I have, you can also throw Toyota and Nissan in there as well. In the end, even the "fast" full-size pickups are still slow, slow enough for me to honestly not care if my truck as as fast, faster, or slower than they are.

Give me a well built, capable, reliable, tough 16.0 second truck over a flimsy, glass jawed, chintzy 15.0 second truck ANYDAY. In the end, they are both SLOW but one won't be dropping spare tires on the highway, bending tailgates while loading a 4-wheeler in the bed, or have the bed beating the cab to death going down a torn up road.

 

I appreciate your post sir and I agree with you to some degree. However, if the original post had read something like this, he may not have been flamed so hard. Here goes:

Good day all, new to the Forum. I have a 2006 F-150 with 40K miles on her and she is suffering from a major transmission failure.

I have / have not kept up on the scheduled maintenance.

It has / has not pulled

I am very disappointed in this situation. I've owned Ford for 39 years and have always had great luck with them.

Can anyone suggest to me how I should approach this situation with the dealer or Ford motor company?

But, the original post didn't go anything like that at all. We all have frustrating issues with our trucks from time to time that tests our patience to the limits. But, coming here to bash the products that we support isn't very friendly and typically results in some negative feedback.

I certainly hope that the OP can resolve the transmission issue and or find a truck that suits his needs.

 

Regardless of how long you've been a member here, you are entitled to voice your opinion.
Having said that, Tseekins is right.

There is a thread in another forum on this site, where a member said he was done with FTE, The responses he got were quite different....1, he is/was a longtime member....not a first time poster.
2ndly, he didn't go on about how much better the other sites are......
It's the manner in which he worded his post.
...not an identical situation I know, but you get my point.

....as for the comment on the friendly folks at those other sites.....
I noticed you said you're driving a Ford now

 

Exactly. Hell, I would have given him the 800 phone number to Ford Customer Service...

First post, crappy attitude, no details - smelled like a troll to me.

 

Exactly. I'm amazed that this thread has continued so long. By continuing this thread you have given the under bridge dweller the satisfaction he was seeking. The best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them and not respond.

 

This ^^^^^^

 

ok, here goes another try. sorry if my post was stupid. i have owned the truck since new. had the ford dealer do a tranny service last fall. pull a small 12' cargo trailer once in awhile. YES i did call ford customer service and they just gave me the name of the service mgr at my dealer and his contact #. i talked to him and he said ford would not cover it because i had a superchip in it, which i had returned to stock before taken it in. i asked if they would pay for part of it and he said he would get back to me. never did. as far as the hp power thing don't you people want the most power you can have in a truck? these things do work for us don't they? last thing, i may be a new member posting but i have been on here for many years i just am not into this posting. thank you all for your remarks, good and bad i guess i learned something.

 

Sorry to hear about all that bro, that really sucks. I guess you have confirmed a common belief here. A chip may void warranty work and or consideration from Ford for post warranty issues.

Do you have a plan to get your truck back on the road? You really can't be and at Ford since you did modify your truck. I highly that any other car maker would support you if you modified their product.

Are you looking at a rebuild, a salvage yard replacement or a new replacement? The truck is too new to just let it go.

Keep us in the loop.

 

tcat,
Do not be discouraged. We all take abuse here from time to time. There are folks who are very passionate about their opinions and then there are also folks who just plain get carried away with the flow of the conversation.
I believe that you have already repaired your tranny and are back on the road. It is good for us all to learn that there are issues with changing the chips while still expecting warranty on the drivetrain. It is a shame that you are the one to have taken the hit on it, but I am thinking that everyone here with a programmer has taken serious note.
In the end seeing as you still have your truck and will still be on this forum, you will find that others also take heat on their posts.

 

assuming you aren't a troll and I'm not contributing to your cause
pertinent phrases above.

you customized the PCM to behave outside of Ford designed parameters. You towed with the truck, and from your phrasing, you seem to drive it rather hard.

You are outside of Warranty and expect Ford to cover the costs...some if not all.


Sorry, but I've got nothing for you. I agree that more power is fun. That is why I supercharged my 2006 F-150, and when the warranty dies in my Expy, it's getting some help in that department (blower + gears + tuning).maybe I'm just being harsh. sorry. tired of people expecting everything for nothing. especially when the vehicle is modified. good luck getting the truck fixed. IMO you are barking up a tree trying to get Ford to cover anything. Especially as they know you have a tuner

 

That brings to me to this question and a little off topic too.

Do the tuners really work well enough to spend the money on them and take that kind of a risk?

It seems to me that Ford engineered and tuned the truck to meet the best of power and durability.

Maybe I'm an old school thinker.

 

The Tuners can and do help some if the custom tunes are written by or selected by a competent tuner. However, if the opposite is true and the tunes are written or selected by someone that isn't competent and knowledgeable, it can result in disasterous results such as blown trannies or in the case of the 6.0L's blown headgaskets. As to Ford covering a tuned truck under warranty, it's at the discretion of the service manager of the dealership with Ford Corporate having the ultimate say. I have known a lot of service managers who would bend over backwards to get a customer warranty coverage on a problem with a tuned truck and I have known service managers who wouldn't submit a claim for a tranny problem because of a cat back exhaust system. The latter type service managers are usually doing the job for the wrong reasons and only hold the position for their own self-interest. I can guarantee that there are the same problems getting warranty repairs with all other makes of vehicles as well as Ford.

 

I just bought a '05 Ford 4x4 5.4 F-150 and love it, but all I've owned (besides my '94 cummins) has been Ford. My brother bought an '07 Dodge 4x4 1500 5.7 last year and its been in the shop ever since it seems! It's got 45,000 on it right now and as I type this it's getting the entire front end rebuilt under warranty! My brother bought the truck with 7,000mi and while he's owned it it's never been off pavement! Meanwhile I've never had anything on my Ford's break that I couldn't fix myself. I did have to rebuild the front end on my '01 Superduty V10, but that was with 170k mi and it spent every weekend in the summer mud bogging, rock crawling, or rescuing my buddies jeeps in the river

 

essentially you hit the nail on the head.

some custom tuning will extend the life of the tranny though. The supersoft shifts are hard on the tranny. firming up the shift will reduce wear/tear and extend life.


but still, any tuning whatsoever is a game of chance. Ford has millions...billions in there vehicles. Alot of the settings/limits are there for a reason

 

I used to work for Ford truck as an engineer in Dearborn. There is a lot of effort that goes into the tune of a new truck to optimize many attributes, including power, fuel economy, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), reliability, durability, and longevity. The settings are not selected on a whim, nor are they ultra conservative. Any modifications will improve some dimensions, but negatively affect others. You cannot adjust for higher horsepower and expect all other parameters to stay the same. Something will be compromised. If you decide to play, that's fine. But you have also changed the rules of the "Vehicle Ownership Game", and Ford may no longer want to play.

In the end, Ford wants to make as many customers happy as possible, because you will probably want to come back next time you are in the market for a new vehicle. But if your vehicle is modified so that it is no longer the vehicle Ford sold you, why would you expect Ford to stand behind it?

I used to mod vehicles, but I'm over it. Too many times, the mods just weren't as good as the OEM parts and in some cases I felt like I threw my money away. After working at Ford, I have a lot of respect for the engineering and decision making that goes into Ford vehicles, and there's few aftermarket add-ons that actually improve the vehicle, IMO.

Your opinion and results may vary. Enjoy your Ford.

Dale