So this afternoon my truck got a long over due ( 600 miles) Oil change. Since I was short on time ( showers in the area) but I had enough of the supplies needed that I didn't have to go out for them. As I am under the truck, my 3/8 ratchet didn't seem to want any of the bolt. I said OK I will get the 1/2 inch with the 16 MM socket. I know the ratchet is flickled. Now I have the 1/2 inch on the job. It is fighting me to come out. Once I got it started, the oil was coming out in a fine stream. The whole time I had to drive my ratchet into the stream of oil splaching me with hot oil in the process. After about 5 minutes of fighting with the plug, I find out the bugger is messed up. Cross threaded and to the point it looked like an impact gun was used to install it. So now I am fuming under the truck. The last oil change was at the dealer when I had a set of tires replaced. This was back in November 2020. At this point, I am covered in oil and my wife comes out and looks at me. She asks what happened, I showed her the plug. She goes that's not good. Luckily we had to run out to get something else. She dropped me off at the Auto zone and I got the last replacement oil plug on the rack. Now we race back home as the clouds are starting to draken up some more. Get home and pray the threads in the oil pan were not wrecked. Luckily they were not. I was able to hand thread the bolt into the pan correctly, I checked for play. The bolt sealed (Probably becuase of the cheesy o ring on it) and held oil. Then as I am adding oil, I come to find out I have exactly 7 quarts of oil between 3 5 qt bottles. Dodged another bullet. By then, I was done with dealing with the truck. Tire rotation ( another ford tech speciality) will be done later this week providing I get home early enough. Ford techs don't seem to reprogram them when they are installed or even rotated. Local dealership is dumbfounded I notice this when it happens.

 

Fumoto valve…end of problem!

TXCOMT

 

One reason I do my own maintenance. The guys that do oil changes and general maintenance at dealerships normally dont know their head from their ***.

 

Sad but true in too many places!

TXCOMT

 

I am gonna have to climb under there and see where it is. Always wanted to do one but was scared when I was snow plowing to snap it off.

 

I thought about the Fumoto valve but changing oil is such an infrequent task I can’t justify the cost. After every oil change I reconsidered but then it’s one less time I would need it.

 

I have a Fumoto on my 6.7 and the Stalhbus on my 6.2

 

I thought the Fumoto valve for my truck. However I know on the work vehicles that were it would be best. The Ecoboost 3.5 in the F150 and T350 van have a side mounted oil drain. We grab coroplast from the shop to stop the oil from hitting other sections of the vehicles. The fumoto could be tubed and drained easier during service. The oil filters are another matter. I really want to smack the engineer for that one. AS a matter of fact it reminds me of the 4.6 V8 oil filter location on my dad's Explorer. Such a dumb set up.

 

I've always done my own oil changes, however with my 2015 F250 6.2L, I find my garage is too small to do the work in. So I've been going to one of the Ford dealers for oil changes, tire changes, etc. They have exclusively done all maintenance on my truck, I have not done any. I only drive about 5000 miles a year with it, so two oil changes, one in spring and one in fall.

After one oil change, the service advisor says the tech replaced a leaky oil pan plug, tried to charge me for it too. After I suggested the truck was still in warranty and they have done all oil changes on it, he removed the cost off the bill. In fact, he deleted the entire line item showing such work was done. Fast forward, the following year, two oil changes later and the service advisor states that the tech has replaced the oil pan plug as it was leaking. In all my almost 40 years of changing oil on a vehicle, never have I had to change out an oil pan plug because it leaked. I asked to see the plug. When shown, I could see the threads damaged on it and remarked that it must have been cross threaded into the oil pan. The oil pan plug was changed again the line item was removed from the bill. But I went further this time. I called the dealer two days later and spoke to the Service Manager about the problem and suggested it will just continue with the threads wrecked on the pan. The dealership agreed to replace my oil pan just before warranty was off. I'm sure they tried to claim it as warranty.

The problem, most likely a tech using an impact driver or some motorized tool to re-install the oil pan plug. They won't admit it, but what else could it be. Such BS that something like that is allowed. Any and all threaded bolts should be started by hand, always.

Now I have an oil pan replaced, the factory one never leaked. Hoping the replacement won't but not convinced based on the crappy work that caused the replacement in the first place.

So, FordmanNJ, I have also lived the same frustration but was able to pin the problem squarely on the dealer.

I won't even go into their tire change over / rotation failures.

Why do I continue to go to a Ford dealer?? Not impressed!!

