF signal to start the car, but could do it via cellular and I think it uses AT&T for service, which is also my cell phone provider - and I have no problems with that.

However again, at home the Lincoln will not start either by key fob or Lincoln Way app. I drive to another location and try them and they work fine. But now the car will also not start at work whereas the Focus did. I have a public safety tower right there and there are Sprint cellular arrays on it. So the two places I want/need the remote starter to work most, it won't. The key fob to lock/unlock the doors and pop the trunk worked fine on both cars.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of problem and what did you do to try to remedy the situation?

 

[44267547]

I'm having an issue with the remote starter on my car and am wondering if anyone else has encountered this unique problem and to learn how you dealt with it.

This all started last year with my previous car, a 2016 Ford Focus SE. I had the Ford factory remote starter put in and it worked just fine for the first two years. Then when last winter came along and I tried starting the car at home it would not work. I had to literally stand next to the car with the remote before it would work. I changed the batteries thinking that was the problem as it seem the most obvious but that didn't help. I did not test the starter in any other location and brought it in to Ford and the dealership replaced the unit free of charge. However the problem remained. Then I began going different places and using the remote starter and it worked every time. But at home it never worked.

As I looked around, literally, there is a cellular tower about a block away and in direct line of sight to my apartment complex and I figure it must be cellular interference blocking the signal. There wasn't anything I could do about and let it be and resigned myself to the fact that I will have to get into a cold car again. Then one day for fun halfway through winter I tried it again and it worked. It worked for a few weeks and then went back to not working. Perhaps there was a problem with the cellular tower for that time and they eventually fixed it.

Fast forward to now and I have a new Lincoln MKZ with the built in remote starter from Lincoln and the Lincoln Way app where you can start the car over the Internet from anyplace. I thought that was the answer to all of my problems since I wouldn't be relying on RF signal to start the car, but could do it via cellular and I think it uses AT&T for service, which is also my cell phone provider - and I have no problems with that.

However again, at home the Lincoln will not start either by key fob or Lincoln Way app. I drive to another location and try them and they work fine. But now the car will also not start at work whereas the Focus did. I have a public safety tower right there and there are Sprint cellular arrays on it. So the two places I want/need the remote starter to work most, it won't. The key fob to lock/unlock the doors and pop the trunk worked fine on both cars.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of problem and what did you do to try to remedy the situation?

Interesting. You definitely executed some troubleshooting/process of elimination of the basics. Based off what you’re saying, it sounds like interference of some sort that’s stopping the signal from your car to the transmitter in your remote area based off the tower location emissions. Do you know anyone else that has a newer Ford/Mercury vehicle with remote start near you that May be experiencing similar occurrences? If It was me, I would reach out to the dealership and see if they can contact someone with Ford/Mercury engineer team and possibly get you an answer what might be causing the issue or a remedy (If there is one), but it sounds like it’s related to signal interference directly in your resident area.

 

[D.T.]

I'm having an issue with the remote starter on my car and am wondering if anyone else has encountered this unique problem and to learn how you dealt with it.

Pretty interesting problem (I mean, I'm sure you'd prefer _no_ problem ). Cellular is 700+, vs. what I'd suspect is 315MHz for your key fob (I think some imports operate at ~433), still there's some sub-harmonics from those towers that come into play, plus there's a bunch of random electronics that work around those frequencies (garage door openers, all sorts of DIY radio gear, etc.), the cell based remote start might be getting tangled up in the RF based interference, almost like tamper proofing is getting triggered.

Have you tried various distances, putting the fob right up to the car in different places (not sure where the receiver might be)? Tried going totally dark at your house, i.e., all WiFi, garage door opener, etc?

To isolate you location at home, I'd drive away X yards/miles, get it operational, drive X - some_increment, try it again, see if I could isolate the area of non-operation, doesn't specifically help, but would be an interesting experiment.

There's a decent number of reports of people experiencing the same thing, mostly along the lines of "How do I get into my car without my RF based unlock", but it's usually at places other than their home or work (that's a seriously bad luck of the draw if you happen to have fob interference at both places).

