Last night I had a life's lesson. Check your work and follow through on weird symptoms.

Conway Heaton FORD didn't like my attitude and refused to service my 2000 Expedition complaining it was rusty. I have a 2022 F-350 SCLB 6.7L Lariat that I bought new there and a 2025 Maverick on order there being built in Mexico as I write this. I was furious that I had to come and pick up my Expedition in a winter storm when I just needed the PCV hoses replaced. I decided that I would go back to doing my own repairs and maintenance.

It was time to service the Superdoodie so I installed SPE oil and trans pans and front diff cover, Banks cold air intake and rear diff cover while performing routine maintenance. I smelled a faint odor of Mercon ULV when braking and dismissed this as an overfill venting. It subsided in a few days and I didn't see any leaks.

Cold weather (13°F) set in and the truck went berserk. It wouldn't start and threw a mountain of codes. I charged the batteries and cleared the codes and an amber wrench appeared. The truck wouldn't move and was derated to just above idle. I let it sit and charge and warm up a while, then cleared the codes again. It drove ok, but shifted a bit harsh for a mile or two. My nine month old Motorcraft AGM batteries had let me down.

Within a few months of the cold weather causing subtle transmission shift issues, I began to doubt myself and repeated the engine and trans service on a warm 50°F evening last night.

Well, 15 quarts of Rotella T6 and 16 quarts of Mercon ULV later, I had found my errors. The trans pan gasket had shifted near the front allowing a slow leak that I didn't see. That was the smell. The filter seal had come loose from the pump input and was sucking some air. That was the weird shifting. I hope to Hell I got this right this time. The engine was close to an oil change so I did that too and removed the Caterpillar oil filter as it sat way too low for going through big snow plow drifts.

The truck performed fine with a test drive and I'm about to take a long drive to further test. I'll check for leaks and fluid levels. I'll bring tools, fluids and a tarp to lay on if needed. Wish me luck!

 

Well, there is no way to avoid a mountain of hard lessons when you endeavor to do things yourself. If the most researched, cautious and careful approach will still leave you short many times.

Still, I think it is well worth it. In my opinion, the advantages of learned capability far out-weigh the occasional, but often very frustrating and sometimes expensive mistakes.

 

Dealers suck and make the ris worth it. My 22 6.7 has 16k miles on it, found the support arm under the engine completely covered in oil, more so on passengar side. Took it into the shop to have them take a look, figured it was the upper oil pan. Dealership says they will need my truck for a month at least because they have to lower the trans to confirm its the oil pan before ordering the parts to do the repair. I go out and get a junker that ended up being a ****show situation but I needed a car for work.

Dealership calls me up and says "looks like its a valve gasket leak or maybe upper oil pan we cant be sure, you need to pay us 700 bucks to clean the engine so we can confirm". So i refused everything and told them to leave my truck outside for me to come and get, and its been sitting in my driveway for a month due to the weather. Next closest dealer is over 100 miles. Not sure what to do at this point.

 

Glad your truck is okay. We have all been there. A friend of mine just took his '24 Chevy 2500 to the dealer for transmission service. They didn't install the pan gasket correctly, but he didn't notice until after he was home. He did notice the trans temp was high. Worst part was the service manager claimed the Amsoil trans fluid he provided caused the problem. I have OCD, I look under the truck and inspect after I get my dealer to change the oil and filter, and even mark the old filter.

 

Call Ford Customer Support and let them know what is going on. It's their problem to resolve under warranty.

 

WOW That’s a first for me. The truck is too dirty to work on diagnosing an oil leak

Holy Hanna do they think they are building integrated circuits in a clean room?

Bob

 

How did you check the fluid?
I used the maghytec transmission pan.
It has an oring to seal the pan.
the maghytec took about 19.25qts of MC ulv
Anulvt "just dripped out the fill hole at 205* temps.

 

Your 36k bumper to bumper warranty is still in effect. If it were me, I would make the call to another FORD dealer.

I would buy a couple of cans of engine cleaner and have at it. Then add a bottle or two of Interdynamics engine oil leak detector and break out my trusty UV flashlight. Then let it run over a tarp until I see the first drip of oil. I'd take ample photo evidence, print it out on my color printer and tape it to the steering wheel before the FORD service writer takes the truck in. Diagnostics done with no $700 fee.

Refuse to pay for any warranty-covered engine repairs. It doesn't matter what pukes out of your engine, it's covered under either bumper to bumper or powertrain warranty. Also, look up your state's lemon laws.

FYI: All that UV stuff together is about $60 on Amazon.

 

I filled the trans through the fill plug hole with ULV and then I took it for a test drive to warm up the trans to 178°F. I then removed the fill plug on level ground. Some ULV came out so I reinstalled the plug. The SPE pan adds about eight quarts of ULV.

 

I don't understand why they would say you have to pay for anything on diagnosis since it is still well within warranty and obvious there is a warranty issue. Cleaning it off is part of the warranty repair.
I would be calling Ford customer care and raising hell, get a case opened and go to another dealer.

 

Stealerships...took my old kia in for 2 recalls I've been ignoring and they didn't have the parts. But they did find about 10 things worth $1200 in repairs as part of their free inspection. If I didn't do my own maintenance I might have fallen for this trick, but I know damn well most of those items are BS. They throw stuff against the wall to see if it will stick! I feel sorry for those who fall for this crap...

 

Old experience with my local dealer, like 20 years ago (anything past yesterday is hard to date)

I purchased a brand new Ranger. This was to be my dream truck. Ordered what I wanted and waited.

