Well, I bought my shiny new '08 F250 back in April of this year. It had been sitting on the lot for a year, and as such they gave me a killer deal on it, so I jumped on it and it followed me home.

This is my first diesel, and I've spent a great deal trying to get to know the thing. I was a bit displeased when I got it home and noticed the coolant level was low. I brought it right back, they put some coolant in it, and all was well. I got to wondering why it may have been low, as well as why it had been on the lot for so long. So I got on FTE and requested an OASIS report for my truck...and I almost wish I hadn't!

At 195 miles on the odometer, around November of last year, my truck had it's guts replaced. Apparently they had to replace the entire engine, as there was something severely wrong with the one that came with it. This explains why the coolant level was low, as there would be air pockets in the system when they put it all together.

So once again, I think I have everything figured out, and all is well. Until I go to install my new running boards tonight. Looking around while crawling under the truck, I notice some wet, red, oily stuff all over the tranny crossmember! Looks like the darn output shaft seal on the transmission is gone. With a whole 2700 miles on the odometer...not even broken in yet!

I run the truck around the block a few times to warm the tranny up, and I discover the fluid is very low, in the middle of the cold range on the dipstick with the transmission at operating temperature. I do NOT feel comfortable driving 25 miles to get home with the tranny that low, so I have to borrow my mom's car and leave my brand new truck there.

I just can't win with this damn thing!

 

Was it sold as new or used?

 

WOW! Must have been a severe assembly or manufacturing problem. I'm sure it's rare thing but it does happen.

It seems awful shady to me that the dealer hadn't been up front with this knowledge in the first place. If it where me I'd call them and let them know up front what you found out and ask why you weren't told. After that get them to send a flat bed and get it in the shop asap.

Good luck and keep us posted on what happens.

 

How about the warantee? Doesn't it have one? That was not that low for an auto trans. Most of them will slip a bit when making a sharp turn as a warning. When nothing shows on the stick it is very low. So the seal was bad in the rear, it sure beats one bad in the front and it is a minor problem. It was obviously just a defective seal. I don't see any real problem with the truck.

 

I agree with EXv10,, Thinking that the tranny was not that low on fluid,,,as long as there was some on the stick, you would of been fine driving it home or to the dealer!

Now if the dipstick was dry,,thats different,,,looks like a nice truck,,,check it all over yourself,,bring it to the Dealer and Demand Satisfaction,,,nicely at first,,,turn the volume up if needed later.

 

would still by under the 36/36 bumper to bumper. Call Ford and have it towed!

I check all my fluids every week and when pulling I check at almost every truck stop when I fuel up.

That is why.

 

I did buy the truck new, it had 230 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. No other problems so far, but this'll be the third time it's been back to the dealer since I bought it.

Yeah, when I found out about it I did go back there and ask why I wasn't informed of this before I bought it. The salesman insisted he wasn't aware of it, and he went to the sales manager and asked about it. They told me it had something to do with a problem in the valvetrain and the engine making noises when it was being driven to the dealer when they bought it on a dealer trade. They even gave me a copy of the repair order. Everything was running fine, so I didn't worry about it.

So, you guys think I would have been fine driving it? I don't have much experience with this transmission, and I didn't want to chance damaging anything. I know on some trannies, particularly the 4L60E GM uses and the 5-speed Dodge RWD tranny, start to have problems when it starts getting even a little low. It drove just fine, and didn't behave abnormally whatsoever.

I'm gonna give them a call this morning and see how soon they can get it in, so we'll see...

 

sorry to hear you got a monday or friday build truck

 

I would be displeased about the dealer not sharing everything about the truck prior to me purchasing it.

 

Maybe pull an oasis report and find out the rest of the history on this truck. I'd make sure you definitly have the full OEM warranty on this truck. If you bought it new, regardless of how great a deal you got on it; it should have been disclosed that it has a replacement engine before you were to decide to buy it or not. It should have the full warranty or you should be talking to someone up the Ford ladder pretty quick maybe with a lawyer in tow. Something seems kinda fishy here.

 

Some states, I think Michigan is one, have a lemon law where you take it in 3 times for major service early in it's life and they have to buy it back.

I would hate to go through that situation but it's just a thought. The truck should be an awesome rig for you, they are great trucks. I hope you get it all taken care of and all the bugs worked out! I feel bad for you and any other person out there that has trouble with their trucks. I can't get over how much I like mine and it has been as solid as can be for me.

Good luck! I really hope things get better for you.

 

I'd take the truck back to the dealer and insist on an exchange. A new vehicle costs a lot of money and I'll be damned if it will be anything but brand spanking new and flawless when I drive it off the lot. They misled you by not telling you the history of the truck. I'm not sure what you need to do to get this done but you'll know shortly if you try.

 

i wonder if the trannys output seal was damaged by the mech. when he did the engine service ???

they may have pulled the engine/tranny as a assembly, who knows...

 

Honestly I consider this to be a freak thing, rather than the byproduct of shoddy engineering and craftsmanship. Any time you have a vehicle that's this complex, there's always going to be the chance of stuff breaking. I think it'll be a fine truck, and even with the history I've had with it I'd be surprised to see something else go wrong anytime soon.

I did pull the OASIS, this is how I found the engine had been replaced. The new vehicle warranty is, of course, valid, and the OASIS correctly has the vehicle in-service and warranty start dates correct as to when I purchased the truck.

I was EXTREMELY upset at the fact that they did not disclose this to me to begin with. An engine swap is a big deal on any car, but much more so for one of these trucks where you have to pull the cab to perform the operation. I was pretty upset that they had the entire thing torn down to the frame and didn't think it might be a good idea to notify me of this. I did go into the dealer and express my frustration, but I didn't feel comfortable demanding the world, either. When I bought it, I got $12K off MSRP, and from all the research I've done, it's clear to me that nobody made much of anything on this truck. Especially considering the $17K heart transplant Ford had to pay for before the thing was even sold.

To be honest if the situation were different I'd be tempted to try this route. The bottom line is that even though they neglected to tell me about it's history, I still got an impressive deal on a great truck. I'm not yet to the point of being a disgruntled customer, as I'm still content on the deal I got.

Ohio is very similar with the lemon law here. The engine replacement would not be covered under this because it was done before I purchased the truck. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd even want them to buy it back, because if they did I wouldn't be able to afford the same truck again. I was only able to afford this one because it was a leftover '08 with a ton of rebates. Hard to duplicate that scenario again.

It went to the dealer this morning, but the service department was closed. I was able to have my wife leave the key and fill out a service form, and I will be calling them very early on Monday about this. Hopefully it'll get sorted out quickly!

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone!

 

Auto trans don't really respond to being low on fluid like an engine etc. They are basically either full or empty. As long as the pick-up screen is picking up oil it will be full up above and as soon as it quits picking up it will slip. The oil can be 1/8" above the pick-up and it will function like it is full. A good thing is that they will usually give you a little warning by slipping for a second when the oil sloshes to the side as you go around a corner.