Greets,

I have just started the process with a Ford Lemon myself. My situation is that I have a 2000 Ford Taurus SES, that has been into the shop 6+ times, 4 times for a Service Engine soon light (first time was the day I drove it off the dealership lot).

The car runs rough, suffers detonation (bad pinging), and on a good week gets 11 mpg. It also surges over 2K rpms and will sit and overheat the converter at stop lights (you can smell the converter burning up), all the time wanting to accelerate on its own and fighting against its own brakes. If that was not bad enough, each time the SES light has come on it has been a blown/fried sensor in the engine or transmission (shift sensor).

This last time which finally broke my romance with the darned thing, it stalled while driving in motion with total electrical cutout. Luckily I was in slow moving traffic on city streets and not going 65mph on the freeway, so I was able to get it to stop safely and block traffic with my 2000 Taurus (it is a pretty effective obstacle at 5 pm on a very busy San Francisco street!)

The darn thing would not restart for over 30 minutes, no starter or anything. When it did restart every idiot light in the Christmas tree lit up, and the car would not idle on its own; I had to keep it alive. I tried getting a hold of the dealership I purchased it from but their automated telephone system hung up on me 3 times. So against my better judgement I drove the car to the service center. The whole trip it was surging and pinging pretty bad; and the dang SES light was on again.

There was no warning with the stall, it was not overheating and the only thing I had on was the A/C on low cold (radio etc. was off).

The dealership has had the car for 5 days now, I am now $200+ dollars in the hole on a rental car, and I have talked to the Service Manager and my Service Advisor requesting a meeting with the Field Rep regarding my options.

I honestly think that I am going to be stuck with a car I can not trust, I have had it 11 months and it has been in the shop with the SES light almost regularly at a 2 month interval (3 - 4 days for each of the 6 visits). I do not abuse the car, and it has had both the 3,000 and 6,000 mile services done by the dealership. Heck in the 11 months I have had it I have only put 6,803 miles on it. I take exceptional care of it.

The reason this even relates to this web site is that if they do give me an offer to buy the car back I want to get a F-150 as a replacement. I will stick with Ford, the dealership in question, and give them another chance; but after reading your experience I am a little worried.

Mainly I think I am going to be shafted. The service Manager said he was getting the ball rolling and would contact the Field Rep, but I have not heard from him for 3 days; my service advisor said that his boss was doing exactly that last night when he called me stating they need to keep the car another day. Honestly they do not know what is currently wrong with the vehicle, their techs have been taking it home with a computer hooked up with it and all they know is there is an Electrical short somewhere or something along those lines.

I think I am just getting jerked off though.

Eitherway I need the car back, because I am running out of money for this darned rental car.

Shoot, if I had $700+ to spend on a car a month I would have gone to BMW!

Things are looking pretty grim with me right now, but if the chance does arise I am going with the F-150.

Nonsequitur
J.N.

[Edited for spelling mistakes and further elaboration]

[This message has been edited by Nonsequitur (edited 05-12-2001).]

 

Congrats on getting this matter resolved and getting a new truck. Unfortunately, someone else will end up buying the lemon and go through the same mess you went through.

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1999 4x4 F250 LightDuty XLT SuperCab 5.4L, 3.73, 4R100 trans.
Flowmaster exhaust, K&N FIPK, Superchip, Rancho RSX shocks, Hellwig rear swaybar, Stull billet grille, PIAA Air Dam with 2-PIAA Pro80XT's (85W Superwhites), 4-KC Daylighters (150W), Performance Accessories 3" Body Lift, 33/12.5/17 ProComp Mud Terrains on 17x8 American Racing Atlas Rims. Kenwood 7007 CD, Alpine 3342 Signal Processor, Alpine MRV-F353 5Ch. Amp, Pioneer TS-A6865 3-way speakers, MTX Thunderforms. CompuStar alarm/autostart.

 

Situation Resolved!!

Well I finally have some good news to report on this whole issue. First off my plea for help was carried by one of the local TV stations news casts. And boy it is just amazing how much more the dealership owner can do when he's told that his dealership is going to be featured in a lemon story on the six o'clock news!!

