FORD = Funny Old Recycled Dodge,
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F&*^!$&% Old Rusty Dodge,
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variations therof...
Gotta agree on the insanity of the "Ford way" of doing things. Just about every mechanic I know hates working on them. Like always, there's the "right" way, the "wrong" way, and the "ford" way! They always seem to have to find their own brain-damaged way of doing things. (Not that GM or Chrysler is any better sometimes, but at least they keep things simpler!)
One good example is the way Ford handles the electronic diagnostics. With GM or Chrysler, you can plug in a scanner and read
any sensor or parameter in the processor at will - in a ford (OBD II excluded; which appears only on '96 or newer) you have to go through Fords KOEO and KOER tests and let it tell you what codes pop up - and it
won't tell you what the actual sensor readings are so you can use your own smarts to figure out what the likely cause is.