Morries Buffalo Ford in MN

 

that explains alot there service dept is crap. take the truck to boyer ford in minneapolis or south st.paul they do great work at least from what they have done for me and my business. if you take it to south st. paul ask for glen zimmerman hes the service manager.

 

I have an 04 F350, 6.0l dieslel. Jan 04 build date. I have also had the surging, coughing, stalling. Once a week my truck will outright lose power, always below 20 mph, it now does it through turns, etc, a very alarming feeling to lose power steering and brakes as you are going through a turn.

My dealers service manager (Courtesy Ford, Portland OR), finally told me Ford could not fix the problem (this was after 7 dealer visits, leaving the truck with them for 6 weeks from late july to late aug, 2 factory tech service visits) and that I should file a dispute with the dispute resolution board. I filed a claim in early september by phoning the Ford cusotmer service department.

This unfortunately did not get me the paperwork the first time around. After waiting for a week and seeing nothing in the way of the DSB form, I was told that I had to talk with Ford Regional Manager for my area for him to approve the issuance of the paperwork. This took 4 phone calls hounding my dealer to get the Regional guy to call me. I finally received the paper work on the 16th of September. I mailed it the same day. It gets mailed to Waukesha, WI.

You will get a confirmation letter identifying if you qualify for a board hearing.

At this point, you then wait for your date to be issued for the hearing. It turns out that the Dispute Board typically meets once a month, I was told that I may not get a hearing on the 13th of October the next scheduled date for a hearing, due to the late date of my application filing.

I called the dealers Director of parts and service to ask what their liability was if I had an accident. He got all quiet and asked if I had had one, I told him no, but it was likely that I will given the truck stops running while turing through corners once a week. 3 days later Fords customer service department called to say that I would have an hearing on the 13th in Seattle. I live in southern Washington state near the Oregon border. The hearing is in south Seattle a 2-1/2 hour drive one way. I had a choice of making an in person presentation or a phone call. Either way you are alloted 10 minutes. I opted for the phone call. I will receive a phone call @ 9:45 am this Wednesday from the Dispute board where I will have 10 minutes to present my issues.

I will recieve a letter in 7-10 days from the 13th advising me of their decision.

From experience this is a very patience trying process. I continually remind myself that the Dispute Board is a third party, there is no benefit in blowing up at them. If the dispute board does not rule in my favor I am told the next step is to file a claim with the states lemon law.

My dealer has admitted that they have over 20 trucks from their dealership that have these issues.

It is sad that Ford has not stepped up to the plate and taken a pro-active approach to solving the multitude of customers that have issues with the 6.0 system. They seem to forget what word of mouth can do good or bad for ones sales volume.

I wish you the best of luck

 

I think some of you are victims of bad dealer service departments. I find the DSB application on the counter at the dealership. At one point I was irritated at Ford about flashes. The dealer even offered to help with the DSB paperwork. I know of the dealer doing a replacement of the vehicle without going through Ford. Telling you that they, the dealer, needs Ford Regional approval on getting DSB paperwork is pure BS.

 

04 F350 Fan: thank you for telling me your experience. Let me know how the phone call goes and what the outcome is. I also have tried my hardest to stay patient through this whole thing. It is so frustrating to think that they have to make it this hard on us, whole love our truck and only wanted to buy one that runs great! After all that is why we bought a Ford, right? I am at the point that I am not sure if I would buy another for a long long time...I really hate to even think that because all I have ever driven were ford trucks. So this you can tell is hitting me very hard and making me think about my purchase and the quality of it...I have now dealt with this a month straight (a little more) but am to my witts end. What I dont get is that there are some people in this forum that have not had to go through DSB and are able to get their truck replaced no problems or hassels??? Why not the case for us??? Hmmmmm Well good luck to you in your situation, hopefully it will not be much longer to your resolution!

 

I have talked to two other dealers in the Northwest who have as well echoed that the solution path to this problem is the regional ford rep, then the DSB hearing.

From my travels around the country we have a high population of diesel pickups in our area, perhaps there are just so many of these trucks in the area with the problem that they have had to resort to this process in our area.

I was told that the process change of having to talk to a Ford regional manager was made in early september, prior to this you would simply submit the DSB paperwork. directly.

The quality of the dealer seems to play a big part in how you get handled.

 

sorry to hear of your difficulties I have had two buy backs myself!! I feel very fortunate to have found a dealer who is customer freindly' it also helps that my salesman has been a personal freind for about 20 yrs. however ford is becoming less inclined to be customer oreinted. document every conversation phonecall and service visit but most of all and it is the most difficult keep your sence of civility and decorum, you are in the drivers seat (pardon the pun) they do and will have to satisfy you the customer but if they can give you the brush off and you go away they will good luck with your negotiations I am finally satisfied with my truck but it took 3 trucks and 14 months of service visits putting up with a 40k piece of scrap i hope it will be worth it! like i said in another post I've driven fords for over 20 yrs. and would not like to start building new trusts and freindships with another make and dealer

 

I hear ya'll talking about how Ford is not helping or customer oriented. Their corporate philosophy towards the customer is "The customer is Job 1". I wish they would stand up to this claim... I have had 12 service issues with my '04 that is 9 months old and it is now currently on its 13th. I have received no help from Ford outside of the area engineer for Ford telling me that he was confident that all the problems were resolved (3 weeks ago) and offering me an ESP. I declined and within a week another leak sprung up. I am so tired of this stuff, shoulda bought a Chevy (BLASPHEMY).

