I have a 2006 f-150 that i bought less than a year ago as a certified pre-owned. It has 45,000 mi and i put a 6" lift and 35" tires on less than 5000 mi ago. This weeknd the reverse went out on it. I called one dealer this morning and asked if they would cover it under warranty and they said it wasnt a problem. i took it to the dealer i bought it from, thinking that they were all the same (wrong), and the 2nd dealer said its fine and then they tore it apart and said that its not going to be covered. So now they want to charge me $364 for tearing the tranny apart and another $1800 to rebuild the thing. Does something sound screwed up here? Anybody have any expierience or advice that would help me out on this deal???

 

What's left on your powertrain warranty? If nothing, then you're screwed, although I don't understand why the dealer would go ahead with it if they clearly knew you weren't paying if it wasn't covered.

If they were clearly aware and went ahead anyway, I'd be pissed, and they'd know about it.

 

it is a 6 year/75,000 mi powertrain warranty. They havent done the rebuild yet, but thats what they want to charge me. But they say that i have to pay the $385 if they do the rebuild or not because thats what it cost to tear it down to diagnose the problem. They say the tranny is burnt up, but i want to know why it got hot and why the transmission cooler was not doing its job???? I am super pissed with fords waranty dept.

 

Why aren't they covering it?

 

they say its because of the lift.

 

I talked to two transmission techs at the other dealer and they both said that there is really no way they can prove its becasue of the lift.

 

If you went back to the dealer that sold you truck, and they sold it to you with a powertrain warranty knowing the truck was lifted, then they misled you. I'd take that approach. That could be construed as fraudulent in nature if you can prove they sold it to you with a warranty. You didn't mod the truck after they sold it to you.

 

Bigger tires put more strain on the drivetrain = more chances for carnage. Lifting a truck under warrentee isn't an especially smart thing to do, as you have drastically changed the guidelines they gaurenteed it for. They don't know if you were trying to pull your camper thru the mountains in Colorado or buried it in a tank trap or what you did to it, your tires would amplify anything you did with the truck against your drivetrain. I wouldn't cover it either, I would almost bet you voided the warrentee with the lift. You should have paperwork with it so look it up.

He said he put the lift kit and tires on himself.

 

Oh yes, missed that.

Well as you said, it doesn't look good for any kind of defense, other than they should have notified him before doing the work.

 

Well why does one dealer say it wounldnt of been a problem and still backs me up that it shouldnt be a problem and the other is being a cheap a$$?

 

My guess?

One dealer wants the warranty work, and the other doesn't. You should have taken it to the dealer that said they'd cover it, or confirm that the dealer you did take it to would cover it. Hind sight is always 20/20.

 

Seems to me like an open/shut case. Dealer A says: no we wont fix it under warranty. Dealer B says: yes, we will fix it under warranty.

You have warranty left, so great its covered.

Tell Dealer A to go **** them selves and take it to dealer B.

Simple as that.

They cant really justify not covering it if another dealer is willing to cover it, doest make sense.

Keep in mind though, we only have one side of the story

 

I'm thinking he won't be able to get away with it now, since the dealer where the tranny is sitting probably already entered the VIN in the Ford system? Ford probably already knows it's not covered (the dealer reported the lift and tires), so if he takes it to the other dealer, that cover is already blown, and the other dealer won't be able to get it covered by Ford.

 

Yeah, there's probably a CUDL generated by the first dealer noting the tires/lift/transmission failure, it'll show on the OASIS report.

Really, both dealers should have said no, or at least contacted their regional rep before saying yay or nay as to whether they'd fix it or not, but they say hindsight is 20/20.

 

A "burnt up" transmission is called abuse. That's why the unit is being denied warranty. Neither dealer is going to do warranty work on it as Ford won't pay them for the work. Abuse is abuse and a "burnt up" transmission is abuse.