 

I'm having the same feelings about Ford service, I've always have had Ford change my oil in my 2013 because of extended warranty but now that the warranty is coming off I'm going to change it before we head south for the winter and change it when we get home, it will be between 5 to 6K miles. I find they are checking fewer and fewer things as time goes on and things they say they checked weren't. The real mind changer is with the used Ford certified 2020 F150 with 30K miles we bought, it was supposed to have a 170 point inspection done and after I started checking it out the air filter dirty beyond belief along with the cabin filter I think both were original, so I'm checking everything myself and will service it myself. Then there's this fiber sound deadening shield under the transmision that had to come off when changing the oil that apparently had just the front screws removed and left hanging by the back two so the one rear tab was damaged and the shield was hanging by the other side. I'm still trying to get my extended warranty papers and payed for a windshield repair so haven't filed out the satisfaction survey yet but I will and it will be brutally honest.

Denny

 

This is the reason I do my own maintenance. I call oil changes a get reacquainted visit. I crawl under, take a look around, address any other issues, etc. I also keep a running log on my phone in "notes". Here is part of the entry from my 2nd oil change...
Also: Added "compact" No-Spill drain plug, #15-14150-01 (M14x1.5) Plug $36.35, Drainer $18.65, shipping $13.25....ouch. Bought 3.18.20

 

I see this all the time. There's no excuse for it. If the plug is started by hand with a modicum of care it should never get damaged. This is also why I do my own oil changes.

 

Now, don't think this is something new. In the mid '90s I had a Taurus SHO. Drivers side half-shaft had a torn boot on CV joint. Called Phil Long Ford and was told the price to replace the boot. Slightly over $300. I didn't want to do it myself so I brought the car in and was pleased that the bill was to the penny what the estimate said. A year later I heard the horrible clacking noise from the CV and by then I was doing the maintenance. To my surprise the CV was completely shot, full of salty sandy water. Whoever replaced the boot didn't replace the clamp around the larger end.
This car had problems and the clutch was replaced under warranty. Got the car back and the interior was covered by greasy handprints. Got that taken care of. About a month later a halfshaft came out of the transaxle while my wife was driving in traffic. It hadn't been seated during reassembly. Friendly Ford in Wheat Ridge is out of business now, good riddance.
But the best one was when the transmission was making weird noises. Took it to Courtesy Ford where we had bought it new. The service team kept it for a day and a half and then told me nothing was wrong with it. I said to the service manager, what do I do? Drive it until it breaks? He said yup that's what you do. The transmission came to grief right outside Las Vegas New Mexico when the internals welded themselves together. We were on our way to Disneyland. Fortunately the Ford dealer in Las Vegas NM knew what service was. They had to rebuild the entire transmission from pieces even going so far as to air freight the new housing in from New York. They paid for our rental car and the extra days spent waiting for the car on our way back. This happened 80 miles before the warranty on powertrain expired.

So out of four dealers, one was a star. A 75% failure rate is not acceptable in my world.
Now I do all my own wrenching.
R.

 

Don't you just love it. Reminded me of a situation at work, years ago. My technicians worked on equipment installed and removed at another location. They kept telling me the equipment was being damaged by a specific "cleaning" procedure used by the using location operators. I contacted a technical advisor/coach in that location and explained what my guys were seeing, having to deal with and what they said was causing it. I was told that "no operator would do that to the equipment." A couple weeks later I happened to see that tech. advisor/coach observing his operators working on that very piece of equipment and stopped to talk to him. While we were watching one of his people did the very thing my technicians said was causing the damage. I quickly pointed it out to the tech. advisor/coach. He turned, looked at the guy damaging the equipment and replied, "That guy? He's not an operator," and then he turned away and took off a fast walk to get away from me.

Denial, not just a river in Africa (always like that movie.)

I've been planning to let the dealership change the oil/filter on mine the next few years while it's under warranty and they'll do it for the fees/costs I'm already paying. Now I'm wondering if I'll have issues later on. Sure hope the guy I bought it from will do better.

 

As a Snap-On distributer who deals with these guys on a weekly basis, I can 100% confirm that statement. Very rarely you'll get a decent veteran guy who is happy just changing oil and rotating tires for a steady paycheck because he doesn't want to deal with warranty work or the flat rate system, but most of the time it's the latest sketchy hire off the street that the dealership isn't sure if they can trust to do anything so they throw them on the lube rack and hope no customer notices things like stripped drain plugs, overtorqued wheels, or uncalibrated tpms sensors. Every now and then you'll even see oil caps left off. After seeing what goes on in these dealerships, I would never take my truck to one unless it's for warranty work and I know the tech who will be working on it.