I love my E350 PSD Van. I use it to tow my travel trailer and carry my toys (I am old and retired). Two months ago at 62875 mi. I took it in for my 5000 mi service. All good on my multi point inspection (everything in the green). One month ago (63273-398 miles later), wouldn't start. Jumped it and took it in. It was kept overnight. Needed new batteries. Cost two hours of labor plus two new batts. Ok, batteries go bad. Multi point inspection, all good, in the green. Two days ago (63628-355 miles), notice leak from radiator, needed new radiator. New multi point inspection, suddenly I have a couple of crisis. Ball joints are bad and rotors and pads are rusted and need replacement, even tho plenty of pad left.

I have been happy with my dealer and service, however, they now have a new service writer and truck mechanic and I get the feeling that they are becoming quite aggressive in selling service. I am not a mechanic nor inclined to be one, so I need to have trust in my service facility. I have notice no symptoms of ball joint or brake problems and am about to leave on a trip. It seems that I am looking at a few thousand dollars in repairs.

I hate to second guess my mechanic but also don't want to be an easy mark. Any comments would be appreciated, especially from techs. Thank You.

 

Find a different Ford dealer or get a mechanic that you trust outside of the Ford network. Either way, get a second opinion before stroking that check.

 

I agree with Tim,

Inspect yourself, get a new mechanic.

It is called upselling.

 

Upselling isn't bad IF the truck needs it. Neither the shop nor the customer wins if the truck needs something and the mechanic doesn't say anything about it.

 

Very true!

 

I agree also. In my case, either they are selling me a bill of goods, or they weren't doing the previous inspections. Either scenario causes me to distrust this dealer.

 

It COULD be a matter of a different opinion. Both of those sound like they require a little judgement. The new mechanic might be a little more picky (or the management may be on them to sell more).

But, I would agree that it would be good to get a second opinion. Might also be worth talking to the shop manager -- sounds like you've been a good customer.

 

dealerdhip service writer told me 50,000 miles ago when i took the truck in for an oil change i needed front axle u-joints, ball joints, front axle seals leaking, front and rear differential covers rotted, oil pan rotted out, rotors rusted and pitted, and brake pads only had 2 mm of shoes left on them.

it was amazing, cause the truck had a new front axle in it with ball joints, u-joints, and rotors and pads that were put on 4 days before it was brought in.
i took the multi point inspection into the dealership office, and the dealer owner walked back to the service dept with me, and told the service writer to take us out to the shop and with the mechanic point out all these "defects"

the service writer and mechanic where fired on the spot and escorted off the property by the local police, with a warning that if they ever stepped foot on the property again they were going straight to jail.

this just is to show that not all dealerships are thieves. the owners only know if there is a problem if they are told about it sometimes.

 

I have a friend who is a machanic at a Ford dealership. If the mechanic can sell you whatever, he gets a commission on that extra stuff that he has managed to sell you. I haven't seen your van, so I can't say whether you need this work done or not. But I also know that they will sell you things you don't need, so they can make more money.

Here is a perfect example. One time when my 1994 Ranger Splash was in being serviced somewhere around 125,000 miles, they told me that I needed a new radiator. They said that they had found a leak. So I said, that's funny, I haven't noticed any leak, and I told them not to fix it. I figured I would replace the radiator myself so I paid and left. I sold my Ranger in June of 2009 with over 256,000 miles on it, and it still had the original radiator in it that never leaked a drop.

So what I am saying is, they only care about making money. I read where people were recommending a second opinion. That sounds like a good idea. But keep this in mind, that second opinion mechanic wants to make money too. Good luck.

 

Taking your vehicle to a dealership is like lighting money on fire, and that's IF you find an honest one. A dishonest dealership will steal it before you get a chance to get the matches out.

Stop taking your vehicle to a dealership. Find a local, honest mechanic that won't rip you off and won't charge the exorbitant prices a dealership does.

 

I know it is not possible for everyone, but I like to do my own work on everything that way I know which idiot messed it up I feel all auto shops have gotten away from customer service and gotten into whatever they can to rip someone off so they can make more money.

Only one time I took something to a shop, I was far away from home and did not have all the tools needed to fix it. So I called around and found only one shop that would agree to my terms. I said this is an old vehicle, I know what's wrong with it and I want you to fix this specific thing and nothing else, you touch or break anything else you are paying for it, not me. And I'm going to watch you work on. They agreed and in fact did break a couple of things and replaced them at their dime not mine.

I had a friend I sold a car to, I put new rotors on it, ceramic brake pads and stainless brake lines. He will only take his vehicles to shops, he won't let me fix things for him, to each their own. One thing I did not change in the brakes was the calipers and one failed, so he took it to a shop to see what needed to be fixed. They replaced and he paid for it without question the rotors which the ones they showed him were rusted and warped, new pads, they showed him metallic ones with no pad left, and replaced the brake lines and they showed him rusty steel ones. They did not replace the bad caliper and his brakes worked worse after taking it there. And he continues to go there so I don't help him with cars anymore.

So I've seen good and bad, my advice is to check it yourself to see if the said parts are in fact bad. IF this stuff is all covered under warranty it's best just to follow their service recomendations as it don't cost you anything.

 

i agree. i do everything myself except for automatic transmissions, and oil changes.
on the auto trans front, a good friend has been building them for 40+ years, and charges me $100 + parts.

as for the oil change, i just don't feel like dealing with trying to get rid of 3 gallons of old oil every time i do a change in one of the diesel pickups.

.

 

i dont work on the wifes uplander as i don't even want too think about the pain in the **** it is , but i still look it over carefully before i send it over to the dealership in sullivan for repair , and i trust these guys as they have yet too try and pull any crap , small town dealer that gets a lot of biz from the cities due to their sales and service . this way if they pull anything i'm gonna know and they aren't gonna like me or what i say .................... the dealerships here in town are getting to be like this , pushing hard sales and not doing a good inspection or quality work . then they wonder why the lil' guy shops are getting so much biz here .................

 

I don't give the dealer the opportunity to perform post warranty work. I have a mechanic that I have trusted for over 15 years. He does what I can't do myself.

 

IF I take my car to a shop, they probably hate me because I watch them like a hawk the entire time.

I can think of two instances in the last 5 years where I went to a shop- once was for an oil change on my old Tempo in the middle of the winter when I didn't feel like doing it (at Monro) and they told me my drain plug was stripped...next time I changed the oil myself, and it was most certainly NOT stripped.

I also took the car to them to replace a brake line that had rusted through, they charged me $98 to splice in about a 2 foot piece of brake line. When the other one rusted out I replaced it myself, for about $15.