So the truck gets here and I am totally in love. Until like 11K miles. It starts making this grinding noise whenever the clutch is engaged. Having been a mechanic for many years, then twenty years working in enginerooms in the Navy, I have a pretty good sense of mechanics and a keen sense of anything “different" in my toys. This noise did not come on gradually, it was quiet one moment and next time i put my foot on the clutch it was there and only when I put my foot on the clutch.

Okay, guessing anyone that can drive a stick has already figured out that my grinding noise has to be the throw out bearing. My guess was something failed bearing, fork, something.

So i make an appointment at the dealer and explain that the truck is used for work. No truck, no work. They assured me they would get it back ASAP, probably before noon. Well, noon came and i called. I was informed that the service writer was out to lunch. He called around 1:30. He tells me the truck is ready.

I get a ride and get the truck. I mean it literally made the exact same noise as when I brought it in. I go back to see the service writer and he makes me wait for like 45 minutes to go listen to the “noise” while he does paperwork.

He finally gets in the truck, I start it and put my foot on the clutch (had it in neutral to start for effect). Of course the noise was still there. He told me that was normal! I asked him to pick any Ranger on the lot, new or used and show me that is normal. He said, let me get the tech to recheck. Around 5 he calls and says the tech has found the issue and it will be ready tomorrow. He claims the issue was “bad fluid in the front differential” and they had to pull the cover to change the fluid and clean it. When I go to get it, still making the same noise. He says he will have the tech check it out and get back to me. I ask for a loaner and he claims to have none.

After another day of no work, around 3:30 he calls and says it won’t be ready until the next morning. I say ok. Around 10:00 he calls and says it is ready. No anyone with half a brain would test drive it to ensue the noise didn’t exist. But, apparently no one there had half a brain. The noise was still there. They tell me the “noise” is not gonna damage anything and they need to make me a new appointment, of course, two weeks out.

I was livid but what could I do. My 12K warrantee was looming. Three or four appointments one more couldn’t hurt.

I get home there is a Ford Customer Survey in the mailbox. Not a good day to see that. I wrote a three page rant about my local service department and included all the documents I had received. The next morning I took it to the post office and mailed it to the address on the return envelope, but, registered return receipt requested.

A couple weeks went by and my appointment was scheduled in two days. I figured Ford really didn’t care about it’s customers. But, I got a call from the service manager. Apparently he had heard from Ford. He told me he was unaware that I was having issues and wished I had come to him sooner. I told him if after 4 appointments his service department could not identify and repair/replace a throwout bearing, and he still didn’t know about it, he had a way bigger problem than me being happy with his service department. He asked for a chance to make it right. My human side was like H*ll no, my Christian side won out and I said of course. He asked if I could have the truck there at 7:30 the next morning even though my appointment wasn’t for two days. I told him that was fine and explained that without the truck I don’t work. He said he would have it back to me by noon or he would have a loaner ready. Okay I said.

The following morning I got there 7:15 (20 years in the Navy if I am not 15 minutes early I am 30 minutes late). I was 3rd in line and the door opens and the service manager waives me in. Not sure how the other customers took that, I would have been less than happy if I was 1st or 2nd. Anyway, I get directed to the Service writer’s table. The Service manger opens my door and starts groveling. Never been a fan, just want to be treated with respect. We shake hands and he says to me in front of the service writer, I would be informed by noon of the status.

You guessed it, 12:30 I called and was told the service writer was out to lunch. I told the operator he has been out to lunch since i have known him.

I got a ride there and walked to the service manager’s office. Knocked on his door and was told to come in. I explained that I still hadn’t heard about my truck. He called the service writer in and he told me he had gotten busy but that they had ordered the parts to replace the throw out bearing and clutch. The service manager then chimed in and said that although there was “nothing wrong with my truck, they were gonna replace the throwout bearing and clutch to make me happy.”

I asked if they were really gonna take apart my engine and transmission built in a clean environment in their filthy shop to replace something that hadn’t failed to “make me happy”?

He said yep. I said okay then left.

The next day, Saturday, i traded my Ranger for Dodge Ram. Monday I went to the Ford dealer and asked to speak to the general manager. They asked if they could help me and I said nope. About 30 minutes later, I explained to the General Manager what had happened and told him he could keep the parts. He said at this point what can he do to make me happy. I told him it was too late for that and just wanted to be assured he knew what was going on. I figured he had a right to know, whether he fixes it is his problem. He said he did not but would find out. I told him if I ran my business like that, i would be out of business and walked out.

Being a dyed in wool Ford guy, and the nearest dealer other than that the local being a two hour drive, I hated the Dodge. Never had an issue that caused me to be stranded or without it, just the little things, window switches, door lock switches, drink holders, etc. all felt cheap. Missed my Ford.

A buddy of mine told me the Ford Dealer was under new management. I doubt that I had anything to do with that, but, a bunch of customers all feeling the same will. Anyway, I went to the Sales lot and found a F-150 I loved, we made a deal and I bought it.

Since then, I have been treated with respect and professionalism. Always wondered why. Many years later (like two years ago) a buddy of mine took a job in the parts department. One night at bowling he asked me what had happened with service. I said nothing why? I had ordered some accessories and he got them in. He said there is comments from corporate that he didn’t understand or had never seen before. I explained.

My dad would say I went the long way around the block to get home. My point is if you have a bad experience, contact customer service at corporate, they do care and will get results. Might even get red marks in your file that get you treated well.

 

Good news,

I pulled the pan and found the gasket out of place in the front. Worse yet, I found the filter seal cocked and letting air in. The level was 3 quarts low. Everything has been corrected and the trans refilled. Going into D is still harsh, though all other shifts are the same as before the issues. I'm hopeful that I dodged an expensive bullet.

 

In other words, all is well with my transmission. I wonder if a transmission relearn would correct the harsh shift to D?

 

That would be the first thing I would try.