We ordered a fully loaded Platinum last year and I'm a little disappointed with a car that cost me almost $60000. The car is really nice and the power is great. My problem is that I paid for a luxury car, and I got a luxury car on almost every front. Everything except for service. I bought 5 fords from my dealership last year and they still treat us like crap. The engine (3.5L ecoboost) runs rough 25% of the time when you start it. It can be from a cold start to just ran in the store for 15 minutes. When it does it, you can both feel it and see the tach jump up and down a couple hundred RPM's. If you try to put it in gear the vehicle bucks unless you step on it. If you wait 30 seconds, it smooths out on it's own. It also does it on the road intermittently while driving under light throttle conditions, usually up a slight grade at around 1400 RPMs. You'll feel it shuddering, kind of like a misfire.
I've done searches and only saw one other post something about a Sport doing it and the dealership found it to be an idle sensor. My dealership said they don't care what I find, they need to experience it for themselves and find it themselves. I waited 3 hours while they had it at the first oil change and they didn't see it occur, find anything, or see any TSB's so tough luck. I'm in Vermont and I swear all of the Ford dealerships are bad here. This is the best one I've experienced.
So my question is, has anyone else experienced this and what was it? I think I'm going to try BMW or Cadillac next time. This service is so bad. Not my first problem with them. I'm disappointed because we really love the car and they's sold over a million ecoboosts. Why do I get one with trouble?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and I've also tried running premium fuel to see if it would make a difference. It did not.

 

Hi kerm7807,

Let's see what I can do to turn this situation around. How many miles are on your Explorer currently? I'll get to work on some options for you.

Crystal

 

Hi Crystal. There's 6000 on it. It's serviced and purchased at Heritage Ford in Vermont.



Let's see what I can do to turn this situation around. How many miles are on your Explorer currently? I'll get to work on some options for you.

Crystal[/QUOTE]

 

Thanks for the quick reply, kerm7807. Send me your details via PM, including your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership. I'll escalate this to your regional customer service manager and arrange for them to give you a call.

Crystal

 

Any updates on this situation?

 

They had the car for 4 days and gave me a garbage rental that I drove home and it sat. No way I was driving that. The car isn't fixed. They did try, but the way they went about working on it made no sense. The reflashed all modules before they started taking readings from the car. I even went with them and we couldn't get it to act up, but it's back again. It is slowly starting the whole jerking thing again at light throttle conditions. I'm going to wait for it to get much worse before I bring it back again. It could be something as simple as a problem with the accelerator pedal. I don't know, but I'll update as it worsens.

 

Just a thought and it might not help at all but run it low on gas, fill it with premium, and toss in a bottle of "dry gas". My Sport idled raggy and sounded really coarse at full throttle. After the first 8 months or so I started filling it with mid-grade and I toss in a bottle of dry gas every 4 - 6 tankfuls. Idles smooth as glass now and accelerates much more smoothly.
Yea, I know the manual says it runs OK on regular but it does that by dialing back the ignition advance. That's why they give the rated horsepower figure in the literature only on premium gas.

 

Not a bad idea. I'm kinda ashamed I didn't think of that...lol...

 

I tried running premium and engine cleaner. No difference at all. It's not the fuel. We have more gremlins in the machine now.

 

Here's the latest info sent to my dealer. They just said they would pass it on to Ford. Impressive service team.

Since we got the Explorer back, the lift gate no longer operates in all conditions. I'll explain hopefully. When the car is locked and key FOB is in your pocket you should be able to open the lift gate by kicking under it or pushing the button on the back. Those 2 methods don't work at all. It doesn't work with the kick method at all anymore, even while unlocked. You can still open the lift gate with the FOB button, interior button, or when unlocked, the rear button.

As far as I know, there is no setting to affect this. The only setting I can find is the one to enable and disable the button on the lift gate. It is currently enabled.