Interestingly, our app based remote unlock works through satellite/Sirius, there's some decent latency (30-45 seconds), but it's pretty fun, I remote started the car from the boat, about a mile out from the docks last week

 

[S.B.G]

Do you know anyone else that has a newer Ford/Mercury vehicle with remote start near you that May be experiencing similar occurrences?

Unfortunately no, I don't know anyone nearby that I could query about a similar problem.

If It was me, I would reach out to the dealership and see if they can contact someone with Ford/Mercury engineer team and possibly get you an answer what might be causing the issue

That is a goal of mine too as I try to figure this out more. I have my doubts that any technician at the local Ford/Lincoln dealership would have the knowledge or be equipped to troubleshoot this particular problem. But I would hope that they would have a conduit to an engineer at the company that could help.

what I'd suspect is 315MHz for your key fob

I wondered about this and what frequency they operated on. The public safety band and the cellular bands are very close to one another in the 700 and 800 MHz bands. But if the fobs operate in the 300 MHz band, I wouldn't expect there to be any interference from the tower. That is unless of course they're pushing so much transmit power that they're blowing away the channel spacing something awful to reach way down that far. If that were the case, there would be a lot more than my remote starter being affected I surmise.

So if there is at least a 400 MHz difference between the fob and the tower, then there has to be something else causing it. WiFi is usually in the GHz, 2.5 and 5 typically. Military aircraft operate in some of the 300 MHz band and I know this because I used them in the Marine Corps. But there are no bases or airports anywhere near me so I think that is out.

Have you tried various distances, putting the fob right up to the car in different places (not sure where the receiver might be)? Tried going totally dark at your house, i.e., all WiFi, garage door opener, etc?

I think on my Lincoln the transmitter is on the trunk lid by the rear window. I've walked right up behind the car and stood on either side of it pressing the buttons and nothing.

---
This afternoon was interesting. First, on all of my old cars all I had to do was press the starter button 2 times quickly and that was it. But I knew some people's vehicles required them to press the door lock key once and then press the starter twice to get it going. So I tried that this morning from inside my apartment, just a while after my earlier post here, and that worked! It tried it again at the office, press the lock button then the starter button twice and it worked as well.

Then in the midday I had to go downtown for a meeting and while on the steps of the building I got the iPhone out and used the Lincoln Way app to start the car and it failed. I was nowhere near home or my office, but in the middle of town.

I run similar network setups at home and at work and had the idea this afternoon that perhaps something on my network is blocking the App from communicating with the car over the Internet. So I watched the logs and couldn't find anything. Then I switched off the WiFi on the iPhone and tried using the cellular connection only and the car still failed to start. But I was able to start it with the key fob this time.

When I arrived home I had to stop at the managers office for a minute. While I was walking through the courtyard, in-between all the buildings and not within range of my own WiFi, I tried the Lincoln Way app again and this time it worked. The car is parked in the exact same place as I always park it too. The only difference is that I was outside in the courtyard and not inside my apartment just a couple of hundred feet away.

So I come upstairs and inside the apartment and I'm sitting next to my big patio door window and try to start the car from the app and it fails.

The baffling thing to me is that, as far as I know, using the app, it is going over the Internet and searching for the car on the AT&T network to deliver the signal to start it up. My physical location with the iPhone and being on WiFi or cellular Internet should have no bearing on the success or failure of the starter. Yet, it does by all appearances that I've seen.

 

[44267547]

Unfortunately no, I don't know anyone nearby that I could query about a similar problem.


That is a goal of mine too as I try to figure this out more. I have my doubts that any technician at the local Ford/Lincoln dealership would have the knowledge or be equipped to troubleshoot this particular problem. But I would hope that they would have a conduit to an engineer at the company that could help.
.

