Today I had my meeting with the Ford regional rep, and things did not go as well as I planned, or hoped. My truck has had several service visits in the past, and currently has numerous problems, some severe. Yesterday in preparation for the meeting I decided to take some digital pictures of the truck to bring with me, and while photographing the underside of my truck I discovered an oil leak! F*cking piece of **** ford product!! Arrrgh! The problem list is now 9 items long! They are:

• Creaking/Popping noise coming from rear window area whoever a small bump, dip, or knoll is driven over. Appears to be coming from the top.

• Squeaky drivers side seatbelt pulley or retractor.

• Squeak/clunk noise originating from the front right wheel.

• Thousands of orange rust dots in clear coat. I'm told it's because of rail dust.

• Chipped paint and gouges in top of grill caused by improperly dealer installed bug deflector.

• 4x4 Transfer Case doesn't shift to or from 4L, extremely difficult disengagement from 4L.

• Intermittent flashing air bag light, this occurred 4 times, about every 3-4 days but hasn't happened in about a week.

• Wrong radiator installed. Since the truck is supposed to have the class III tow package it should have the 2.02" double core radiator, instead of the standard 1.02".

• Oil leak noticed on engine side of Torque Converter.

So I go in to meet with the regional rep and he listens to my description of past problems. I brought him his own set of photocopies of all of my service records and a sumamry of the current problems. I showed him the digital photos which I had printed directly to chemistry, (aka made into real pictures) and an 8x10 of the torque converter that I had made with the oil leak more than obvious.

His first suggestion was to let the dealer take another shot at tying to fix the vehicle right, but I said that wasn't enough. I told hhim that I've been without my truck for a total of almost 3 weeks for service visits, I also pointed out that since I'm leasing every service visit I make counts against my allowed mileage.

He asked what Ford could do for me and I presented what I thought was an equitable option, fix the vehicle and give me something in return, or give me my original down payment (for capitalized cost reduction) back so I can put it towards a new truck. He asked if I would consider another Ford, and if I would buy it the dealership we were at and I said yes. He went off to talk to someone at the dealer.

He returned 15 minutes later to tell me that there wasn't anything that he could do besides fix the vehicle, or bring in a Ford engineer to look at the vehicle and decide what the appropriate course of action would be. I was furious, now I've got to wait another week and take more time off from work to deal with these bastards! And I already know what the engineer is going to say, "the vehicle can be repaired" so it'll be another fix and send me on my way hoping for no more problems. Same bull**** as usual. I've called Ford customer service puppets and Ford Credit both to files complaints, but I doubt it'll get me anywhere. I guess it's time to write the DSB, but I don't hold out much hope there either.

I'm so pissed right now, and I honestly think this is going to be my last Ford vehicle that I'll ever buy. I'm not a fan of Chevy or Dodge, but I just won't do business with a company that f*cks their customers.

Thanks for listening, I had to vent!

 

Howdy!

Y2K OffRoad,

Sorry to hear you're having so many issues with your truck. Was the down payment made by credit card? Maybe it has been a while but file a dispute anyways. It might not do much if it has been a while but it will hack somebody off..

Have a nice day.

------------------
My ride:

Basics:
- '99 XLT F-150

Under hood and back:
- Ram air (Don't ask me how )
- AiRaid intake
- Flowmaster DF 50 Series
- 24x3.5" Stainless steel slashed tips (Yes! Solid polished SS, no cheesy chrome-plated)
...

Outside:
- Precision polished billet grille and plate holders
- American Racing 17x8s polished Pythons (Flushed front AND back)
- Goodyear.. something tires (Expensive is all I know. LOL. No Firestone firecrackers for me either)
- Rhino liner
- Ford nerf bars
- Ford bed rails
...

Inside:
- My girlfriend!
...

Fun stuff:
- Dual sirens Black Widow alarm system/keyless entry (Enough decibels to go deaf in a garage )
- Custom driving lights (Just a cool blue)
- 2 High-Watt lights behind grille (For people who cut me off )
- Dual horns (For people who, again, cut me off)
- Dual wheel locks (So I won't be driving home on bricks!)
- Spare wheel lock (So I won't have to use a brick as a spare )
...

