Y2K-

Clearly you haven't been following the Ford warranty labor reduction fiasco of the last year. See www.flatratetech.com for info.

Ford has cut most warranty labor claim hours to the point where the technicians at Ford dealerships have staged walk-outs! Yes, a good tech can 'beat the book', but there are also careful mechanics, like my brother, that can't make a living doing warranty work. He was (still is) good at computers and the dealer he was at loaded him up. Ford was paying .3 to .5 hours for computer diagnostics and next to nothing for R&R work. How can you talk to the service writer, bring in a vehicle, diagnose the problem, order the part(s), replace them, test drive it and put it back in the lot then do the paperwork in less than an hour? Could you turn 10 of those a day to make a decent wage? What about the ones that 'go wrong'? Those are yours to fix on your time.

My brother now teaches Karma-Kanics at the local Community College and they can't get enough students interested in the profession to keep the department open. They only graduated 1 student last year! What would you rather do if you're technically inclined; pay $20,000 for your tools, work in a hot/cold auto shop, be responsible for your work and come home at night with banged-up hands and grease under your fingernails, or use someone else's tools to fix computers in an air conditioned office for about the same money?

We should count ourselves lucky if we get a competent mechanic to fix our trucks on Ford's dime.

 

 

..but Ford did me a favor when I got rid of my '99 L. I had 3 intercoolers replaced and was leaking again. When the time came to buy my '01, I had 2 on order that had come in, both rather early in production. I could not get either dealer to give me over 17K for my L. I had 38K miles on it, but in great condition. The dealer I bought the 99 from called me up about a complaint I had on one of their surveys we get after a service appt. They wanted my business back. They went to bat for me and put in for an allowance from Ford for me. The rep. offered me 3K in a coupon towards a new vehicle and I asked for more. They came back with 4K. This was for all the prob. I had had with the L over the almost 2 years I had it. It was in the shop a total of over 65 days. Then the dealer gave me 21K for my 99 L. I came out of it pretty well.
I was very suprised that Ford would do this.
I know that they are realy being nasty about this situation but, they can sometimes come through for ya.
Take it for what it's worth.

 

DH

I was going to say all that...but thanks for saving me the time.



99SVTLightning...Ford states quite clearly that they will void your warrenty if you mod the vehicle....not sure where the confusion is there. If it is because some dealers sell chips...you have to remember....that dealers are not FORD MOTOR COMPANY.

Dealers are independantly owned and operated.

 

Its funny that Superchips was here congratulating Robert on his win at WFC, and now that he needs some help..........................

 

Fast Gator, you got it man. That's the way it works around here. As long as it is all good, they are all over it, when things go bad...

 

99svtlightning
you have not read your svt book in a while
no mods-no racing
only to use to go to church on sunday

 

All that's been said is true as far as ford not backing up your warranty.Also know your dealership and their mindset on mods.You should have taken the chip and any other visible mods off the truck before you went to the dealer.

Also,no harm intended but do you take good care of your truck,neat clean,and well maintained???? Just wondering I saw it at an event and you had it stripped down pretty good,as in lacking for a bit of care,no offense but they judge the appearence of the vehicle when you presented it to them for service.A 99 should look like new,did yours????

I would pursue the intercooler as the problem for the engine going bad..And in the future keep an accurate log of all the maintence you do on the L.I have a record for every oil change, spark plug replacement,warranty work,fuel filter,everything.Keep the L documented,thats your best defense.

My .02

 

I hope everyone learns from this. If you have to go in for that kind of service, put the truck back to stock as much as possible. If you just had the exhaust and filter, they would replace anything. As soon as you mess with engine parameters with a chip it's all up to them. You don't have a leg to stand on now. That policy is industry wide and dates back to the 80's. It stinks, but now you may as well shoot for the moon on the hp. Keep your head up.

 

pffft. Don't feel bad, i shafted them, with a brand new wiring harness from the cab back (Corrosion wicked all through the wire, this was done at 1500km), new brakes on all 4 corners, TWICE! (once at 2,000km, and the second at 20,000), as well as other BS with the truck. However, when the sidewall of my tire ripped open from the top of the bead to half way through the tread, they ****ed me around for a week & a half and didn't do anything.

Oh ya, and then there was the recent backfiring that i fixed myself ( good ol motorcraft plugs aren't worth crap ).


Personally, i think ford needs to smarten up with their warranty work, allong with their products. The work that has been done to mine, should never have been done.

 

How much warranty do you think Kenny Bernstein gets on his Top Fuel Dragster?? Come on now, you modify your Lightning with parts and peices intended to make if faster and perform beyond what Ford originally has programmed or designed, then you hurt it, take it in for warranty work, and then cry when they void your warranty?
All I see here is people saying to just take off the parts that you put on and maybe they wont notice, thats good if you can get away with it, but what are you gonna do when you are at 37000 miles and something happens, cry because the motor you need is 7000 dollars?

Think about your line or work, whatever that might be, and think about doing it for free twice or three times because someone took your product or service and messed it up by doing something different to it. Do you think a mechanic would rather do a couple of brake jobs and make money and go home, or do you think he would rather put a motor in a Lightning for what Ford pays under warranty? especially when he knows that 80 % of Lightnings are modified in one way or another.

Ford says my brand new lighting will do 13.8
Ford says it is the fastest pickup in the world.
And as long as I leave it alone and enjoy what they produced, they will warranty it for 3 years or 36,000 miles.
I think I will stick with that, especially with all the crap you get around here when you ask a question and someone calls you names and such just because you metioned someones name they didnt like.. Steven

 

asked twice on this thread about tuners who may have sold to SVT dealers to install in customers'trucks. No reply at all PSP,JL, JDM where are you? HAS ANYBODY BOUGHT PERFORMANCE PARTS,ESPECIALLY CHIP FROM A DEALER, AND HAD ENGINE WARRANTY PROBLEMS--WHAT HAPPENED?

 

Arrghh

wheredidjoego, I don't know who the heck you really are, but you must be an under cover or something.

All you have to do is head on over to the chips forum on this board and you will see miles of threads where it is preached endlessly that chips do not void warranty's and all the wonderful things vendors will do to back you up in case you need it. They should call that forum "chock full of lies".

Heck, not only do they not back you up, they don't even address problems with their own products not working like they should.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how wonderful the neck snapping, part slinging shifts are, and as an added bonus they actually "help" your transmission last longer. Might as well add-in (while I am at it) that chips never cause a lean conditon. No need to worry about burned pistons my friend, just enjoy that extra 2 mpg and those clean exhaust tips.

Here's a clue. The (most of them) people who sell these magical go fast parts never tell you the possible downsides. I have never (and probably never will) see a tuner come clean and tell the whole truth on f150online. They ain't in it to tell you the truth, they are here to make $$$$.

 

You should really try posting a new topic specifically asking for the tuners to respond if you want an answer. You have to realize that just because you personally have happened to check back on this post numerous times...there is a chance that the tuners never saw your posts burried within this thread. Not every person reads every thread over and over again.

 

Go Joe!!!!!!
Get a clue