Just thought I'd vent a bit and share my headache of a story with you.

It all started several months ago. I have a 2008 Expedition Limited. After 10,000 miles, it developed a power-downshift squawk. If you've ever heard it before, you'll know exactly what I'm referring too. If you haven't, it's a squawking noise that happens when you force a downshift; i.e. 4th to 3rd when passing another vehicle.

I brought the car to Manhattan Ford and told them about the problem. They had the car for 2 days. When I got it back, the report stated the tech had confirmed the noise, reflash the transmission control module, and added 2 qt of ATF.

I picked up the car and drove it to Florida from New York and back. However, the noise still persisted. Highly annoying, although doesn't really affect drivability.

Anyway, after getting back to New York, I did a bit of research and found TSB 09-6-1. I printed it out and brought it back to Manhattan Ford. They took the Expy back, replaced the over drive friction plates as detailed in the TSB and gave the car back.

Well, the good news is they fixed the squawk. The bad news? They gave me back a truck with a leaking transmission.

So... now's the 3rd time I've brought the truck back. Service advisor is genuinely concerned and apologetic, and offers me some free service, yada yada yada. All I really care about at this point is to get my practically brand new 2008 Expedition back (remember, only has 12k miles - I don't drive it much) with no additional problems.

Well, they take the truck back and after another 2 days give me a call and tell me it's ready. According to the work order, the tech "repaired transmission cooling line." Whatever. I pick up the truck thinking this is the end of my woes? Nope. I'm not so lucky. As soon as I get home and park, I get out and notice the smell of burning ATF. I look underneath the car, and it's still leaking in the exact same spot - right above the transmission cross member and left bank exhaust cross-over pipe.

Now I'm pissed! I drive the car right back to Ford on the west side of Manhattan. It took me an hour to get back there because of traffic even though I live 5 miles away. By the time I reach the dealership, they're closing and the only service advisor left is about to leave.

I have a few choice words with the poor guy and pretty much told him to either have it fixed right or give me a new transmission. He's apologetic and takes the car back. That was this Wednesday.

Anyway, it's now Friday and I just got back from the dealership. According to the service advisor, he says the leak was coming from the fill plug. He claims the tech told him it was a bad seal and fluid was weeping from that point. I don't know if I believe him - I don't think any sort of liquid gasket or material is supposed to coat the threads of the fill plug. I hope they didn't cross-thread the plug when they were rebuilding the tranny.

Well, so far after crawling under the truck with a flash light, I don't see any leaks. I'll probably unscrew the drain plug tomorrow and see if they messed with the threads. Hopefully my headache is over.

Sorry for the long rant, but I wanted to spare someone else the agony of dealing with incompetent technicians at Manhattan Ford.

 

Crawled under the truck yesterday and did a thorough check. Couldn't find any additional leaks from the fill or cooler points. I did see evidence of fluid having leaked from where the AT cooler lines entered the transmission, but so far that seems to have been resolved.

I can finally enjoy my truck again!

 

Glad it all worked out for you. Just sad it took several visits.

 

Good to hear that it's been resolved.

 

Scary to hear this considering I just bought my 2008 limited last week and have to have the same thing done. Hopefully my mechanics arenot as inept as yours!

 

I hope for your sake they're not as bad as mine.

Not sure if they're inept - perhaps lazy or unscrupulous. The process to replace the OD friction plates is a fairly straight forward one. I have a theory that the tech working on my car was intentionally sloppy so that they could continue billing Ford for the warranty work. I can't prove it, but that's just my opinion.