Yup good luck!

 

That's a part of it, yeah, but there's more. Sure, no one really wants to work on a picky bastard's ride, but as a professional technician representing a new car manufacturer, it's our/their job to repair the vehicle to OEM specs. Period. Attitudes shouldn't get in the way of that. That's the business we're in.

What bothers me is when said picky SOB wants to try to tell me how to do my job. I'm very good at what I do, and I say that with no ego or BS. I've spent years training, in hands-on OEM specific schools and general trade schools and written courses/tests, I've invested several tens of thousands of dollars in tools and equipment, and a lot of time at the school of hard knocks to get where I am. So are/have several other techs out there. Please, don't tell us how to do our job, or what you want, and how you want it. This ain't Burger King.

It's our responsibility to return the vehicle to OEM specs in the event of a failure. If the tech working on your vehicle is living up to his title and job, he'll do just that without any silly notes from the owner of the vehicle. If you don't trust the guy doing the work to do that, perhaps you should seek out repairs elsewhere.

(none of this is directed at you, Patman, you know this stuff as well as I do, just saying for public FYI)

 

yup, no offense taken. Im just getting started with the tool investment part of it, and have already been through school and some dealer specific tests, and 4 ASE's

 

There's a few other reasons why I said "No, they don't" in this regard.

Service managers and advisors have different roles in the dealership than technicians do, and one of them is to reassure the customer that they're right, we're wrong, and no matter what, you'll get squared away - whether or not that's the case. It's a comfort factor sorta thing, because a lot of people do get genuinely bothered when their cars and trucks are broken - it is, after all, the second most expensive investment a lot of folks make. But there's more.

Dealerships are make-or-break via customer satisfaction surveys. Frankly, it's in the best interest of the guys on the front drive to kiss the customer's *** no matter what, in hopes that they'll fill the survey out as "Completely Satisfied." Anything, any question or comment on the survey that's anything less than Completely Satisfied, Ford throws the survey out and counts it as a failure of the dealership. It's BS, it defeats the purpose of the survey since we can't learn from our mistakes, but it is what it is.

These surveys are used by Ford to determine eligibility for bonuses and kickbacks to the dealership, as well as more important things, like parts ordering priority and prior approval replacement status.

Dealerships that are doing good in the surveys by Ford are given more leeway in ordering parts and supplies, approving warranty repairs for soft items like trim, glass, electrical, etc. and bigger ticket parts like engines and transmissions, which effectively means that if they're doing good, they can get stuff faster which means the customer gets their vehicle back sooner. Less downtime for the dealership, happy customers, win/win situation.

Dealerships that ain't doing so hot in the surveys have to contact Ford before replacing certain parts, and in the case of engines and transmissions, they usually have to remove and disassemble whatever failed, do a cost-cap analysis (weighing the cost of repair versus replacement), contact Ford, sometimes get an inspector involved...it eats up a lot of time, creating more downtime for the dealership and for the customer.

Additionally, Ford and the dealerships know that if you **** customers off while their vehicles are under warranty, there's a fair to good chance that they won't come back for repairs and services when their vehicles are out of warranty, and/or they won't come back to purchase another vehicle when that time comes. The automotive business is in sad shape as it is; we gotta keep every customer we can.

I won't (can't) say that the dealership genuinely likes or dislikes you, they're just doing what they must to try and maintain a customer base above anything else.

 

My honest opinion is to sell your truck, and get a V8 truck. This way you can haul more ****, and learn how to drive an auto. I know you love your manual tranny to death and would probably have kids with it, but the only way you can have it is to have a V6. No one, not even you, should have to experience a V6 F150. It's like a slightly bigger Ranger for God sake!

 

That's where it pays off to have a friend working as a tech at one of the local Ford dealerships. Things work out much better that way, for me, anyway.

I talk to him before I need to take my truck in so he knows what the story is, and I or he calls his service adviser to tell her the truck is coming in. If it's going to take almost all day to repair he'll drive it in for me. Works out swell.

 

Status update:

Truck still in shop and they dismantled the entire engine pretty much. They have found a slew of problems, from burnt valves, to severe carbonization of the cylinders, along with a stuck IMRC, and a cylinder o-ring was damaged badly. They were wondering how the heck the truck even ran... now from what they told me, I was wondering the same. Then again, the truck sounded like it had 500,000 miles on it, and it was from the 1970s going up hills and just driving around in general.

But I guess that explained my pinging issue.

I knew there was something wrong.

They are still deciding whether or not to replace the engine or rebuild it. I guess after they see if the head is warped or not they will make that determination.

I'm just shocked... but that's impressive how strong that engine is to take all of that abuse.

 

i bet none of this was due to your engine braking to save your brake pads

 

Like I said, ditch it and get one with a V8, or else you'll keep running into this.

 

I'm gonna keep it for a few months and wait to see what Ford comes out with. I'll do it late Spring to mid-summer.

My dad wants me to get a new F250 with the whole nine yards.

Not too sure what I want... all I know is that it's gonna be a V8, either stick or auto... I just want something that ain't gonna bust -- if you know what I mean.

I just thought I'd give the 4.2l another shot because my '99 never had a problem... so I figured based on my regard to the '99 I fell for the '07 with the same config. Boy did I get blown away on this one. :o

 

haha you finally gave in to the autos

 

At this point I don't care... I just want something that works. haha

 

I wonder if the 86 octane gas or the never over 2500 rpms that caused any of that

 

Ever since I read that it's harmful to always keep your engine at a low RPM, I've been getting on it a lot and letting my baby roar.