Here is the story. About 1 month ago I purhased an 03 Harley F150 from a local Ford dealer. The truck of my dreams. It was nearly out of warranty at 34,000 miles. I was told this truck passed a huge used car inspection and it was 100%. Then at 35,900 miles I got a razor blade in the front left tire. I put the spare on and called around. To my shock the Ford dealer had the factory 20 inch tires for $130 which was cheap. I took the truck into the dealer for a new tire. When I was there he noticed it was almost out of warranty. I said "check it over for me please" and they said they would. At that point in time my truck ran like dream and had NOTHING wrong with it. I did notice the AC was taking a bit to cool off so I did mention that.

Three days later they called to say my truck was ready. To my shock they replaced a TON of parts on my truck. THOUSANDS of dollars in repairs. New AC system and a "Speed sensor" in my transmission including interior door pieces and trim.

They said the transmission had a fault in it stored in the computer and the sensor was most likely the problem. I guess I felt good about them replacing parts but also kinda thought they went a bit overboard. The thought of them running up the last warranty bill did occure to me.

I paid for the tire which was $183 total and I wrote up an A+ survey for the writer and staff and handed it in. AC now worked better. Fast forward to this morning.... and a total of 300 miles.

On the way to work I hear a whining noise that sounded like a bad belt. I popped the hood and heard nothing. Then I reved it up with the driver door open and noticed it was from under the truck. Odd... I left straight to the Ford dealer and turned the truck in to service. I said "I just had some warranty work done on my truck and now I am hearing a noise" and left the dealership.

At first I was told it was a heat shield. Then I later got a call from the service writer saying my transmission is toast. All four forward gears are gone. He said "he" drove the truck to test it and it went out on him. The Bill for a new transmission is so much I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. I am embarassed to even tell you guys how much they want out of MY pocket now.

The total mileage on the truck is 36,200 now. 200 miles over the warranty. We went back and forth all day on the phone. They wont replace the trans. They say it has an internal "pump" problem and its not there fault.

Then I get a call to say that any warranty I had is now gone as the tech has found my truck was "chipped". I purchased the truck from this DEALER 1 month ago and have not done anything to it. Its bone stock as far as I know. They told me its been running "20" pounds of boost?????? Now I am not a moron and I know you cant chip a truck and get 20 psi. If in fact my truck was chipped it was not to my knowledge and it was purchased this way from them. ALL PARTS on my truck are stock. The other guy told me that you would have to change the pulley to get more boost and that the other service guy was wrong. My truck has the stock pulley and factory belt on it and they confirmed that.

Point is that this truck was purchased new from them and serviced its entire life from them. The original owner traded it in for a new truck. Why did they not void his warranty if in fact my truck is chipped??? It was in for other reasons then... I had no idea my truck was chipped and to be honest I dont want it chipped.

My position:

I never complained of a trans problem. I never asked for trans work. My trans worked perfectly and I have never towed anything EVER with this truck. I take it in for a tire, they do trans work, I take it in for a noise and now my trans is dead. Since they did these repairs before the warranty was up and because I asked them to check the truck over I think they should foot the bill. I am only 200 miles over the factory warranty and that 200 miles happend within days of me picking up the truck after they worked on the transmission and my transmission failed with the service writer behind the wheel! It shifted normal on the way to the dealer this morning...

What do you guys think?

Should I have to pay?

What should I do?

Should the dealer replace my trans?

Should I contact Ford direct or a Lawyer?

Lemon law apply here? Its been about 1 month.

I do not feel I should have to pay this huge sum of money for a transmission under these circumstances. Please advise on what to do. I got a call from them on my Vm saying that I am pretty much screwed and that they are not going to do anything. I guess I will call my Lawyer in the morning and get his advice. Maybe I should log a complaint with Ford corp. or maybe I should contact the A Gen office. I have to do something here...

 

Most reputable used car lots sell their cars with a minimum 3 month 3,000 mile warranty, and a normal 12 month 12,000 mile...
If you got neither, you got screwed..

And, typically- that is in addition to the remaining factory warranty.

Sounds like you may have been had- or, you purchased this truck from Dexter's Used Cars & Groceries...

 

So they "repaired" concerns that you didn't have? I don't really know whether I want to explain how that works on here...um, E-mail me...

I'd contact the owner of the dealership (not the service manager, sales manager, etc, the guy who's name is on the building, he's bound to be around there somewhere) and/or Ford Customer Service Division at 1-800-392-3673.

If they did what I think they did, they're probably denying your warranty claim to cover their own asses. Shoot me an E-mail and I can better explain to you what I think they did and a course of action to take...legendf1 at earthlink dot net

Edit: If you can include your VIN with that, I'd appreciate it...curiosity and all.

 

Arizona has a pitiful lemon law statute:

http://www.carlemon.com/lemon/AZ_law.html

So I don't think that's going to help out.


I would concentrate on faulty repairs being the proximate cause of the failure. You're in the realm of 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc' (It never happened before, and it happened after I had it repaired, therefore the repair caused it) logic that makes for a really good argument in front of a judge.