We are experiencing more and more of the same behaviors that were exhibited before with the engine. It's not as bad as it was. Sharon was looking in the book about the lift gate and the only thing that seemed odd was that is said it wouldn't work if there was a low voltage from the battery. I'm grasping at straws here, but we were experiencing more problems in cold weather when we were pulling more power, like seat heaters on high, steering wheel heat on and so on. Is there a possibility there is a problem with our battery or power system? It could explain a lot. I checked the battery with a multi-meter which doesn't tell me much. It doesn't even read decimals, but it said 11 volts.

 

Have the battery load tested. Any decent garage should have a load tester, as should the dealer. You said you read 11 volts. Under what conditions? With the engine running you should see between 12.4 and 14 volts. Engine off with a fully charged battery should show 12 - 13 volts.
Lift gate - check out the procedure in the manual for setting the maximum opening distance. Maybe it got screwed up? The foot wave thing is a sensor. maybe it got blocked or damaged.
I've noticed on my Sport that when the vehicle is locked and the key fob is in my pocket it usually takes 2 tries to get the gate to open with the button. Doesn't happen that way when its unlocked.
The cold weather thing shouldn't matter - the seat heaters, steering wheel heater, etc don't draw any where even close to the output of the alternator.
Seems to me, the dealer would have checked the battery and charging system as one of the first things to do. Maybe its time for YOU to contact Ford directly and go above the dealership.

 

11 volts was with the vehicle off. I'm so frustrated. The garage doesn't give 2 ****s. They just passed the information on to Ford. Not really interested to even look at it because they don't have a clue. I went through almost this same scenario about 12 years ago with Ford. Finally had to sue them and won under lemon law. Stupid me, I like their vehicles, and started buying them again. The vehicles are great, but you have to have the ability to service them and I'm done. I just traded my F350 for a new GMC 3500 Denali Diesel. This may end up in another suit if Ford doesn't do something. Very disappointed. I try to always buy American and take pride in it, but this is crazy.

I wish it was just a sensor, but it's definitely not that simple. We will see and I will update, but as soon as I can, I'm running as far as can from Ford and there won't be a third chance.

 

I certainly understand your frustration. My last 2 new vehicle purchases were Fords. I bought a new F350 diesel King Ranch in 2005 from what turned out to be one of the worst Ford dealerships on the east coast. The truck had to be flat bedded back to the dealer the day after I bought it due to a blown heater hose. While at the dealership they damaged the truck and tried to claim it was damaged when they received it back. Their own security video proved them liars and they had to do the repairs. At the time Ford was offering a $500 Home Depot gift card with new truck purchases. It took 4 months to get the card from Ford because the dealership would not report the truck as sold. I paid cash and they were holding on to the money apparently. That dealership eventually lost their Ford franchise a year or two later. They now sell Kia's.
When I set out to buy my 2014 Sport I shopped around. I knew exactly what I wanted in the way of options - nothing more, nothing less. Eventually, I visited 5 Ford dealerships. My experiences ranged from "we got what's on the lot" to "we don't take special orders" to "the salesmen are all busy right now" (they were all eating lunch).
Then I found a dealer who couldn't be nicer. They were willing to order exactly what I wanted. They gave me more for my trade-in than I was expecting. Having checked beforehand, they quoted a fair price and when my Explorer finally came in they told me that Ford had increased their cash back from 1K to 2K. I didn't know.
One more thing - their service department was cleaner than most hospital operating rooms. I was impressed. Their parts department even gives me a discount on parts and supplies since I bought it there.

I guess my point is don't put all the blame on Ford. Just like a good hospital can have a few crappy doctors a good car company most definitely can have a few crappy dealers. I know - I found most of them.

 

Did Crystal go on vacation???

 

I’ve updated your case and will have your CSM reach out to you today, kerm7807.

Unfortunately, Crystal is no longer with the company, oneowner83. She’s on to bigger and better things and will truly be missed here.

Deysha