My Ford dealership story

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
I have a feeling that OP "told" them to replace the gasket. To put it another way, dealership did not "diagnosis" on their own and decided that gasket needed replacing.


At a good dealer you should be able to do that. Back when I lived in an apartment, the cam synchronizer started making noise on my truck. I knew what it was, but working in a parking lot in freezing temps is no fun, so I took it to the dealer. I told the service writer that the cam synchro was going out, and that the truck wasn't making noise at the moment, but it would if they drove it around some. The service writer asked me if I was pretty sure about it, and I said yes. They put in a new cam synchro without any hassle and the truck has been quiet ever since.

That sucks that the OP had such a bad experience. Any Ford dealer should be familiar with the Vulcan's typical oil pan leaks, and should be able to fix it correctly since Ford has updated the gasket design.

 

[cadfaeltex]

Originally Posted By: kelpie
I see Ford still has their issues. I don't mean to bash Ford, but I bought my last one (new) in 1987 and was such a bad experience I switched to GM and Chrysler. I still would give Ford another chance before I would even consider an import, though. I have done a lot of mechanical work and GM n Chrysler are better engineered IMO.


This is about where I am. I grew up in a Ford family and my first couple of cars were Fords (including a '66 mustang). When it was time for me to get my first new car I went to Several Ford dealerships to buy a 1994 Ford Mustang and none of them wanted to do business with me. Ended up with an Oldsmobile 88 instead and haven't been back to a Ford dealership. One dealer at the time threatened to have me forcibly tossed of the lot and then and now not really not sure why.

I've been thinking of getting another Ford lately though - like the look of their F150's. Guess I'll keep an eye out on these types of threads for a while.

 

[Vikas]

Can OP clarify if he told them to replace the gasket or the dealer found out it needed the gasket? And is he sure that the gasket was actually replaced?

I think if you create a new topic, you should monitor it unless of course it was supposed to be just a rant and was done to vent some steam.

- Vikas

 

[04SE]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Can OP clarify if he told them to replace the gasket or the dealer found out it needed the gasket? And is he sure that the gasket was actually replaced?

I think if you create a new topic, you should monitor it unless of course it was supposed to be just a rant and was done to vent some steam.

- Vikas


Yes, the gasket CLEARLY leaked directly below the front seal where the oil pan met the front cover. Oil dripped off of the alignment tab directly onto the "Y" pipe.

Yes, the gasket was actually replaced. I clipped a piece off of one of the alignment tabs for this very reason before I took it in the first time.

I took the car to the dealership and specifically asked to have the gasket changed. Why would I pay for a "diagnosis" when it CLEARLY leaked where I said it did.

 

[Whimsey]

Okay, I'm biased, my wife and I are long time Ford purchasers, all new vehicles. We've both have had real good if not sometimes exceptional service from the Ford dealers we dealt with. This was both in and out of warranty. I just wish the two dealers we bought out last vehicles from were closer. We've used a highly rated Indy for some work but were not always pleased. But the Indy is much more convenient for work when you have to leave the vehicle. The Indy's prices are close to the Ford dealers prices.

Whimsey

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

When I lived in N.Y.C. I bought a 88 Town Car in 89 from Town Motors in Englewood New Jersey..They were awesome..I actually looked foward going there for service..Once a month on a Saturday they used have a awesome Brunch with awesome food while they changed your oil..The car was always done before you got done eating..All the guys I worked with [who had Fords] all got there cars serviced there..Some of the guys lived over 50 miles away..They even let you go in the back and talk to the mechanic who was working on the car..They never tried to upsell you anything and if you had issue with anything they found the problem within 15 minutes..They kept my Town Car running very cheaply for 300K miles..I am sure by now it under new owners.

Down here I am not crazy about any Ford dealer but they do the work that you went there for unlike alot of other dealers down here and they do not sabotage the car when you refuse work like some of the tire places do down here as that is happened to my mom awhile back with her 85 Vic.

I do have a Indy I use some of the time and he is alot cheaper then the Ford dealer but I am not crazy about his work..For oil changes and small stuff he is OK..Otherwise I go to the stealer and keep a very close eye them..I would not even think of letting him change the tranny fluid.

 

[Vikas]

OK, so you told them to replace the gasket and they did. But the car continued to leak.