I took a Chrysler stealership to small claims court for a faulty valve job and won years ago. I saw the parts manager I argued against in court working night shift at a wal-mart type place a year later. Damn that felt good.

-Fatz

 

man dude that sux i think that dealership is just trying to screw you over... but those only have 36K powertrain warranty? my truck came with 80,000mile i think...

 

Thanks for the replies

The latest news is this.. I get a call from the service writer. He imediatly starts off with an attitude and explains that they will NOT cover my transmission. He knows its major repairs as he is the man that was in the truck when it blew. He said it lost all forward gears. So he basicaly tells me that I am in for major money repairs. I explain that I am going to come up and get some personal belongings out of the truck and that I will have to do some more research on the matter. I talked to a lawyer already but want to talk to another and see where I am at with this before doing anything.




My transmission fails when the truck is in there hands! and they worked on it 5 days ago! Then they call and said its blown!!!!!

I dont understand why I am being treated like this!

 

That sucks.

It also sounds like they hiding something. It is suspicious and it did blow while it was in their care.

Sounds like you need to call Ford in Detroit at the caustomer care center.
The address and numbers are in the front of the handbook.

 

I called Ford customer relations. They said they wanted my VIN #. I dont have it. All my insurance papers are in the truck. Its only 30 days old so I never got a chance to make copies of the papers.

 

Was the truck advertised on the dealer website?
If so, they usually post the VIN there so you can run a carfax or similar.
Maybe you saved the page or something. If not, the VIN is visible through the windscreen on the driver side of the truck.
I think whatever happens, I'd get the truck away from that dealer pronto as they are not to be trusted.

 

Update. I talked to the director and He struck a deal with me. They said that my truck has P0500 stored in the ECU.

The bottom line on there side is that the truck is 200 miles over warranty.

The bottom line for me is that they worked on the trans 300 miles ago in warranty and when I dropped the truck off the trans was working fine. It blew in the hands of the dealership.

They offered me a deal. I pay a $545 and they will pick up the rest of the bill.

 

Are you happy with that offer?
Personally, I wouldn't be and would push Ford to pay for the entire thing.
I know it's 200 miles past the waranty but the dealer had worked on it before and it happened when they were driving it.
What does that code mean? Was that the sensor problem?
Sounds to me like they didn't diagnose the transmission fault properly when it WAS under waranty.
I still think you should get your VIN, contact Ford and see what they say after hearing your story.
After all, you bought this truck from a FORD dealer. Normaly you would get an "as is" if you buy from a non franchised place but the HD's I looked at in Houston had a 3 month dealer warranty from official dealers.

Good luck with whatever happens.

 

No. I am not happy. But what am I going to do here? I have no truck to drive and they will not pay the bill. They told me Ford said no. What that means is simple. I can no longer purchase Ford cars or Trucks. I am sad to say it and I have owned probably 10 Ford cars/Trucks. My uncle worked at Ford Dearborn his entire life and retired from Ford. So as you can see Ford is in my blood. But it makes me so mad that Ford would leave me like this. After all according to the dealer Ford told them no...

I got the truck from this dealer a month ago. This truck was serviced by them its entire life. The first owner must have towed a trailer and killed the trans. The Trans had a code in it and then later another code. That would point to a possible problem.... They worked on it. I drove it out of there and in 300 miles I heard a noise. Then they call to say the trans let go on the test drive?

My lawyer wants a $600 retainer to file suit which he said I will win. But we all know thats going to cost alot of money and its going to take months and I will have to buy or rent a car to drive. So it makes no sense to go after this. Man I wish I had the time and money but I dont. I just want my truck back. So sadly, Gulp, I told them to fix it. So no, Not happy. but I guess I value the offer as the dealership is going to pay out of pocket.

 

Read your last post again. The dealer said that Ford said no.

Did they? Do you trust your dealer after this. Get your VIN number and speak to Ford YOURSELF. Forget the lawyer thing.
Then, if Ford say no personally, then so be it. You will be no worse off.

 

I agree with EA. Call Ford yourself on this. You already suspect this dealer of lying to you, so why would it surprise you if they lied about what Ford said as well? And if your suspicions are correct and Ford actually will authorize warranty, then I would immediately get it towed to a different dealership for the work. After all, liars aren't going to all of a sudden become honest and truthful just because you went over their heads to Ford. I would not let them lay one finger on that trans ever again.

 

Understand dealers are about dealing, they are sneaky money hungry people. Every man knows that they dont send there wife to get there car serviced alone cause they know that they are ganna tell her she needs tuns more work then really needed, they thing they can take advantage of someone who has limited knowledge about cars and repairs. i think they tried to do this to you, mabey even sabatage your trans, FRUAD. I agree with these guys, dont trust them, thats when you get taken advantage of. Get the VIN and contact Ford yourself. Be STRONG, cuase its sad but these people will try to walk all over you. It makes me sad to here Ford would do this but im not suprised. bets of luck to you