Best of all:
- Texas A&M University aTm front plate! Gig'em Aggies!!

Stephlan

 

Does lemon law apply?

------------------
1998 150 SC, Lariat, 5.4, Black with a little silver, 4X4, Stock at this time.

 

Alright, first off, I want to say hook 'em (leanncut). I have a little story. I went to have a regualr checkup at one of the dealerships around here, being under warranty and all, I take advantage of it. The day that I took it there, I get a call from a lady saying "We found some things wrong with your truck, but one of our maintenance guys backed into your truck." I said "WTF!?!?!" They covered it for free, but it took them 3 weeks, being over Christmas break, it really killed me. They didn't put on one of my pinstripes on the bottom, and I still haven't gotten it yet. Right after I went there, they fired everyone that worked there and got a whole new staff! Once again, I said "WTF!?" They have no record of me being there, so I got no stripe. It's not all that noticeable, but I know it's not there, and it's not there because of them. Ford dealerships really **** me off, and I'm not too satisfied with them. I love my truck, but they should take more care of their customers.

------------------

1999 super cab
white with tan bottom
4x2 automatic
4.6L v8
BFG AT TA KO 265/75
WAAG grillguard
2 KC daylighters
vampire remote start combo alarm
steelhorse nerf bars
Husky chrome toolbox
4 pioneer 3 way 6x8's
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wants: 2 chamber flowmaster dual exhaust
tan fender flares
american racing atlas
2" fabtech suspension leveling kit

 

WOW, sorry to hear all of that.
Mine has been fine, except for the paint. But Ford is covering it under warranty.
Although, I may be looking at Lemon Law myself. The Ford Dealer Body Shop manager stated that my truck should have never left the assembly plant. The paint was horrible.

 

I've come to the conclusion that Ford sucks! While I love their trucks, even despite my current problems with mine, their customer service is deplorable. I'm afraid that if my current situation isn't taken care of in a prompt, equitable manner that is fair to both sides this will be my last Ford. I don't care how good Ford trucks are, it's obvious that they (Ford and its dealers) don't stand behind them.

And I have a feeling that the field engineer and regional rep are going to base their decision on what is good for Ford, and not me. And at that point, I will no longer recommend Ford products.

------------------
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.

 

Just wondering why the radiator problem (and some of the others) is a big deal if this is a leased vehicle? How long do you have left? Why not just run the heck out of it til the end of the lease? In your defense, I don't see why Ford doesn't just let you out of your lease or exchange trucks with a similar model w/o all the problems.

 

Y2K OffRoad
I understand just what you are going through, I also have had two vehicals that were lemons a 1990 Thunderbird SC and a 96 Pontiac GrandPrix GTP. With me Ford stepped up to the plate and replaced the car. Pontiac wouldn't do a thing for me, not even fix the problems, even though they admitted there were safety problems.

Maybee because I didn't lease the vehical was the reason I got a new one. While I have had great luck with my 93, 99, and now my 2001 F150 there will allways be a few that have problems.

I would give the dealer one more chance to fix it, and if it is still not to your satisfaction get the Ford rep back. I know this is not what you want to hear, but all car manufacturers are the same. I have a friend that is fighting with Mercedes Benz it is over a $ 75.000 car that has a lot worse problems than your truck

I hope everything turns out ok for you.

