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4,137 Posts
For a refresher, have a look see here...
http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/the-garage/soford-dealer-pissed-me-off-warning-long-rant_45746.html?word=rant
Now I dont want this to turn back into a dealer hate thread again, I just want to share some issues Im having with my car.
To start, the most pressing issue was the suspension noise I thought had been fixed last september. During a very hard panic stop on the freeway a few weeks ago, the noise showed up again. This is a loud pop, like metal breaking at a weld.
I had a few other issues, plus I had no time to do an oil change myself, so I sent the car in.
Wife dropped it off just before mothers day for the oil change, restiching of the passenger side seat bottom where a seam was starting to separate, the noise in the suspension, a dangling ebrake cable and a slew of lugnuts I wanted replaced because the chrome covers had come off. As some of you know, without the chrome covers on these cheap lugnuts, it becomes very easy to slip off with your standard 4 dollar chinese star wrench.
I picked up the car myself, and found that the ebrake cable was a special order part, they couldnt duplicate the suspension pop, and they "forgot" about the lugnuts. At least the seat was fixed. Very nice work too, cant tell it was coming apart at all.
Told him I would try and see if I can find a way to duplicate the noise. All I knew was that if I had a full car, and backed over the round curb at my grandmas trailer park, it would "pop out" and that mildy brisk acceleration, like merging with traffic would pop it back into place.
When my card arrived telling me to schedule an appointment, I decided to load the car, pop what ever it was out of place and then proceed to drive like an old lady to the dealer. When I got there I told the service writer to have the mechanic that would be servicing my car to go for a ride with me, as I was sure I could get the noise to happen once.
Dave, the service manager himself, went for that ride. Promptly upon pulling out into traffic, just as expected the noise made its nice loud "pop/crunch" sound and the service managers reply was "I've never heard that before,"
This filled me with confidence. But at least he heard it, and they knew I wasnt some ******* out to try and make up a nonexistant problem, which was they way I was beginning to feel.
That was Tuesday.
This morning, after getting no word, I decided to call and see whats up. I wanted to know exactly what had failed on the car. To my surprise, the operator forwarding the call says "Oh good, they wanted to speak with you" I talked with the service writer, who proceeded to tell me that the noise seemed to have "gone away" and that they drove the car for 30 minutes and couldnt duplicate the noise again.
I flew off the handle. After asking this moron "if ford had somehow found a way that cars cure themselves, why was there stock so freaking low?" I told him to never mind, and that I would be down to speak to someone in person later this morning.
I arrived at about 11:30 and was promptly greeted by the service manager. He told me that while they did indeed fail to duplicate the noise, that they had checked everything under the car, found nothing, but wanted to continue looking. He assured me that they were going to take care of my problem.
I told him to bring out the actual mechanic, and that I would take him for a drive and see what we could do.
This gentlemans name was Bud, and I believe hes a standup mechanic.
We took the car over to an un used side street, and with no other options to load the car, I simply began backing up over the curb. Ten tries later, and setting the ebrake partially to simulate the extra load of a full car, "BANG!!"
The technician responded with a "Wow"
It was then very easy to pull out into traffic briskly and show him how easily it popped back into place. Which it did with an authoritave "BANG"
At this point, I asked him what he thought.....
He told me that he'd not heard it ever before, but that it sounded like the subframe was coming out of the car. We chatted the rest of the way back to the dealership about possible causes, but more and more a subframe issue seemed to fit the bill best.
Fast forward to tonight....
I call up and talk to Dave. HEs busy, but has time to tell me that while they arent sure what the cause is, they've ordered parts!
At this point, where I sit, Im brimming with confidence....
Im going to go down there tomorrow to get a more detailed explanation from Dave, see what parts have been ordered, and with any luck, have a look under the car myself. At this point Im cautiously nervous that the subframe is cracked, and they are gonna try and hack it back together.
Hopefully tomorrow fares better than today.
At least the problem is being addressed, but at this point Im not sure if my car is going to be repaired or totaled.
Has anyone here ever gone through or assisted with a ford buyback for an unrepairable vehicle? Just kinda curious what I may be up against.