So I thought more about your issue, and even though what I’m going explain below is not an answer to your problem, I think it might be somewhat directly related:

I Work in L.E., and in the county I work in, we have three Tait towers that broadcast our radio frequencies (Which are encrypted), our portable Tait Radio network is also contracted through these Tait towers.

Our county just recently added a fourth Tait tower directly behind a substation of local municipal department that was just recently remodeled and added a new garage With a Chamberlain garage door system for squad entry.

That said, due to the addition of the fourth tower that was added directly behind municipal building to expand the radio signal, it’s a common issue where the garage door will not open with the remote that is in each of the squad cars. Many times, I manually have to use the side entry door to open it from inside the garage, which many of us have complained of the on-going issue. We had two Chamberlain technicians investigate the Concern and they couldn’t figure it out, which our communication center started noticing a distortion in our radio channel transmissions ever since the implementation of the fourth tower. Finally, it was unofficially concluded that due to the addition the four Tower, it was blocking (Or interfering) the frequency from the Chamberlain garage door signal with Tait tower.

The issue was actually never resolved, The garage door sometimes is intermittent when it opens, most times, it does not. Last I heard, we had an open work order for a Tait engineer to look further into the issue. And now, the county just decided that we are going to migrate back to Motorola towers and radio’s, and terminate the contract with Tait for other reasons, which actually is excellent news, as Motorola has a much better service and product, but at a costly price.

Anyways, The point of the whole scenario I gave you is technology can be utterly annoying. Hopefully your issue is resolved. Being that your Lincoln is new, they really should have an engineer at least address your question and see if they have any feedback for you.

 

[Huntn]

I'm having an issue with the remote starter on my car and am wondering if anyone else has encountered this unique problem and to learn how you dealt with it.

This all started last year with my previous car, a 2016 Ford Focus SE. I had the Ford factory remote starter put in and it worked just fine for the first two years. Then when last winter came along and I tried starting the car at home it would not work. I had to literally stand next to the car with the remote before it would work. I changed the batteries thinking that was the problem as it seem the most obvious but that didn't help. I did not test the starter in any other location and brought it in to Ford and the dealership replaced the unit free of charge. However the problem remained. Then I began going different places and using the remote starter and it worked every time. But at home it never worked.

As I looked around, literally, there is a cellular tower about a block away and in direct line of sight to my apartment complex and I figure it must be cellular interference blocking the signal. There wasn't anything I could do about and let it be and resigned myself to the fact that I will have to get into a cold car again. Then one day for fun halfway through winter I tried it again and it worked. It worked for a few weeks and then went back to not working. Perhaps there was a problem with the cellular tower for that time and they eventually fixed it.

Fast forward to now and I have a new Lincoln MKZ with the built in remote starter from Lincoln and the Lincoln Way app where you can start the car over the Internet from anyplace. I thought that was the answer to all of my problems since I wouldn't be relying on RF signal to start the car, but could do it via cellular and I think it uses AT&T for service, which is also my cell phone provider - and I have no problems with that.

However again, at home the Lincoln will not start either by key fob or Lincoln Way app. I drive to another location and try them and they work fine. But now the car will also not start at work whereas the Focus did. I have a public safety tower right there and there are Sprint cellular arrays on it. So the two places I want/need the remote starter to work most, it won't. The key fob to lock/unlock the doors and pop the trunk worked fine on both cars.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of problem and what did you do to try to remedy the situation?

Have you asked this in a car forum? I have to imagine for the circumstances it would be a common problem (example close to a cell tower) and a car dealership or a source related to remote starters, might be a place where they have heard, or have ideas about it. What about power lines?

 

[S.B.G]

Anyways, The point of the whole scenario I gave you is technology can be utterly annoying. Hopefully your issue is resolved. Being that your Lincoln is new, they really should have an engineer at least address your question and see if they have any feedback for you.

Last evening I called the Lincoln concierge and spoke with a nice lady for about 25 minutes while she tried to research and assist me with the problem. Ultimately, and this is what I expected, she could not find a solution except to contact my local dealership. She did say that she was able to see the modem in the car and from what she could tell it was operating properly but that the dealership might be able to further diagnose it.