------------------
SILVER 2001 LIGHTNING
Built 02/14/01
Picked up 03/03/01
Sportmasters tonneau
Bedrug
Alpine head unit and six disk changer.
JL Audio speakers
Magnaflow muffler
JDM BigMouth Filter.
http://donf150.tripod.com/Welcome/id6.html

http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4294607313

 

Hey I read your complaint and just wanted to share my simular incident. I leased a 99 ranger 4x4 and thought it was going to be a great truck. boy was I wrong.after 6 months I started having 4wd problems. the truck would make wicked banging and grinding noises when going into 4wd. the problem was I couldn't make it do it on pavement at the dealer. the dealer i bought it from wouldn't even help me. I drove all the way up there which is about an hours trip one way on a vacation day from work. when I got there they didn't have anything for me to drive because I was under 21 and they no longer provided dealer cars because they had had some accidents. so I left with the truck still broke and took it to my local dealer who was great by the way. however they had their hands tied because ford didn't want to do anything about it cause it was "normal" the truck was in the shop 11 times in the 2 years i leased it. I applied for lemon law but if you have even 1 late payment it makes you inelligable. I have since managed to get rid of my junk truck but it was a long hassle that resulted in lots of lost money because of the time it took. you were lucky you even got to talk to a regional rep. I got the run around when I even tried to find out who mine was. the moral of the story is that I will never go back to the original dealership and would probably never by another Ranger. the good news is that I love my F150.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems
I've had great service from my dealership and I bought my truck used. When I bought my truck it had just been traded in hours ago. So obviously nothing had been done to it yet. I said I wanted it and we signed all the paperwork. They gave me a loaner car and had the truck gone over. they put two new tires on replaced a center cap that was discolored and all the normal maintainance stuff. three weeks later the truck wouldn't start so I called them. Turns out the wiring harness for the starter had a cracked cable. So they fixed it and I went on my way or so I thought. It happened again. Thankfully I was only about a 15 to 20 min drive away so they SENT a mechanic THERE!!!! turned out that they hadn't tightened it enough or didn't put a lock washer or whatever I didn't care I wanted it fixed. The mechanic they sent crawled under my truck in the parking lot of Giant Eagle and got the truck to start and the followed me back to the dealership and finished the job.

their oil change service is open till 10:00 daily and parts is open till midnight.
As a matter of fact since I have been going up there I've gotten to know some of them and a couple of them might actually be joining a me for a fourwheeling trip. Gotta love having a certified ford mechanic with you while offroading.

Good luck with your problems. maybe it's a dealer thing try finding another dealer not another brand.

 

Y2K,

I just got through dealing with Ford on a POS 98 Explorer. Your problems are minor compared to what we experienced with that Explorer. How does intermittent brake light failure sound? Stalling on left turns, power windows that never worked right, etc. Ironically, it was a dealer that I bought my first ever new car at back in 1992 that helped us. The same salesman that sold me that first car still worked there and he remembered my name on top of that. Our Explorer had 44,150 miles on it but it still qualified for the Lemon Law in Fl. I told him about our woes and how the selling dealer wanted to keep fixing it. He told us about Ford buyback assistance. He asked for all of our original deal paperwork, all of our service documents, and what vehicle would be a satisfactory replacement. After about ten days of haggling, Ford offered us $1500 in buyback assistance. The dealer asked for $4000. I laughed and told him to e-mail Ford assistance and inform them that I would be happy to Lemon Law it and accept my $10K check from that, even if it took 6months. Another day or so later, Ford gave us $5000 in assistance. My wife picked out a silver 01 Taurus LX. We got it for $100 over invoice, plus a $1000 rebate, plus the $5000 buyback assistance, plus low apr.

The dealer put Ford in the hot seat and structured the deal so that we had to have the $5K to buy another car from them. Ford would have lost two ways in the Lemon Law, 1)a lost sale of a Taurus, 2) more cost to them to deal with the Explorer. Also, when a car is bought back as a Lemon, it must be disclosed making the car worthless to all but the crusher. An assistance deal does not have to be disclosed and can be sold wholesale destined for a buy here, pay here, "if you got a job you ride" type of lot without disclosure.

It seems to me that you should give the dealer one more shot to fix the problem(s). WE gave our dealer about 7 attempts on the stalling problem which seems more serious than any of your problems. Then go to the highest volume Ford dealer you can find and talk to the new car sales manager. Take your paperwork with you and tell them you want a truck that is right and that you've heard of assistance from Ford in doing so. The more repair attempt invoices you have the more frustration you can document. They should be able to do something for you, even if you leased. Remember though that they know you are gonna bring it back sooner or later anyway. I would go for leasing another truck at no up front out of pocket costs to you with the same payment.

