At 55,000 miles, my 2011 6.7l decided to blow an injector due to a snapped injector clamp. A broken clamp that is a known issue to Ford on the early build 6.7L (TSB 14-0233). Of course, my truck is out of warranty as it is 6 years old. I am being quoted $900 plus dollars to replace to broken clamp ($22.00 part) and bent injector return line. Due to this being a known issue to Ford I asked for assistance on the repair.


Ford response: not covered under warranty. Not going to assist in any way with cost of repair. Does not matter that it is a known issue, nor does it matter that your motor only has 55,000 miles.


Thanks Ford. Way to stand behind your product. A motor that is supposed to last hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

That sucks. But it does beg the question, why did you not address any TSBs that had not already been dealt with on the truck while it was still under warranty?

It's always a struggle when a vehicle suffers a catastrophic failure, and being just barely out of warranty makes it even worse. But manufacturers have to draw the line somewhere, and regardless of the age/mileage at which the warranty expires, there will always be customers who suffer catastrophic failures just on the far side of the warranty. They can't take in vehicles of any age and condition to make repairs on their dime, otherwise they'd go broke.

It sucks, but it's one of those things about vehicles. Things go wrong with them, sometimes it's easier to deal with than others.

However, don't be discouraged about the longevity of your engine. The 6.7 proves itself every year to be a stout, reliable workhorse for the vast majority of owners.

 

TSB had not been addressed because there was nothing to address. If the motor does not "break" while under warranty, there is nothing to fix according to Ford. Now, had the injector clamp snapped last year, I would not have this problem as it would have been covered with no questions asked. And, per the TSB, they would have also checked all other clamps at the same time to ensure none of them needed to be replaced. But, without a breakage, no coverage.


I understand the argument of drawing a line somewhere. What I don't understand is knowing about a problem and not fixing that problem. Or, at least providing some type of assistance with the cost of fixing. Should have been a recall but instead issued a TSB.
I know things go wrong with vehicles. That's life. But selling a $50k plus vehicle, identifying a weak link (a $22 part) that has caused enough failures to issue a TSB, and then essentially saying "too bad" once a vehicle hits 5 years or 100,000 miles is bad business in my mind.
My truck is at 55,000. And I'm not supposed to be worried about the longevity of my engine?
Just to be clear, I did not ask Ford to cover the complete cost. I asked for assistance. I asked for them to take some responsibility for the one failed clip and resulted bent return line.
I intend on having all 8 clips replaced now that I know this is a weak link.

 

Did speak with ford customer service or the dealer and that is what they said?


We have a ford rep here that may assist with speaking with a ford regional cust service rep.

 

I initially had it looked at by a local mechanic. He pointed me to the TSB and told me I should get in contact with Ford. I then called Corporate Ford customer service and was told that they could not even speak to it until it had been diagnosed by a Certified Ford mechanic at a Ford dealership. So, I had it towed to the Ford dealership so they could tell me what I had already found from the local mechanic. Dealership quoted me $900 to replace the snapped clip and return line, or $1500 to fix all 8 of them. I then asked the dealership to request assistance from Ford. Ford responded that they would not provide any assistance. I asked the dealership who I could appeal the decision to and they said to call back to corporate for. I did that. Spoke to "Sean" at customer service and was told that there was nothing he could do. That a regional rep had made the decision. I asked him to get me in touch with that regional rep and he refused.


Sorry for the long answer to your short question. Spoke with dealership and Corporate Ford. Have case numbers if needed.


Thanks!

 

Did you purchase this new, or used?

Not blaming you but I researched "what years to avoid" before I made my purchase. Early Model year 2011 often came up as 'avoid' so I bit the bullet and reluctantly paid more for a newer model.

 

Too bad Ford hasn't extended their warranty on the first gen 6.7 on various issues they know about. (defective valves, radiators, injector clamps). There are numerous examples of other brands doing just this when an issue surfaces. Example: GM extended their injector warranty on the 01-04 LB7 Duramax to 7yr 200,000 miles when it became apparent that there were issues. Honda has done similar things with their vehicles. I wish big manufactures cared a little more about their customers. It would build more brand allegiance.