Have you asked this in a car forum? I have to imagine for the circumstances it would be a common problem (example close to a cell tower) and a car dealership or a source related to remote starters, might be a place where they have heard, or have ideas about it. What about power lines?

I'm not on any car forums and really don't want to search for and sign up for yet another online account. That's not to say the idea is a bad one, when in reality it is a common sense idea. I just don't want to at this time and want to continue on my efforts to solve it myself first.

---
With that said, this morning I tried something else from inside my apartment. I turned the cellular data off (airplane mode) on the iPhone and then re-enabled the WiFi and then tried starting the car from the Lincoln Way app. This time it worked. I only tried it once so far, and I will try it again later today at the office to see how that turns out. Just on this first try, the result is quite interesting.

When the cellular and WiFi are both turned on, it is my assumption that the app should default to the WiFi connection to communicate with the Lincoln cloud servers to establish contact with the car. But it appears that may not necessarily be the case and that it may be trying to use the cellular connection instead. But, like I said, I only tried it once and I need to keep trying it to see if it is consistent or not. If so, I may have found a bug in the app that Lincoln/Ford may need to address.

 

[Huntn]

Last evening I called the Lincoln concierge and spoke with a nice lady for about 25 minutes while she tried to research and assist me with the problem. Ultimately, and this is what I expected, she could not find a solution except to contact my local dealership. She did say that she was able to see the modem in the car and from what she could tell it was operating properly but that the dealership might be able to further diagnose it.


I'm not on any car forums and really don't want to search for and sign up for yet another online account. That's not to say the idea is a bad one, when in reality it is a common sense idea. I just don't want to at this time and want to continue on my efforts to solve it myself first.

---
With that said, this morning I tried something else from inside my apartment. I turned the cellular data off (airplane mode) on the iPhone and then re-enabled the WiFi and then tried starting the car from the Lincoln Way app. This time it worked. I only tried it once so far, and I will try it again later today at the office to see how that turns out. Just on this first try, the result is quite interesting.

When the cellular and WiFi are both turned on, it is my assumption that the app should default to the WiFi connection to communicate with the Lincoln cloud servers to establish contact with the car. But it appears that may not necessarily be the case and that it may be trying to use the cellular connection instead. But, like I said, I only tried it once and I need to keep trying it to see if it is consistent or not. If so, I may have found a bug in the app that Lincoln/Ford may need to address.

I know nothing about your remote, it uses an app on your phone to communicate with the starter in the car?

Maybe not related, but there are times at the house when our WiFi goes down and the cell phone will not dial out, trying to use the WiFi connection. Once I turn off WiFi on the phone, the phone will dial out via cell. Maybe your app is similiar?

 

[D.T.]

I know nothing about your remote, it uses an app on your phone to communicate with the starter in the car?

His MKZ (not unlike our RT) has a standard, RF based key fob for short range, point to point communication (across 315MHz), plus a separate "internet based" remote start service that works via device>server>cell_relay>car (with cell receiver/antenna).

That's the slightly puzzling part of this, the two systems should be discrete, and operate on totally different frequencies, but it appears he's getting interference on _both_. I mean, I guess that's totally possible, and this is just one of those cases with multiple variables, different systems, but the same net result (i.e., no remote start). Plus, even though the cell tower is up at 700MHz+, there are sub-harmonic frequencies that can be generated that are down the key fob space, and all that's combined with other errant radio waves, etc.

I'm a bit suspect that the cell based start might be getting interrupted by the fob based interference as part of some kind of safety/security type implementation. For example, when we use our app for a satellite based remote start (from hundreds of feet, if not a mile away), the RT locks, and sets the cool/heat systems as needed (based on temp sensors), and goes into like a standby mode - you can't put it in gear until you press the start button with a fob present (just like a regular start).

 

[lowendlinux]

@SandboxGeneral

Isn't your car less than a month old? Why not drag the service writer out to where you're having issues and have them fix it?