So I dropped off the rig at the dealer this morning, 3470.6 miles on it. 3 separate occasions now, the 4x4 will not engage properly. Here is a description of each event.

1.)
Cold morning, 5-8 degrees IIRC, haven't driven truck for 3 days prior. Let truck idle and warm up for 15 mins or so. Moved selector to 4x4 high, light on dash shows "check 4x4" and the wrench symbol. Cycled back to 2wd, then to 4x4 again, same thing. Put in drive and babied it out of the driveway onto the road. Tried engaging again,while rolling, no luck. Drove to destination, shut off vehicle, came back out and started it up. This time, it worked on the first try.

2.)
About a week later, driving to town, saw a guy in the ditch(very snowy and icy) so I stopped and pulled him out. Went into 4x4 Low, just fine, pulled him out no slippage or struggle. Went to put back into 4x4 HI and it sounded like gears grinding VERY loud, and would not engage. The Check 4x4 light displayed. Put it back into 4x4 Low, drove 5 feet, then back into 4x4 HI, and it worked just fine.


3.)
About another week or two later(this past Thursday), it was working fine while driving, and I had been in and out of 4x4 HI 2-3 times throughout the drive. We were on our way back home from our destination, and tried engaging it again, and it wouldn't go into 4x4 HI yet again. This time, we heard the same VERY loud grinding sound, and said the heck with it, time for a trip to the dealer.

SO, Friday, I called the dealer and set up an appointment for Monday(this morning) as I had the day off to take the wife to the doctor anyway. I just got off the phone with the service department 30 mins ago, and I was not impressed. Here is what the woman said...

"To be honest with you, the technician thought you didn't know how to engage it properly, so he took it out to the snowy area of the parking lot and was playing with it. He walked back in here 5 minutes later and said that he needed someone to tow him back in, the truck stalled and wouldn't start back up."

So I asked if I could get a loaner truck for the time this one was going to be down. She said, "well, the tech is calling ford now, so give me an hour and I'll call you back"

So, tell me this, how in the heck do you manage to get the truck to not start just by engaging or disengaging 4x4!!!!!????? I'm not very happy about this to say the least...

 

Update:

Just heard back from service department again. The story now, is that the tech had the truck in the middle of the shop, trying to program the PCM with an update, and THEIR computer crashed while doing it. Now, this obviously toasted the PCM, but the tech doesn't understand that yet. On top of that, they still have no clue why it stalled and won't start to begin with. So, they are waiting on a call back from Ford, and I won't hear anything until tomorrow. I asked for a loaner, they offered me a Sonata...I declined, it wouldn't even make it up my road. Her response was, "what, do you live in the sticks or something?" I said yes...

This blows. Yup.

 

Tcky - simply tacky....at least they are giving you enough info so you can figure out the TRUTH!!!!

 

Please tell me where this dealer is, so I NEVER accidentally drive with-in 1000 miles of the place. This sucks, I hope it works out for you.

 

Nasseif Ford in Jefferson, Ohio. Don't worry, I live in podunk, this is the closest place to me. They seemed nice enough through the buying process...unfortunately their tech's don't seem to bright.

 

Update:

I finally managed to convince the service manager to let me talk to the tech on the phone. Apparently, he took the truck out to test the 4x4, with the scanner hooked up. He was having trouble communicating with the PCM, and he decided to upload a flash update while in the parking lot. Halfway through the update, it failed, and he tried to reboot it unsuccessfully. The PCM was unresponsive, he could no longer get the truck to crank, and had it towed into the garage. He spent several hours on the phone between yesterday and today with Ford engineering, and they had him try a bunch of stuff, swapping relays and such, all unsuccessful. So then they said to order a PCM, and he did. It will be in tomorrow, as nobody had one in stock yet, since it is so new. He also said he is still clueless as to why the 4x4 wasn't working. So, we are back at square one once the new PCM is in.

 

sorry to hear that -- did you put the exhaust back on before he got it?- you might have fried his brain with the straight pipes.... LOL

 

lol, nope, i left the exhaust as is, so it's good and loud. I'm still worried that there is something wrong with their computer, and it fried my trucks PCM...

 

Yea,
Keep us updated....

 

maybe the tech took it off the jump behind the dealer to fast and the hard landing popped a couple wires off.. im sure if they replace enough computers they will find the problem.

 

lol wouldnt surprise me. I watched a tire tech at NTB take my mustang sideways into the road when he was "test driving it" to make sure the alignment was correct. I was furious...

 

Well, the dealer got the PCM in around 1pm today. Spoke with service, who called me asking if I was "Close-by" to drop off my other key so they could program the new PCM. I asked why they didn't ask me for this when they ORDERED the PCM, as I could have dropped it off last night. They claimed they didn't know they woul need both keys. So I told them to cut a new key!!! To which they said, "Oh, I wonder if we could do that?"
OF COURSE YOU CAN MORON!!!!! I didn't say that, I just wanted to. I kept calm, and polite, and asked if I could bring my other key in when I pick up the truck to have them add it to the new PCM, since the key they are cutting for me does not have the remote buttons on it, and my existing one does. AND we still don't know why the 4x4 doesn't work. Yippee!!!!!!!

 

I have the same problem with my 4X4 wrench light on and then goes off.I had it into my dealer seymour ford Jackson michigan.They told me to bring it in when light is on to get code reading,3800 miles on my truck.

 

i cant believe they let such idiots work on trucks at the dealership, this is the main reason i do not own anything with a warrenty.

 

Well, I got another call from the dealer last night around 5pm. Here is how the conversation went...

Service Manager:
"Are you picking up the truck tonight?"
Me:
"Is it fixed?"
Service Manager:
"Ummm....I assume, the tech put the papers and keys on the desk."

Me:
"Does the 4x4 work properly? What did they find was wrong?"

Service Manager:
" Ummm let me check...these guys are idiots sometimes...(brief pause)...Ya, it says he doesn't know if the PCM change fixed the issue, it might have. If the error occurs again, drive straight to the dealership without turning the ignition off, so we can read the codes"

Me:
"So let me get this straight, you get my truck, break it, refuse to give me a comparable vehicle for a rental, fix what you broke, but don't fix what I bring it in for, and then tell me I have to wait until the light comes on, and bring it in again in the same engine cycle?"

Service Manager:
"Ummm..well I'm sorry about that, these things happen."

Me:
"WOW. So if I bring my other key up with me, tomorrow when I pick up the truck, can you program it then so I have my original back?"

Service Manager:
"Ummm...Ya I think we can do that. You could probably do it yourself, but we can do that for you."

I said thanks and hung up. What a joke. I have a BAD feeling about this. I love that I specifically said it was grinding gears on two of the occasions, and even showed the tech a video of it not working, and they then proceed to not believe that I know how to operate the 4x4 function properly. Blow up my PCM. Keep my truck for 4 days. And still not even look at the 4x4 drivetrain. The flipping planetary and sun gears for the HI-LOW selection in the transfer case are CLEARLY grinding when it tries to engage, likely because the servo motor that moves the shift fork was not moving it to the position that the computer thought it was...and they won't even look at it.

Trouble is...I have no other dealers within an hours drive to even consider. The only other two are both worse than this place. Complete and utter failures they are...

So help me...if I climb in that truck tonight and it doesn't go into 4x4...I might hurt someone...