Well, my truck is at the dealer for the 2nd time in the last month. First time it got a new gauge cluster, and the dealer had it for 6 days. Then it happened, coolant puking...I took my truck in on wednesday after work, they said they would look at it first thing in the morning and let me know. No call thursday, no call friday, so I called them friday after work. Oh yeah, sorry we forgot to call, blown head-gaskets, we're gonna tear it down monday. I asked about head studs, they said, no dice, we dont do that. So I give them some time, and call them on thursday to see whats going on. They STILL haven't started on my truck, another one was "giving them problems" (aka they pushed someone ahead of me). So I laid into the service manager over the phone and he basically shrugged it off like it was no big deal, and they would get to it when they got to it.

I called the salesman I bought it from, and he said he would take care of it, and he did, they started on it friday, but didnt get it all the way down, so they will do that monday, and then order parts. My truck has 17k on it, has not been abused at all, and I have towed with it very little. Yes, I do have a tuner, but its always on general economy or heavy tow. I have used the hybrid race tune maybe 3 or 4 times since I have had it. Basically, I am afraid its going to happen again, and I dont want it to happen to me. In the last month, the dealer has had my truck 17 days, and will have it for another 3 or 4 at least, and I still have to pay for it. So, why should I keep it?

 

1. Did the dealer say he was voiding your warranty?
2. Why do you say you have to pay?
3. Weren't you aware that a tuner could void the warranty be4 you
installed it?
4. Didn't you know that stock gaskets and headbolts don't care for tuners?
5. I do hope things work out for you.
6. If you have to pay the dealer should not care if you give him the studs to
put in. It is your dime.

Good Luck!

 

When the service manager blows me off, I take that as an invitation to take my business elsewhere. At that point your truck was still assembled, and you could have pulled it. Now you've already ticked off the people who are going to be working on your truck by going over their heads. At best they are going to rush the job. At worst they are going to teach you a lesson by screwing with you.

Well there you go. It amazes me that people are still surprised when a Spartan or other tuner blows their HG's. And once again, lets all blame Ford.

Because it will cost you big time to trade it in todays truck market. And because you can have the HG's replaced, dump that tuner, and enjoy your truck with only $100 out of pocket.

I feel for you. You are not the first guy who spent too much time on FTE and was seduced by the scent of more power. If I were you at this point, I would be worried about the quality of work from your dealership and would start being really nice to them whenever I spoke to them. Make nice and try to repair the relationship. Let them take whatever time they need to fix it right. If done right, and if treated right by you, those new head gaskets could last the life of the truck.

Good luck,
Bill

 

First sentence very true. Second part I don't think is all that accurate. Even if he dumps the tuner there is no promise that he will just be out 100 dollars. If he is out of pocket, I would go ahead and get studs and then he can pratically run whatever he wants without any worry as the heads is the most prominant flaw(even in the detuned international trucks that run the 6.0).


Actually according to a recent poll of FTE'ers, more people that didn't run a tuner had head problems then those that did run tuners. Now there are a lot of flaws to a poll like that, but it's the "best" thing that we have to go by.


Very, very true. But for some dealerships that could be too much to hope for despite how you treat them, some just don't have the good techs.

 

First off, I didn't go over anyone's head. The service manager is the person who answered the phone when I called, so that's who I talked to. They told me the situation, and I got pissed at them, never talked to anyone else. I didn't ask for anyone's opinion on the situation. I asked for a good reason to keep my truck. If you don't have one, dont bother posting.

 

You'll take too much of a hit for a truck that there isn't a market for and depending on how it's paid for(or financed) will determine on what you lose on that front. If you need it and it's not a financial burdon on you then take this chance to fix it right(egr blockoff and headstuds, although I doubt the dealership will do the first) and that will make the truck pretty strong and you can put more aggressive tunes on the truck then(as long as your other components can handle it. Final thing, is do you really need the truck(not want, but need), if yes then keep it for the other reasons, if not then take whatever hit you get and get something else.

 

I can give you one

1. You'll lose your a** trading it in now.

 

I know that the head gaskets "could" last the life of the truck, but after 17k and one set, I am not sure I want to take that chance that it will happen again. My biggest problem is the amount of time they have had my truck, and the lies they have told me about when it will get done. In all reality, they will have probably had my truck for almost 3 weeks for this particular job, plus the 6 days at the end of april, and I will have had to pay the payment on it ($600) to drive a ford taurus...

 

If they machine and/or replace the heads and you put studs in there, then there is almost nil of a chance of it happening again providing the install was done correctly. I have had headgasket problems and have had my heads machined and I currently have not had head problems since and as you can tell I'm running more then just a tuner. If you've already burned the bridge at that dealership, take it to an aftermarket shop(one that has a good rep. for these trucks) and get it fixed up right(and if your wanting to do other mods do it at this time as they will more then likely only charge you labor for the studs and you'll just be out the cost of the parts for the rest of the stuff).

 

If I do trade it, its going to be for another truck, so the lack of market for my truck would be balanced out by the lack of market for the new truck. I don't "need" it all the time, but I do haul a race car about every other weekend (6k or so), and pull a stock trailer at least once a month (anywhere from 6k to 15k).

 

Dealer wont do studs. The truck is already torn apart, so there is no taking it elsewhere, and I can't afford what it will cost to pay for it out of pocket anyways, I could barely afford the studs themselves right now because of how much fuel has gone up.

 

True, but I can promise you they will take less of a hit on the lack of a market on the new truck versus the hit you'll take on the lack of a market for you truck. I would still advise to fix it up right and keep it since you do haul with it(probably could get away with a v10, but some of that weight I wouldn't trust with a v8 as I haul at most 16k and you get shy of that by 1k).

 

My family buys enough cars from this dealership, that they will do whatever they can to make it right. They sell ford, chevy, and dodge, so my options are wide open.

 

In that case, just get tunes that change shift points for various applications. In other words tranny shift points for towing and another for regular driving and another for if you want to have it bang the gears when your feeling a wild hair. Just don't mess with hp output. Not fun I know, but it's better then stock and it's better then taking too much of a chance on something during the fixup that went wrong.

 

Sorry, but you get to ask questions. You don't get control over replies.

Seems to me you just want to argue. You've got a bad situation, so vent away. No problem.

Bill