I finally caught the service manager of the dealership after over a month of persistent chasing around and showed him the door crack of the driver side door of my F-150. He said they'll fix it with the reinforcement kit. I told him that I also wanted the preventative fix on my passenger door since it doesn't seem to have the crack yet. He refuses. I told him what I've learned in this forum that the crack is caused by the windows being used but he said that this forum is inaccurate and the cracks are caused by the doors being opened and closed. And it only affects the driver side. Plus he also said to wait until end of August cuz Ford "might" issue a new TSB or recall. Of course, my warranty ends at September 4 and its cutting it kinda close so I told him to input in their computer or put it in writing that I did show him the crack today. He refuses so I just booked an appointment for August 7 to get the driverside door fixed. I was really mad about the refusal to get the kit installed in the passenger door so he gave me the Ford customer service hotline to "get approval". And all this while, he kept on emphasizing that my crack is the most minor of all cracks. This kinda pisses me off because I was hoping that I could put my door crack issue to rest and park in downtown underground garages(pay parking) with peace of mind that the cracks won't get bigger. Although the driver side door seems to be destined for a fixed, assuming that they won't botch the job, the fate of my passenger door is still uncertain. Anybody have experiences with these kinds of service managers and how to deal with them, please advise. Any other comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Queetz says:
Yes, of course! Everyone knows tht parking in underground parking garages causes door cracks!

 

Kenster, I was being sarcastic. When you go park in an underground garage, whether you have a spot or if you have to pay, you still have to roll down your windows to give the attendant your money or insert your access card. Ever since I found out about the crack, I've been avoiding using my windows. But some situations are unavoidable like parking attendants in the exits, toll booths, border crossings to the US, cops stopping you over for speeding, etc.

 

My deealership told me that the cracks were caused by power windows putting unusual stresses on the doors. Then, a manual window 150 came in with door cracks. They then told me they were caused by opening and closing the doors. In either case, at 85,000 miles, I own my cracks and the rust at the bottom of the doors.

Question: Has anyone had the cracks get longer than, say, 1/4 or 3/8 inch? Has anyone had the rust problem fixed, as opposed to replacing the doors? If so, do they stay fixed or just start to rust again?

 

You should call Fords regional manager or factory rep for that area to yell at the dealer about the preventative fix thing. My friend had trouble with his new Dodge the dealer refused to do anything so he called the factory rep and they made the dealer give him a new engine. I don't know how you get in touch with him, maybe call another Ford dealership and say you need the number to get the other dealership in trouble?? They might be happy to help!

-Jon

 

I believe that dealers don't like fixing them or putting on the preventative fix.MY y2k f150 (with manual windows developed a drivers side crack.I took it in and showed them.They seemed more than happy to fix it and do the preventative fix on the other door.WEll they took six hours to do the drivers side (and passengers side I thought) MY drivers window is harder to roll up now so I know it got fixed, but my passenger side is as easy as ever(didn't realize it until my 3yr old rolled down the window with her foot today), so I don't think they did anything to it.Keep in mind I was told they were doing both doors.Grrrr.I am probably gonna call and ask what up in the morning.

 

I took my truck in to my body shop manager. I asked him if he was familiar with the problem. He said they had fixed a few by patch welding and repainting. I told him about the TSB. I had just given a copy of the TSB (entire procedure, parts numbers, etc) to my service guy and the service manager. The body shop guy asked me to email him the tsb number. I did, along with the link found on this board. He is ordering the parts for me and will do the job while my bride and I are on a cruise in a couple of weeks. No hassle at all. It might help that I have bought four vehicles from them in the past two years. Ya Think?

 

Went to my local dealers body shop man a month ago and he told me there was no preventative fix( the same one who 8months ago had supposedly never heard of door cracks until I showed him all the trucks in his used lot ). Said Ford was only fixing them if they were cracked and then only under warranty.( I own a '97 no door cracks yet). I went back last friday asked if he remembered our conversation Then showed him a copy of the TSB, with the repair procedure and parts list that I got off this site he looked a little supprised. It was 3:30 on friday afternoon so I let him off the hook Till this week.Will let you know if I get anywere.I have 52,000 on the truck so don't know how it will go but atleast I'll take a stab at it.

Have many of you had the preventative repair done? Have you had any problems? I am trying to decide if I should do it if I have to pay some. I guess it will depend on how much. It would be nice to not have to worry about rolling up and down my window. As it is now I pull in on it alittle as I roll It up(electric ) It may not help but it gives me peace of mind

 

as soon as i bought my 98 f150 i noticed the crack as soon as i got it home and i finally called the dealership back to see how I could fix it the ***** said that i couldnt fix it there was a special part they had to order to fix it so i say aight you do that and about a week after i call back up there and asked if that SPECIAL part finally came in and ofcourse he says no so i finally said the hell with them went to wally world and bought me some oxford white touch up paint and fixed the ugly lil basterd crack its still noticable but you cant see it till you really look for it and this was lil over 6 months ago when this happened and you'll never guess when that SPECIAL part finally showed up oh i say about a week ago and now that i have a job i dont have time to go and get my door fixed and everybody that has been through this knows it aint nothing but another peice of pop metel welded to the inside of the door then bondoed over on the outside then a nice coat of paint and no i am not goin back up there i well leave the crack in my door till it get about 2 inches long then i'll fix it other then that i am not goin back to HORNE FORD in Flornce south carolina! tha hell with tha basterds

 

74bronco&98f150, that was the longest sentence I have ever read! Isn't it in the TSB that the design flaw and the window stress are what make the doors crack? I'm not sure, but I think it was. Print out the TSB, call Ford Customer Hotline, tell them about it, and then do what they say to do with your dealer.
1-800-392-3673
Tell them about the problem with your dealer, they should take care of it.