I had a little bit of a steering issue that was amplified when I put on some new 35" tires. Multiplied x 10 when hauling a trailer. So the tire shop put the truck back on their hoist and noticed some play in the shaft coming down from the steering box and said if I had warranty to take it in. I just took the truck into Ford and the first thing out of his mouth was "oh you put bigger tires on... we probably won't cover this under warranty". Let's get something straight... the truck went to the tire shop had tires put on... I maybe put on 200km driving to work and home before I could get it into Ford and their gonna rape me for repairs?! Brutal!

Last year I had a turbo that failed due to bearing failure and they told me they weren't going to cover it because I had a K&N air filter on it. I had to fight with the dealership for 2 months and took the turbo into a turbo rebuilder in the city who said in no way was the damage caused by insufficient air filtration (absolutely no pitting on the impeller what-so-ever). Finally the dealership reimbursed me my $3,000.00.

This dealership told me that because of the recession and the current financial situation that Ford is in that they now have adjusters that go to the dealership to approve the repairs where as before it was at the dealerships discression. This is the absolute crappiest service I have ever had from a dealer and normally I would say it could be blamed on the dealer but this has been the case from 2 different dealers. My wife has a Toyota Matrix and the service has always been great from all the dealers. It has been prompt and very accurate as far bringing it in on time and release at the end of the day and her car has a lot of the same garbage as my truck as far as air intake and exhaust goes. Ford always keeps it for at least an extra day over what they tell me for release.

You would think that being in a recession Ford would not be hiring 3rd party adjusters to okay their technicians judgement. You would also think they would be trying to gain the loyalty of their customers instead of treating them poorly!

I will be selling this truck if the service I receive this time around matches what I've gotten in the past, which is too bad cuz they have the best looking, most comfortable truck on the market and with a few mods I believe the engine could be equal to the others out there as well as far as longevity goes.

Sorry for griping but man I'm mad!!!

 

You should be mad and if you have the time send them a letter about this bs, sure can't hurt none and they need to hear/read this stuff in order to get on track with customer service.

 

What customer service?!?!

My local dealership p!sses me off so much! I simply can't stand them! The service manager is a total jerk- he won't even look at you when you talk to him.
Oh well... I guess it's a good way to get us out of our comfort zones on repairs.

 

I'm surprised that you still have warranty coverage on your truck. Did you buy an extended warranty? My dealer just charges me a $100 deductible towards my repairs, radiator and a cold air charger for the intercooler.

What kind of warranty do you have that covers your steering? Sorry if it's a dumb question.

 

7 year bumper to bumper... and paid a pretty good penny for it too! I don't really think Ford and GM should have gotten that bailout to the extent that they did... maybe than they would actually have to work for my business and better yet strive to improve their customer service.

I don't mind the ol' "pay to play" philosophy but when something goes on my truck that has no relation to an aftermarket part that obviously didn't cause the problem, then yeah I'm gonna get a little pissy with them.

Someone earlier had mentioned I write a letter to Ford about my experiences. Well I did when I went through all the bull@#$% with my turbo and I never even got a response. That letter went to the manager of the dealership as well as Fords head office and they did nothing... not even a letter or a call. Oh pardon me, they sent out a questionaire that I filled out and they gave me a Ford flashlight (about an inch long keychain LMAO!). It took me 2 or 3 months of griping to the store manager to get my $3000.00 back. We shouldn't have to go that far for service. I don't know what truck prices are like in the US but here in Canada a King Ranch dropped about $15,000+ from 2005 to 2008. So you tell me if they were making money?

Customer service = It's what would keep me coming back!

 

ummm Ford didnt take any money from teh govn. bailout..

as for the dealer in question have u tried other dealers around ur local area ? not all dealers staff are the same..

if one place doesnt treat u like u expected, try another...no reason to frequent a shop that has less then stellar CS.

 

I agree,,go to a different dealer,,,I can recall having to call them also,, was years ago,, but what a run-around I had. And it did no good,,plus the person I had to deal with was of foreign decent and could hardly understand them! English was not good!!

Get the Marbles out of your mouth,,,,,I can't understand you!!!!!!!!

 

This is now the third shop I have tried around here.

 

I can understand your frustration but you need to attempt to see the other side of the story. It is in their best interest to protect Ford's pocketbook and their own pocketbook. They have to draw a line somewhere. If you modify your vehicle then be prepared to fight for a warranty repair.

Larger tires can create issues with the steering components. K&N type intake have been know to cause premature turbo failure. These are common known things in the automotive repair realm.

The dealership NEEDS Ford to stay solvent so that they can feed their families. Just ask the service guys at our local and ONLY Chevy dealer here on our island. Warranty claims cut deeply into the bottom line. And any fraud could cost them their dealership. The adjusters work for Ford, the technicians don't. It makes perfect sense that Ford would check each and every warranty claim using their own "eyes"

These guys may not be going the extra mile and I agree that they should but cut them a bit of slack. It's rough in the automotive world right now.

 

Put stock size tires on and take it to a different dealer? Stories like this are part of the reason i will never buy new.

 

You probably don't have enough castor in the front-end alignment. The added tongue weight changes the angle of the front-end, so any castor you had is gone. The tire shop should check your alignment, not point fingers. Also, you might have too much (or not enough) tongue weight to begin with.

As for Ford refusing to do anything because of the bigger tires, well, all I can say is I agree with them

Also, the K&N filters are KNOWN to cause turbo problems on the diesels. It's a wonder they reimbursed you, but because you proved it wasn't the problem, they had to. The warranty law says that they have to prove (or disprove) that the issue was caused by the modifications. Since you proved it wasn't an air filtration issue, you win.

 

Hell sell the truck..that will show them!

Sorry but theatening to sell doesn't fix a thing and whoever buys your truck...you just sold them the problem as well. The economy sucks right now and they have to watch every dime to keep from following the same path as the other US Automakers. I am proud that Ford hasn't taken govt. help. It just means they will be ahead of the game when things turn around.

I agree with Art. If you have done two mods that are known to cause issues, no warranty repair. Researching mods carefully can prevent issues down the road.

 

Well the "Ford Gods" must have heard my griping. The dealership covered about a $1,000.00 worth of the front end repairs. I got stuck paying $430.00 out of my pocket (including my $100.00 deductible) for them to correct the botched allignment job done by the tire shop, yank out the Icon Camber Cams (DO NOT USE THESE WITH THE BILLSTEIN 2-1/4" LEVELLING KIT!!!!) and install their own stuff. I had heard from someone on the forum that the Icon Cams worked well with this kit... I STRONGLY disagree. It works great now. I am towing the camper with quads on the deck tomorrow and that will be the true test. Man I thought I was gonna have to fight tooth and nail again for this one!

In case you were wondering what the warranty work was for... they found loose ball-joints (odd for the truck only having 64,000kms on it) and before someone gripes in about blaming them on the levelling kit and tires... I had only put on 200kms with the tires etc before I took it in so it was NOT from the tires.

Next time I need tires I will buy from a tire shop and take them into Ford to install, balance and allign!

 

64K kms isnt that early really when u consider how heavy these trucks are.. and their intended usage...

i think what kills em thou is the lack of zerg fittings.. grease for life anything is a BAD idea..just there to assure down the road service work if u ask me...