Let's see, a little about myself first!! I have always drove Chevy trucks until I saw my first 150 SCREW. I finally traded my chevy in and got a 01 4x4 with the 4.6!! I put 1500 miles on it back and forth to work and left for my first road trip!! I got 200 miles from home when every gauge on my dash started going crazy?? One min. everything was fine, the next everything was dead!! After about 10 min. of this everything stayed dead!! I came into the next town and hit the ford dealer to find out what was up!! After about 2 hours on the rack they came back and said the whole dash cluster was bad, had to be ordered and would take 3 days!! Not one bit of help about getting me a replacement car to drive or anything!! I had to call a rental place myself and get a rental car to finish my vacation!! Needless to say my experience with my new truck and ford motor company has not been a pleasent one!! I am still holding out hope that this was just a one time thing, and that I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time!! I do love my new truck, but am going to watch it closely!! Just wanted to share that with everyone and to see if anyone has experienced the same thing??

 

I have driven nothing but Ford Trucks for the last 20 years and have never had any major problems, and when I did have little things here and there(normal parts wearing out), Ford has always treated me with 100% respect and excellent service! Things do happen (its inevitable) with the thousands of trucks Ford builds every year and the thousands of dealers in the country (it happens with chevys and all the other brands too.) Sorry to hear of your bad experience, but I'm here to say Ford has always built quality trucks and has always had quality service for me regardless of where I have lived at the time. If you had a problem with this certain Ford dealership and feel like they didn't treat you fairly, call Ford customer service and tell them about it. In my opinion, Ford continues to excell and innovate and all the rest are left behind (way behind!) Good luck.

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My SCrew:
Gen III, 2001 SuperCrew Lariat, 5.4L, 4x4, 3.55 Limited Slip, Black Exterior, Med Graphite Leather Captians Chairs with "BUN Warmers", Sliding Rear Window, Power Moonroof, Class III Trailer Tow Group, Skid Plates, Bed Extender, 6 Disc CD...

<A HREF="http://members.aol.com:/webrider64/images/Truck2.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A>

• Ordered: 1/11/01
• Built: 2/19/01
• Delivered: 3/1/01

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, Canyon. No doubt in my mind that put a real nick in your vacation!!! But let's put this in perspective. A Ford tech spend 2 hours troubleshooting under your dash and in your engine compartment to locate The Problem. Ever troubleshoot an electrical problem? It's a royal pain in the a**. But they DID figure it out successfully for you, didn't they? Do you think an entire dash pod for your particular truck is something that ought to be in their regular parts inventory? To be included in their regular stocks, the dealer would have to be replacing pods left and right in order to be cost effective for him to keep that stuff in inventory. Inventory costs a lot of money, and they're normally only going to stock the parts that are used with greatest frequency. Otherwise, they're gonna have to order from their distributor. It's a shame it happened to you on your vacation. It REALLY is!! What a bummer! However, just because you were on vacation did not obligate the dealer to also provide you with a rental car for the duration because of a broken pod. They had to spring for the warranty repair, and it's unreasonable to expect them to additionally pay for a car rental for you just because you happened to be on vacation. You wouldn't expect them to do that if you were home, would you? ScrewDriver said it pretty well. Things break. It's a fact. Like ScrewDriver, I've never had a major problem with my Ford, and I've been driving my SCrew for 18K miles now. Hopefully (and probably!), your broken pod will be the only thing that mars your good experience with your truck. You bought a Ford for a reason. You did a good thing!

 

Yea, the car was undrivable, and yes, I'm in the process of getting them to pay for the rental car!! I picked the truck up on my way back from vaca, they would have still had to provide me transportation home, and then back down to pick it up when it was finished!! As it worked out, I cut my vaca a day short to pick the truck up, everything did work out in the end, and yes, I HOPE this was the last of my troubles, at least this early in the game!! At 1500 miles, she ought to pur like a kitten!!

 

I did not mean to sound harsh, kkirt. I would also have pursued either a rental or reimbursement of rental. I should've said that Ford isn't going to spring for a rental as a matter of routine. But I would still say it unreasonable to expect it. If it were a matter of course, then folks taking their vehicles in for service would tend to expect a rental if their baby was going to be hung up for a day or two.
I'm glad it worked out well for you, canyon! I've been stranded more than once on vacation myself. Worst case: Broken down 67 V-Dub outside Barry's Bay Ontario (about 6 hours north of Toronto). No dealers. No parts. And not nearly enough money!! I was laid over for an extra 4 days. Fortunately, a nice family took me in, but I gassed boats, dished fishbait and tended a cash register to help pull my load.

 

I would disagree. Was the truck undriveable? If so, Ford should have given you a comp on the rental car. They do it all the time. Actually I use to get a car every time I brought mine in for service. A couple of years ago they started balking at that unless my vehicle was going to be in overnight.

Call Ford customer service and ask them to reimburse you for your rental. It is the "right" think for them to do.

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Supercrew 4x4 Lariat
Solid Black , 5.4 Triton, 3.55 Limited Slip, 6750# GVWR Package, Skid Plates, Moon Roof, Sliding Rear Window, Trailer Tow - Class III, Cargo Cage, Grey Leather Captains Chairs, 6-Disc CD Changer

Mods:
305/70/16 Goodyear ATS
American Racing Atlas 16x8
Chrome Westin Steps
Flowmaster, Delta Flow 50 SI/DO
Cranked Torsion Bars 1"
Mobil 1 @ 1,000 miles
Concept II Deflecta Shield

Planned:
Toneau Cover
Expedition Console Mod. (Been there, done that - didn't like it so I sent it back!)

Another great Ford truck site -www.fseries.com

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