On a lighter note, I've been driving a rented Freestyle for 2 days and Im absolutely in love with it. Be it by trade or replacement, Im ditching the Focus for one of these as soon as my home refinance is finished.
http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/the-garage/soford-dealer-pissed-me-off-warning-long-rant_45746.html?word=rant
Now I dont want this to turn back into a dealer hate thread again, I just want to share some issues Im having with my car.
To start, the most pressing issue was the suspension noise I thought had been fixed last september. During a very hard panic stop on the freeway a few weeks ago, the noise showed up again. This is a loud pop, like metal breaking at a weld.
I had a few other issues, plus I had no time to do an oil change myself, so I sent the car in.
Wife dropped it off just before mothers day for the oil change, restiching of the passenger side seat bottom where a seam was starting to separate, the noise in the suspension, a dangling ebrake cable and a slew of lugnuts I wanted replaced because the chrome covers had come off. As some of you know, without the chrome covers on these cheap lugnuts, it becomes very easy to slip off with your standard 4 dollar chinese star wrench.
I picked up the car myself, and found that the ebrake cable was a special order part, they couldnt duplicate the suspension pop, and they "forgot" about the lugnuts. At least the seat was fixed. Very nice work too, cant tell it was coming apart at all.
Told him I would try and see if I can find a way to duplicate the noise. All I knew was that if I had a full car, and backed over the round curb at my grandmas trailer park, it would "pop out" and that mildy brisk acceleration, like merging with traffic would pop it back into place.
When my card arrived telling me to schedule an appointment, I decided to load the car, pop what ever it was out of place and then proceed to drive like an old lady to the dealer. When I got there I told the service writer to have the mechanic that would be servicing my car to go for a ride with me, as I was sure I could get the noise to happen once.
Dave, the service manager himself, went for that ride. Promptly upon pulling out into traffic, just as expected the noise made its nice loud "pop/crunch" sound and the service managers reply was "I've never heard that before,"
This filled me with confidence. But at least he heard it, and they knew I wasnt some ******* out to try and make up a nonexistant problem, which was they way I was beginning to feel.
That was Tuesday.
This morning, after getting no word, I decided to call and see whats up. I wanted to know exactly what had failed on the car. To my surprise, the operator forwarding the call says "Oh good, they wanted to speak with you" I talked with the service writer, who proceeded to tell me that the noise seemed to have "gone away" and that they drove the car for 30 minutes and couldnt duplicate the noise again.
I flew off the handle. After asking this moron "if ford had somehow found a way that cars cure themselves, why was there stock so freaking low?" I told him to never mind, and that I would be down to speak to someone in person later this morning.
I arrived at about 11:30 and was promptly greeted by the service manager. He told me that while they did indeed fail to duplicate the noise, that they had checked everything under the car, found nothing, but wanted to continue looking. He assured me that they were going to take care of my problem.
I told him to bring out the actual mechanic, and that I would take him for a drive and see what we could do.
This gentlemans name was Bud, and I believe hes a standup mechanic.
We took the car over to an un used side street, and with no other options to load the car, I simply began backing up over the curb. Ten tries later, and setting the ebrake partially to simulate the extra load of a full car, "BANG!!"
The technician responded with a "Wow"
It was then very easy to pull out into traffic briskly and show him how easily it popped back into place. Which it did with an authoritave "BANG"
At this point, I asked him what he thought.....
He told me that he'd not heard it ever before, but that it sounded like the subframe was coming out of the car. We chatted the rest of the way back to the dealership about possible causes, but more and more a subframe issue seemed to fit the bill best.
Fast forward to tonight....
I call up and talk to Dave. HEs busy, but has time to tell me that while they arent sure what the cause is, they've ordered parts!
At this point, where I sit, Im brimming with confidence....
Im going to go down there tomorrow to get a more detailed explanation from Dave, see what parts have been ordered, and with any luck, have a look under the car myself. At this point Im cautiously nervous that the subframe is cracked, and they are gonna try and hack it back together.
Hopefully tomorrow fares better than today.
At least the problem is being addressed, but at this point Im not sure if my car is going to be repaired or totaled.
Has anyone here ever gone through or assisted with a ford buyback for an unrepairable vehicle? Just kinda curious what I may be up against.
On a lighter note, I've been driving a rented Freestyle for 2 days and Im absolutely in love with it. Be it by trade or replacement, Im ditching the Focus for one of these as soon as my home refinance is finished.