 

I have owned 3 dodge diesels, they wern't any better at the service level, traded an 01 2500 Dodge Cummins diesel for an 01 F350 in April of 2001. I was travelling through Cheyenne Wyoming, the engine on the Dodge developed a knock. Went into the dodge dealer in Cheyenne the following am, they said I had a stuck valve and need to go to a dealer in Denver. Ended up at John Elway Dodge. Dropped the truck @ 10:00 am they called later that day @ 3:00 pm saying that I would need to put a new short bock into my truck that had 21,000 miles on it. Said that the Jiffy Lube oil filter had caused the engine to fail and my warranty was void. They wanted me to pay 12,000.00 for a new short block!

I made them saw the oil filter in half and proved there was nothing wrong with it. Then they said that I had not changed my oil regularily, had all of the receipts in the glove box, spot on 5K intervals between oil changes. That killed that argument. After several days they agreed to pay for the new engine. Turned out the casting had not been machined properly and the number 5 cylinder had been scored.

I picked the truck up 2 weeks later, the engine dropped oil all the way back to Washington. Took the truck into a Cummins dealer, who said they could not work on the engine or they would void the Dodge warranty. The Cummins dealer said from their experience with Dodge that DODGE stood for "dodge de warranty" Fixed the oil leak and traded it on the Ford.

I like the product that Ford builds in the Super Duty truck. Like the rest of you I want it to work the way it should, and would like to see Ford be more CUSTOMER ORIENTED on a global problem such as they are having on the 6.0L.

I would buy another one in a heartbeat (providing someone could guaranty me I would not go throught another 8 months of hell)

 

Dispute Board Results: There were 4 people on the phone, asked for latest stats on the truck, this took 2-3 minutes. One person asked for clarification of the last dealer visit. They identified that I could stay on the line to listen to them debate the merits of the case (they emphasized that I could no longer speak while they debated) and then they would give me their decision. Could not hear any of the debate.

Their decision is that Ford has to replace or buy back my truck for the amount I piad on the sales contract less a 760 mile penalty, which is the mileage on the truck at the time of the first service visit. They have a formula in Washington that bases total lifetime useage at 120,000 miles. This will be a minor $$ cost penalty to me.

To say the least I am pleased with the result, aside from the extreme patience excercise, I am very pleased with the DSB boards handling of this. The complete process from start of phone call to the end took approximately 7 minutes.

It would have been preferable for Ford to have handled this directly negating the time and aggravation hassle, but I will take this result.

 

Very cool to hear the results are in your favor, specially after all the headache!! I am glad you got to hear the decision today instead of having to wait another 7-10 days to find out!!

I am in the process now of trying to contact the area rep to talk to her about my situation and what can be done at this point.

The Service manager would like to give me a new truck and be done with this situation but he said he does not have that authority. And he wants me to take the truck back - after being in service for another week straight - and put a flight recorder in it and do some more recordings for the engineer. At this point I have a Rodeo Finals next weekend that I have to haul horses to and my sister who is also comepting at the finals wont even haul with me if I have this truck back - I dont blame her cause I dont even trust it anymore....they have not been able to get it to act up - they even tried soaking down the engine with water....That cant be good....so anyway I will keep you all posted on what she (area rep) has to say.......

Congrats again!! 04 F350 FAN

 

Thanks MNFORDCHICK.

I also had the data logger installed, they were not able to record any data with mine. I hope that they have good luck with yours. Murphy's law would always have the truck act up outside of the dealer, when it was at the dealer never any problems. Sooner than later lady luck has to shine on you. Keep the faith!

I now have to decide if I venture forth into another 6.0l or go with the tried and proven 7.3L. At least I get to make this decision without an anchor weighing me down.

 

hello all,
I too have a 04 F350 CC longbed lariat 6.0 with the surge problem. short story(relative to what I have been through so far); in 9 times to dealer over 5 months, last time replaced entire turbo. good for almost two months. last Thursday at 5am half way into a turn total shock again with one hand on the steering wheel and no engine power. this is the 5th time it has stalled dead in the same corner. nearly crashed again, very heavy steering with no power. filled out and mailed DSB paperwork Monday. questions.....did any of you have code P0299 with this problem and how long did it take for first response from DSB.
I loved the truck when it ran right and I could trust it with a 12,000lb trailer behind it and my family in it. I have requested a replacement as I really like the truck, I just can't trust this one anymore.
thanks in advance.

 

Hey Brentwood Jim, sorry to hear you too are having the stalling. The pucker factor that is created when that engine quits while the 7,000 lb beast is moving, almost matches the heart going into your throat effect!

Re the code P0299 I never had this on my rig. Re the DSB response time, mailed paperwork to Waukesa, WI on the 16th of Sept, had a letter back on the 23rd of Sept, that they had penned on the 21st. You will be given a DSB case #, an 800 # and two contact names from the DSB. Make sure that you ask the DSB contacts the date and location for the next DSB hearing in your state as they are typically only held once per month.

You will not be able to address any concerns that are not listed on your DSB application. This is stated in your inital letter. I was lucky enough to have a dealer that gave me a printout of each servce call made to the dealer. I submitted this with the application. I had as well detailed in a single page letter a one week event log showing every time and date that the truck surged, coughed, stalled etc.

THE DSB hearing will have a technical person from a local Ford dealership, a couple consumer advocate and secretary.

Good luck to you.

 

My husband spoke with our area rep last evening and discussed the truck....the conversation went OK but she says she is going to hide behind the law a little and said that we get one final chance to try and fix the truck. (according to lemon law).....they have had it now another week today and it has not done a thing (murphy's law of course) so they are suggesting we take it back with a flight recorder in it and record the next time it decides to act up! SO I guess my husband will be taking it this weekend and hopefully we will get something for the engineer to look at. After all the engineer I guess (as they are telling us) has the final say in weather or not the truck will be replaced or not. AGH!!!