If it were me I would take it to a private diesel shop and have all clamps replaced. Good luck

 

Thanks for the reply. I agree that parts that are identified to fail over and over should be warranted longer or recalled completely. The interesting part is I did not/am not asking Ford to extend the warranty and cover the full cost, even though I think they should. I am asking them for a break, a discount, something to show some responsibility.

 

Been down this road with more than just Ford... Had a TSB on a transmission and it broke a month outside of warranty... No assistance... We had bought new too. There are extended warranties, although even in this case you wouldn't be even a dollar ahead if you bought a 6 yr / 60k warranty (and were still under that warranty)

Try the social media rep here on the board. What have you got to lose?

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Can you point me in the direction of the social media rep that you speak of? Or the district rep that others have spoken of?


thanks again

 

Did you think the warranty said 100,000 miles or 5 years, whichever come last? It's out of warranty. If you ask very nicely sometimes Ford will assist with an out of warranty repair.

When I worked at Ford I had a relative with an issue on a car that was slightly out of warranty. I knew the Service Engineer for the area they lived in, so I contacted him to see if he could do anything. When they showed up for their appointment to have him look at it to see if he could take care of it, the first thing they said to him was, "This is the last Ford we are ever going to buy." He declined to help them.

My point with this story? The customer's attitude often determines if Ford is going to make an out of warranty adjustment. I don't know if that's what you did or not. Just something to ponder.

 

I absolutely understand the truck is out of warranty. I didn't misread that or anything else. I actually stated that it was out of warranty. What I am having a problem with is that a diesel motor goes 55,000 miles, regardless of time, breaks down and people seem to be okay with this. Oh, and breaks down because of a known problem that has happened enough times that Ford issued a TSB on it.


Because of the mileage and the TSB I asked for the very assistance you speak of. Assistance on the cost of repairs of a part know to have enough issues that it has a TSB. I have not had the opportunity to speak to the person that supposedly makes the decision. I spoke with the dealership, who requested the assistance via email. And spoke with corporate Ford customer service who said they don't make the decision nor do they know the person that made the decision. Told me to go back to the dealership.


Not so sure how I am supposed to nicely ask for assistance seeing how I haven't gotten the opportunity to ask the decision maker.


What do you suggest I do now?


As for my attitude, I agree with you and have kept myself in check. I hope I get the chance to ask nicely to the person that makes the decision.

 

Ford Customer Service is the social media reps handle here... They can get in touch with your regional rep and can ask that they contact you.

To Mark Kovalsky's defense - If anything OTHER than something under a TSB broke, I'd say you are out of luck. They have extended warranties for those of us that are worried about out of 3/36k or 5/100k engine warranties and want to keep our vehicles longer than 3/36. Everything breaks. Big rigs breaks, they may be 1 million mile vehicles, but they still break.

To say this is the last "brand" you will every buy means nothing, stand in line at the other brands service center and there are people saying the same thing. So unless you live in small town USA, and buy a lot of vehicles every year from the ONE dealer, it doesn't actually mean anything. The company I worked for buys around 300 vehicles a year, some years more -IIRC one year it was over 1,200 as we were replacing the fleet - when they switched to another brand, the brand they were buying and the dealer are still in business... And BTW, the manufacturer and the dealer service centers gave us just as hard a time about fixing things under warranty as anyone else. Under the "line" and brought in, fixed under warranty, over the line and brought in, customer pay. Didn't matter whether there was a TSB or not.

Good luck BrianF250Va - I hope they help you out.

 

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you as well. If there wasn't a TSB on this I wouldn't be making such a big deal about it. What is bothering me is Ford knows that there is a problem, acknowledges it by issuing TSB, but won't stand behind it if a certain amount of time passes.

 

And if you had asked Ford to please perform the TSB, they would have told you
"not until it breaks."
Same as the dropping valve issue.
F'n heartless.