I bought my 05 two years ago with 80,000KM on it. At the time I was sold a extended warranty for $3000-3500CDN that I should have never bought but that's a whole other story.

Anyways in those two years my truck had never been back to the dealer I bought it from but went to another dealer at 100,000KM to have the head gaskets replaced under my factory ford warranty. My factory ford warranty has since ran out and I am left with the aftermarket warranty till 2012. The truck now has 125,000KM on it and a few days ago the dealership i bought the truck from called me and said they noticed they haven't seen the truck in two years and wanted me to bring it in for a free inspection to make sure there isn't anything wrong that my warranty would cover. Being that im a mechanic and hate letting anybody else work on my vehicles I was unsure. But today I decided to take it to them just to see if they would find anything. I know my truck in and out and really doubted they would find anything but I was very wrong.

Since ive owned the truck it has always had oil drips on the oil pan/bell housing. Ive never been too worried about it though and just lived with it and never actually diagnosed where it was leaking from. Well today the service writer comes out and tell me the tech says its my bedplate leaking and the warranty will cover it. The service writer then told me the tech says my truck is tuned and if the warranty company sends out a inspector they will deny the warranty when they see this. Knowing i returned the truck to stock and took my sct out of the truck i asked to speak to the tech. He comes out and I asked what makes him think there was a tuner and he says because of this module mounted in the engine compartment with a bunch of wires...i tell him that's the module for my performax gauges and he says "oh okay you should have no issues with warranty then" He then proceeded to explain what a bed plate is and what it takes to repair it...I started finishing his sentences and he seemed surprised. So we start talking about dummy plugs, standpipes and STC fittings. He then told me that while he has the engine out he will replace all those if I pay for the parts.

I definitely wasn't expecting all this when I went in there and now Im stuck with the decision of whether I let someone else pull the engine from my truck and risk other problems from this or leave it alone and keep living with it like I have been. I was just wondering what some of you would do if this was your truck? The positives I can see right now are I get my moneys worth out of the warranty I paid for...plus I get some other common issues fixed at the same time for the price of parts which I think is a great deal....the negatives are I will be without my truck for 3 days, someone is gonna pull the engine and im always afraid of something not getting put back together right and causing me more issues.

 

I would go for it if the dealer gurantees their work... It would really tick you off if it suddenly started leaking after the warranty period..

 

hand 'em a box of studs while you're at it.

 

That's a tough one. I'd find out who the EXACT tech is who will do the work and have a very long conversation with him. I'd try to get a read on his knowledge and thouroughness and make sure all in the service dept. know right up frot that their work will be VERY closely criticized.

I'm pretty sure that there is a way to tell if someone has been using a tuner if you check hard enough.

 

get it in writing! three days sounds pretty short.

 

Doing bedplates sucks! Gotta pull the motor, that's a lot of stuff to have apart. Some guys do it with the engine in, but I've never been brave enough to try it... Yes, the bedplates do leak, but quite often it's another leak that comes down from above and wicks along the seam between the bedplate and block; I'd want to be very sure the bedplate was leaking before I took the motor out. Not that I'm questioning the tech's capabilities, it's just that it's a lot of things to take apart, and that means more chances to make a mistake. I get the idea of getting your money's worth out of the warranty, but I live by the rule that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

AGAIN, not saying it isn't the bedplate, but if it is something else, I sure wouldn't want my motor out for no reason. Having him replace all those common failure parts is attractive though, nothing like extra security.

 

Remember too, the tech is not the service writer or the dealer or the warranty company

Not that he wasn't honest with you,
but they got you in so they could FIND something to make money on in the first place,
who's to say all of a sudden it's torn down and it's not covered ? (NOT that that has ever happened before )

getting it in writing from the dealership, not the tech is not a bad idea....

 

Well I've thought about it and I'm gonna talk to the dealership and ask for everything in writing and make sure I know what its gonna cost me upfront for things like warrantu dedutable, the price of extra parts I want installed and any labor involved with those parts before I make my decision.

I did have a long talk with the tech yesterday and am very confident in him...I also went under the truck with him and he showed me the leak and the block is moist on both sides along the bedplate so I don't have a doubt in his diagnosis of it being a bedplate leak.

As of right now I'm still not positive I want to go ahead with it yet.

 

Be SURE that they contact the warranty company to find out EXACTLY what they are going to warranty BEFORE they start any work!

As it is the Ford dealer doing this, I would feel comfortable letting them do it. In fact, I already did...had to have head gaskets - oil coolers etc done last August. All done under Ford extended warranty. I paid extra to have the studs put in.