Good luck

 

Its a leased truck, therefore it is not yours. I would walk in, hand them the paperwork with all the keys, and walk out the door. You will hear all this crap about the stipulations of the lease and all that, but they have not supplied you with the "quality" vehichle that you thought you were "renting". No kidding, simply walk away and take the loss. (Kinda makes you want to keep it now, huh?).. The up front fees are going top be a loss, but in the long run, you loose on a lease anyways. No equity..... Not throwing stones, but man, I'd drive a Chevette Diesel 4 door before I'd lease anything. Too many horror stories.
My best to you. Ford doesnt like to cover problems its very aparent......
Rick..

 

Hey, thanks everyone for taking the time to respond! What a great bunch of people you all are!! At this stage I'm waiting for the Zone Rep to set up a meeting the the field engineer. Being that I am leasing I don't think it's such a big deal for Ford to take the vehicle back, but apparently they do.

seacrow, I'm very reluctant to let them perform another simple repair and hope for the best. My truck has already been in for repair 9 times, 5 of which for the same problem, which I would consider as severe as yours. Initially I was getting hesitation, detonation and stumbing on takeoff. That escalated into random stalling, and eventually idle problems that led to surging. That was real safe when trying to stop at a traffic light, only to have the RPMs shoot up to 2k+ while trying to stop!! A mere 5 visits and 3 months later it was fixed.

I got a couple trouble free months and now more crap is going wrong. My biggest concern at this point is the oil leak that I've discovered. Followed secondby the transfer case, and then the wrong radiator. The rest I would consider to be relatively minor.

Karick11, believe me I am starting to consider that option as well. My problem is that I feel Ford is somewhat obligated to provide some assistance. First off they should waive all of the early termination fees, and I also believe some factory assistance is in order as well.

ustahavaranger, I'm sorry to hear that they used something as simple as one late payment as a technicality to void your lemon law rights. Here in NY I don't think they can do that, but in any event I know I'm covered there! In fact I've done everything by the book, every bit of maintenance has been dealer performed, and I've got all the paperword to prove it!

I plan to follow Ford's run-around procedures so I can at least say I followed the proper channels, and can't be accused of being uncooperative. When I go in for the meeting with the Zone Rep and Engineer I asked for ans was granted permissoin to bring my digital camera with me. I also insisted that I be present when he diagnoses the truck's problems. If they want to play hardball, so can I!

------------------
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,,
Be as evasive as they are being to you. And remember that the early fees that you mentioned are only a "fee" if you pay them. They will pound into you that you will be damaging your credit and that you signed a contract. They have to honor their end of the contract also, thats the beauty of a contract, there are obligations on both sides. They sound like they are breaking their end of the bargain to me. Advise them that you are "willing" to hand them the keys and walk away to allow for them to keep their "good name". (yeah, right).. At which time, you can pick up a good used vehicle and not have to RENT a truck. Remember that leasing is RENT, plain and simple. (can you tell that I think leases suck??)..
Best of luck to you.......
Rick..


------------------
"99" F-150 4x2,SC, med red / silver, 4.2L, auto, 3.55's, 265x16's premium snd w/cd, 4 wheel antilocks, leer "too heavy" matching cap, Mobil 1.
"Gutless thing!!"

 

Y2K, You are doing the right thing. Don't get too upset about it. eventually you will find someon that gives a damn, like I did.

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I traded in my perfectly good 99 F-150 XLT for a 01 Lariat, is because the salesman did such a great job on the Explorer. He also casually mentioned that Ford finally did away with the "Mushy Seats", as he called them, for 01. It's like the guy was reading my mind. I felt he deserved the sale for all of the hard work he did getting us out of the POS Explorer we had.

Ironically, my 99 was identical to your 00 except mine was a 2WD SuperCab. Mine was even solid white with Dark Graphite interior. It was flawless in the two years I owned it except for the wiper switch.