Let me give you some background info.

This is a 2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II w/56k miles

I hydrolocked my motor. I reported it to insurance as a comprehensive claim. I took the vehicle to my local Ford dealer for service. I told them it had a nasty knock once I cleared the cylinders of water and that it got quieter the more I drove it. By the time I got it to the dealer the knock was barely recognizable. I told them I beleived I had a bent rod. They say okay, we'll get this straight for you.

I get my truck back a week later and the dealer told me all it needed was a MAF and an oil change. I was like "WTF?" cuz my deductable was $500 and I wouldn't have brought it there if I thought that's all that was wrong with it. The dealer was fully aware of the insurance and deductable situation. I drove it, it seemed fine.

Fast forward two months later. I've since put about 100 miles on the truck as I'm never home to drivev it. I had to make a trip to Nashville, TN. It's a 1500 mile round trip from my house. I get 400 miles into my journey(between columbus and cincinnati) and my motor blew. I was forced to have my truck towed the nearest ford dealer, pay for a rental to complete the business I intended to do, and had to sit there for a day until the dealer that did the work opened to find out what to do. So after they open and we make contact, I'm forced to rent a uhaul truck and a car carrying trailer. I bring the truck 400 miles back to the dealer. Now they're telling me that they're not gonna accept responsibility. The owner of the dealership and the service manager told me that "all procedures were followed".

All they did was hook it up to the obdII and got a code for the MAF. They did an oil change for added measure and plopped it in my lap. The thing seemed like it ran fine. Two seconds before the motor blew, it ran just as it did when I picked it up from the dealer after the repairs. The cruise was set for about two hours solid before this happened. There was no suddent acceleration, no hard throttle given. It was at a constant ~2700 rpms for two hours when this happened. I now have a hole in the side of my block about the size of my fist and the dealer is telling me that it's not thier problem. Help! I'm in contact with a lawyer but I need some advise. Please, this is a horrible situation and it's def not the first time the dealer did something like this to me. It's just the most recent and definitely the most costly. Thank you in advance!

Travis

I am a well respected member of another forum. I encourage you to check my stats. I'm not some random yahoo popping in. This is a nice truck and I'm not a bad person or twisting the story in any way.

 

Honestly...you may be SOL...they'll point figures at you as long as they can and drag it out, and it's really not their fault.

The motor was hydrolocked for whatever reason. You did that, not them. They checked the codes (standard procedure), a MAF code popped (odd) and they fixed it. They changed the oil outta the goodness of their hearts (BS), it ran good, so they turned it over. To them, the average joe would hardly know what a knock was, so when it ran smooth, they considered it fixed and turned it over to you.

While the dots can be connected between the hydrolocking, a rod bending, and the hole in the block you currently have, nothing the dealer did can be at fault for it. They were incredibly bad to you making you rent a U-haul and stuff, but their methods for "fixing" the truck were spot on with Ford procedures.

Sorry to seem so brash about it.

 

Since you have a comp claim with your insurance, can you go back through the insurance company?

 

The insurance company is telling me that it's the dealer's fault. The claim has since been closed and I need to take it up with the dealer.

I'm the monkey in the middle at this point.

 

what has the insurance company told you so far about the hydrolocked motor??
how did it get hydrolocked?
was it driveable when you filed the claim?

ford is out of the question as far as responsibility, from what i think

 

Well...do your best to get that from your insurance company in writing. In writing from the company will mean more than by mouth from an individual.

 

agreed as for ford not being responsible. the minute you picked it up and drove it off the lot knowing what was done, you took responsibility back on yourself. i'd go for the insurance company, but even they might claim that they did their part, and you did yours by taking it to the dealer.

my only hope for the dealer being responsible if is they "gaurntee their work for xx days", but seeing that it was 2 months later, i'd count them out too.

 

You are definitely in a tough spot with this one... Not to get sidetracked here, but I am just getting my truck rebuilt after an accident. I am concerned at the amount of work that had to be done (about 70% of the value of the truck), and the insurance company assures me that they warranty all the work that they authorized to be done on the truck.

It's still the shop who did the work that has to fix any problems, but my understanding is that the insurance company is the one who makes the shop honor the warranty.

Did you get any kind of warranty/guarantee paperwork from your insurance company?

 

i do insurance buddy,
the only way you would have gotten assistance with it if it was a flood, or some kids stole it and put it in the drink.

id get all related documents you have, even use the claim for the hydrolock, and take it back to the dealer and try to fight it.

you didnt file a claim to begin with over a maf and oil change issue, it was predocumented, you had an issue.

 

How did it get hydrolocked in the first place?

I guess it doesn't matter. The dealer never completed he job you had originally took it in for. You should have had them atleast pull the rods and check that they weren't bent. As unfortunate as it is, without having done that. they'll say it's your fault, and you'll have no defence.

I wouldn't suppose you got a 5 year warrenty or anything like that.

 

i agree that the dealer should have done what was requested, but he left the lot and "accepted the work" that was done, knowing that they weren't replaced.

 

The insurance company should have just replaced the whole engine, because once an engine gets hydrolocked, it will never run like it should for any long period of time.

 

Isnt work under insurance warrantied for this reason?

 

When I bought it used, the dude had some cheesy cone filter on it. "I drove through a low spot on the highway during a heavy downpour @ 55mph and voila. Hydrolock"

I knew it needed more work than that. I even took it for a test drive before I left the dealer. I specifically said that it ran better than it did before I brought it in but I still heard a slight tick. I was told not to worry about it and that it all checked out fine by their mechanics. I trusted the word of the service advisor. I knew it needed a new maf and an oil change*duh*. That was at the very least of my worries.

They didn't pull one single plug to do a compression test or anything! That's what gets me. I told them I pulled all the plugs and cycled the water out of the cylinders before it would even try to start. I should've brought it in there completely hydrolocked. I'm seriously pissed.

The point is that it was misdiagnosed and the proper steps for what the situation called for were not done. Until they implant microchips into pistons, connecting rods, cylinder walls, and head gaskets; That damn computer isn't gonna tell them a thing!

When I initially got it running again it had a severely nasty knock from the dr side. By the time I got it home, it wasn't near as bad. By the time I got it to the dealer(before repairs) it was barely recognizable.

 

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/l2en/


There's my photobucket account. There's plenty of pics from my weekend "adventure" and some of the carnage photos for your viewing pleasure.