Hello all, I'm asking for advice on how to proceed with a current problem I've had. We have an 03 Expedition that has been a wonderful vehicle and is primarily driven by my wife. A couple weeks ago, she said she was hearing a "funny noise". At idle, it sounded like the alternator was making noise like a bering going out. A day later, wife called me at work and said the ABS light, Battery light and air bag light had come on, also the battery gage on the dash was low. I had her switch rigs with me and took it to our local ford service. I explained to the Service writer what the problem was and that I thought the alternator was making a funny noise. I also gave him my extended warranty paperwork. He called me later saying that the battery had a short and had gone bad. He said the alternator tested fine and that it was making noise because it was working harder trying to charge the battery. They put in a new battery and charged me $140 for labor checking the problem and for the battery and installation. When we picked up the Expy, the noise was still there. We took it back a few days later to have some other warranty work done and again mentioned the noise. Now they said it was the power steering pump.
We picked up the rig that night and headed out of town for the weekend. After driving 70 miles, we made a pit stop and when I went to start the Expy, it wouldn't turn over. I got a jump and went on since we're in an isolated area, I figured it was safer to go on rather than turn around. As I drove, I found that if I kept the RPMs over 1500, with only the low beams on the battery/alternator would keep up. I finally made it to my destination and on Monday went to the nearest Ford Service. The dealership got me right in and determined the Alternator was faulty, only putting out 20 amps. They put in a new one and we were on our way home.

Here's my problem. I went back to the original service store and said that we had to have the alternator changed out. I explained that it looks like that was the problem all along. The writer then looked and me and asked, "what is it that you want?" I said that I'd like my money back for the battery that wasn't needed. If they had changed the alternator in the first place I wouldn't have had to pay anything as it was covered under my extended warranty. He said that he was confident the battery was bad but that he would check to see if he could refund me some of my money. He said he would get back to me.

So am I correct in thinking that I should be fully refunded? Yes, I have a new battery now, but I don't think I needed one in the first place.

Thanks for any advice any of you can give me.

 

Well it could be which came first the chicken or the egg ? If the battery truely did short ( does happen) it may have did some damage to the alternator that made it fail shortly afterward when you where driving. If the alternator was going bad it could have damaged the battery. 4 years on a battery is good it may have went another 2 years or so, but replacing one after 4 years could be considered preventative maintance. My thoughts are you should be charged no labor or diagnostic fees because they did not fix it and may have stranded you on the road causing you added expenses. You should pay for the battery and as goodwill gesture they should through in a free oil change or something. I believe they did not intentionally try to decieve you but found a bad battery and replaced it without doing further testing even though you complained about the noise.

 

I agree, offer to pay for the battery but not the labor since they didn't properly troubleshoot it. Sounds like the first dealer didn't test the alternator correctly. Also i've never heard or witnessed an alternator making a loud noise because it is working harder.

 

I thought I could add something here but cannot. I concur with the previous poster's conclusions.

 

Thanks for the replies. I didn't hear anything back from the service dept. today so I'll give them a couple days to find out what they say. When I do hear back from them, I'll let you all know how things turn out.

Unfortunately, this service dept. is notorius for poor service and customer relations. When I asked how he knew the battery was bad he said that they have a tester and it gave a read out saying it was bad. I wanted to ask, but didn't, was it the same tester that said my alternator was fine? It's because of some past problems with them that I even question whether they truly tested the abilities of the battery or just determined that it wasn't at full charge and therefore must be bad. The Expy ran fine until the alternator started making the sound and the battery drew down. The service dept. at the other Ford store wouldn't say my local one was wrong but did give me some funny looks when I relayed what they had told me.

Again, thanks for the replies and I'll keep you all updated.

 

I had a recent problem with my 04' XLT and starting problem. The service department that I took my rig to had my truck for two weeks and didn't fix the problem because they said that they couldn't duplicate the problem and that Ford doesn't want them to just go changing parts and that they had to either catch the problem on the computer or that the problem was easily pin-pointed.

So.....I wrote a letter to Prez/CEO of the Dealership and sent a copy of it to Ford Motor Company as a formal complaint. I took it to another dealer that is their competitor in the area and they found my problem the first day that they had it and if not for the snow that hit us (delay on parts shipment), they would have had it done in two days...

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