The owner, Dave Pirro of Dave Pirro Ford had basically told me to go pound salt on Thursday morning when I called him to see if he could do any more and was told that Ford's $2000 offer was fair and adequate and their wasn't any more he could do. He then proceeded to tell me that he may have been able to do more if I had come to him originally, which I had.

What's even funnier is that I received a call from the regional rep (that I had met with previously) who chewed me out for going to the press. He told me that he took it as a threat and that he and Ford wasn't scared of a news story done my a small local station. He went on to explain how all of the Firestone publicity hasn't hurt Ford's sales any and I was welcome to do my worst! I promptly told this guy he's in the wrong line of work with that attitude then told him to **** off.

To make a long story short, after my story aired on the news Dave was able to get ford to Pony up another $1500, still shy of what I felt I deserved, but enough for me to settle.

So, I am in the process of purchasing a red (Here's the color Cowlady!) 2001 F-150 XLT 4X4 SuperCab. It's got the 5.4L, sport package, and Class III towing package. Yes the first thing I do before signing papers is to check the damned radiator! While it's an overall step up from my current vehicle, I'm loosing two things that I value, my cab steps and my axel, getting a 3.55 regular instead of instead of limited slip.

Luckily both can be added down the road, but some kind of cab step/running board is first on my list. I think that I got a pretty fair deal, although I wish that I could have done better.

MSRP: $29,845
Markdown: $2,200
Buyback: $3,500
Rebates: $500

My Cost: $23,645

I tried to get the dealer to give me more of a mark down but he cited to reasons, the first being that he's getting the truck from another dealership causing him to lose his reserve and the second is that he's eating some money taking my truck back. But I'm just glad to finally put this whole dispute behind me and go back to enjoying my truck like I wanted to do in the first place!

Any thoughts?

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2000 F-150 XLT *LEMON*.

Lemon: Rail Dust, Wrong Radiator, Defective Transfer Case, Oil Leak by Torque Convertor, Intermittant Air Bag MIL, Popping Rear Window, Clunking/Creaking RF Wheel, Dealer-Installed Bug Shield Damaged Grill, and Squeaky Seat Belt.

Ford is giving me a run-around trying to fix ths truck!!!

Truck: Reg Cab/Long Box, Styleside, Oxford White, Dark Graphite Int., 4x4, 4.6L, 3.55 L/S, Off-Road pkg (Skid Plates, Cab Steps, Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers, LT265/70R17SL), Class III Towing pkg with Heavy Duty Cooling pkg, 4 wheel disk ABS, Overhead Console, Factory In-Dash CD, Remote Keyless Entry, and Sliding Rear Window.

Mods: Superchip, Cabin Air Filtration, Ventvisors, Ford Bug Deflector, Ford Bedliner.

2000 Polaris Sportsman 500, Camo Green, 4x4, 499cc 4-stroke, independent suspension, shaft drive, 4 wheel disc brakes, etc.

 

Y2K,
CONGRATS ON FINALLY GETTING YOUR PROBLEMS RESOLVED. AND THANK TO THE MANY FINE PEOPLE HERE ON THESE BOARDS THAT HELP WITH OUR PROBLEMS AND LEND SUPPORT TO US. FORD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF US. FORD COUNTS ON MOST PEOPLE NEVER EVEN RAISING A FUSS OVER THEIR PROBLEMS WITH THEIR CARS AND TRUCKS. HOW MANY ARE OUT THERE THAT KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT? NO ONE KNOWS. YOU GOT YOUR SITUATION RESOLVED. NOW IT'S SOMEONE ELSES TURN. BUT WITH THE SUPPORT WE ALL GET HERE ONE DAY WE WILL ALL GET RELIEF. (HOPEFULLY) EVERYONE NEEDS TO KEEP US INFORMED ON THEIR STATUS AND KEEP SUPPORTING US LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO. THANKS AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW TRUCK. YOU EARNED IT.