A few more of our readers sent token to cover the expenses for a full tank of gas. ECOSPORT DIY SERIES appreciates all the help sent by our readers. Maintaining a website is costly already, and one also needs to factor in the expenses required to carry out modification projects. I am reminded that there are people who care to share the costs of running this website, and thus, such a gesture is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!
If you wish to help out and donate to ECOSPORT DIY SERIES, please email: donate@ecosportdiyseries.com.
With all the modifications I’ve done with our EcoSport, the cost of getting another dash camera became prohibitive. To help offset the costs, one of our generous readers sent me a new Transcend Drive Pro 110. Our donor realized that modification projects do cost a lot, and wanted to help out offset the expenses by sponsoring a project. Thank you very much!
If you wish to help out and donate to ECOSPORT DIY SERIES, please email: donate@ecosportdiyseries.com.
I have received a screw driver set and a tire wedge from one of our readers. I’ve been using these items for several months now and they have proved to be very useful. The donor fabricated 2 wooden wedges, and then sent one to me. The screw set was something he thought would be helpful for our DIY series. ECOSPORT DIY SERIES appreciates this kind gesture. Thank you!
If you wish to help out and donate to ECOSPORT DIY SERIES, please email: donate@ecosportdiyseries.com.
Color codes are used to accurately identify a specific color. Knowing the correct color code is very useful when performing paintwork and repairs, as this prevents guesswork. Below are the color codes for the different color variants of Ford EcoSport:
One of our readers sent me a set of LED replacement for the cabin and external lights (2 for the dome lights, 1 for the luggage light, 1 for the map light, and 2 for the rear plate lights). While the car does not need bulb replacement at the moment (no busted bulb yet), I may try swapping the LEDs just to try them out. I will be posting a tutorial and a review about these LEDs soon.
We did not wish to eat a pizza frozen, so while waiting for my fiancée to buy some stuff, I placed the pizza on the engine bay in an attempt to warm it up. It worked and we enjoyed the pizza afterwards.
Re-heating a pizza by placing it on the engine bay is not exactly something that I would recommend, so please do not try this yourself. Eat the pizza cold ;)
Chocobo enjoying a warm pizza. To learn more about our rooster pet, click here.
As I switch on the high beams: random errors show up, the cabin lights dim, and the cabin fan (at max speed) slows down, indicating a weak battery. Upon inspection of the battery, I noticed a light corrosion build up on the positive terminal. Clearly, the battery needs replacement soon. This is to be expected since the stock battery is already 2.5 years old. As a general rule, one should replace the battery every 2 years.
Corrosion most probably due to battery leak indicates that the battery is getting old and may not be as reliable as it was. Note that batteries degrade as they get older, and may start to fail after 2 years. Expect to see corroded terminals when the battery is nearing the end of its usable life. Clean the corroded terminals as you replace the battery with a new one. You may use grease to weather-seal the terminals and minimize corrosion. In the case of our EcoSport, only the positive terminal suffered from corrosion.
EcoSport accepts both DIN44 and DIN55 batteries (DIN refers to a battery standard, with the numbers indicating the capacity, AH or ampere-hours, of the battery). I opted for an Emtrac DIN55, and it comes with 2.5 years warranty. Considering that the stock battery lasted 2.5 years, the warranty period of 2.5 years offered by Emtrac is enough incentive for me to consider purchasing the brand. According to the dealer, if the battery fails within the warranty period, it will be replaced with a new one.
DIN55 (left) is slightly larger than DIN44 (right). You need to pull a removable a tab on the battery’s cradle when installing a DIN55. Also, the computer box may be pushed upward and thus may leave a bit of a gap, but this is totally non-issue as you can still tighten the screws that hold the computer box in place. DIN55 is recommended if you have installed a number of accessories in your EcoSport.
DIN44 is perfectly capable of handling the demands of an EcoSport. DIN55, however, has 55 AH, thus, has a higher battery capacity than DIN44, which is rated only at 44 AH. The difference of 11 AH is desirable if you have installed a number of accessories, as in the case of my EcoSport. DIN55 costs about 7,000 pesos (140 USD) and DIN44 at about 6,000 pesos (120 USD). Replacement takes about 30 minutes.
A word of caution:
For MT variants: There is no need to keep the computer powered up during battery replacement. Simply disconnect the battery terminals, swap the batteries, clean the terminals, then reconnect the battery. The system’s time and date will reset due to disconnected power, but no error should show up.
For AT variants: There have been a number of reports that errors show up on some (but not all) AT units, when power gets disconnected. You may use an extra battery connected in parallel with the old one, so as to keep the computer powered during replacement. This issue seems to affect only some AT units, since a number of AT owners have successfully replaced their batteries with the power fully disconnected. It is still unclear what causes the errors to show (no formal statement yet from the car manufacturer). Most dealers charge up to 3,000 pesos (60 USD) to fix this error—computer reprogramming, as they call it.
In May 2019, I went on a trip to Iba, Zambales. From Cavite, the trip took around 6 hours, via NLEX and SCTEX, passing through Subic, and eventually, through the Olongapo-Bogallon road. I had a flat tire due to a ‘key’ left on the road, which pierced a tire some 30 km before reaching Iba proper.
On the way home, I stopped by a long bridge traversing a very wide river, where the lahar from Pinatubo discharges directly to the sea. The amount of lahar deposited in that river is massive!
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