Explain to me why that becomes fault of the dealer (mind you I hate the entire business). I am genuinely interested in understanding your expectation. I already told you what I would have done i.e. make sure they replaced the gasket and used proper tightening sequence on the pan. If it had leaked after that, I would be scratching my head but surely will not be blaming the shop.

On the other hand, if I take the car in and told them to find and fix the leak, I would be mad if their fix did not stop the leak.

You can NOT have it both ways.

- Vikas

 

[vssjim]

I'm going to say they probably destroyed the new pan gasket being in a hurry as stated above saying the new gasket leaked in the same place which happens to be the front lip of the pan on the bottom of the timing cover. all 3.0 "U" pushrod engines are going to leak at that spot down on to the converters, not if but when.

 

[MCompact]

I'm extremely fortunate in that I have access to an excellent BMW dealer, an excellent Mazda dealer, and three great indie shops.

And as for my local Ford dealer...
I use a Ford synthetic transmission oil in my Mazdaspeed. I went to the web site of my closest Ford dealer(Bill Collins Ford); the parts department page is configured so that you can send a message to the parts desk. I asked if they had the fluid in stock and supplied the part number. I received a response within two hours, advising me that they had five quarts in stock. I'm all set, right? Not so fast...
So I drop my son off at soccer practice and drive over to the dealer. I tell the parts guy what I want, he types it into the inventory computer and tells me "We don't got it." I explain that I received an e-mail stating it was in stock and he says "There's the problem; you should of called instead- the e-mails aren't accurate". That experience pretty much extinguished any desire I had to order a Mustang GT.

 

[rjacket]

The real pity about this is that the dealer service department should be the place where mechanics know your car better than other mechanics and can do the work right.

Eg using original parts, having access to TSB's to resolve issues that independent's might not know, having the right torque specs for virtually everything, following recommended procedures.

If they were doing this, then I'd love to be able to give them my business for the sheer convenience and time saving, even if they are (a not too unreasonable amount) more expensive.

However, I have been to 5 different dealers of the same manufacturer and have had issues with each one of them, ranging from wrong information that wasted time to life threatening repairs. As a result, I now know more about my car than they do, and go only to independents.

Basically this happens because dealers only decide to become dealers to make money from used cars and servicing and are pushing employees to hit short term targets rather than do the right thing for the customer. It happens because most work performed incorrectly does not result in something calamitous - it may be suboptimal but the results do not show up soon enough for the issue to be traced back to the dealer, and lastly it happens because most consumers are simply not cluey enough to realize when something has been done wrong or when they've been taken advantage of.

If they were held accountable by more people, then we'd all benefit. Unfortunately, those of us who care that our cars are looked after right, are victims of all those who don't care.

I see this in all walks of life and just end up doing more and more things myself.

I also sense there is an issue of attitude amongst many employees, which is probably not helped by the fact that they get turned into sales people rather than customer service professionals.

 

[Garak]

A couple years back, I had the opportunity to read some of Ford's training materials for parts people. I was actually pretty impressed by their philosophy. They certainly pushed proactive work, not unnecessary work, nor ignoring things that should be done correctly. Though, as we've all seen, philosophy doesn't always translate into practice.

 

[97tbird]

I think there are good and bad dealerships within the same brand...
I had one dealership change the ATF on my Tbird with wrong ATF type (noticed on invoice) although I specified Mercon V and when I pointed it out, the SA wanted 'proof' - he didn't know that 97 cars could be serviced with Merc v...when I showed him the TSB on his own PC, he apologized, thanked me for 'educating' him and drained and refilled the ATF again immediately. He became a good 'contact' at that dealership.

Shortly afterwards they fired that SA, and a friend of him told me that the mgmt didn't like him being too 'lenient' and helpful on customer requests...like the above example, and letting people bring their own oil and OEM parts they bought somewhere else...

 

[rjacket]

Right, the nice employees don't make enough money for the bosses.

I was in the market for an Audi and met a sales person who was fantastic, not at all pushy, friendly, passionate about the cars, let me test drive any car I felt like for as long as I wanted.

I decided not to buy the Audi at that point (in fact I decided not to buy a replacement car at all), but said to myself that when I want to buy an Audi, I will buy it from him.

A little later, the A7 came out and I thought to myself ok here is a car that I am interested in. When I went back to the dealer, my sales person was no longer there, and I had no reason to buy from them anymore.