I have a coolant leak in my 97 which was under recall 99B29 which was required to be completed by march of 2001. As my truck was used as a company vehicle the operator failed to bring it in in spite of being given the paperwork. I found out when he recently left our company. Now my dilema. I have taken the truck to my dealer who offers no help ( 2nd new truck purchased from the dealer, and we have 2 used Ford vans for our deliveries) and have been bounced around to every possible customer service rep and hotlinee available with no satisfaction. Now Ford admits to the problem of the leaking intake manifold and timing cover gasket problem but will not make an exception and repair the leaks at this time. The dealer quoted me $1,367. for the repair.
The Ford customer service peoiple are a bunch of robots!!!! I have heard the same b.s. from 10 different people, they must all attend the samre seminar. Bottom line is I will never again purchase a ford product ( a van needs replacement in 6 months and a new pickup) as long as I live. Ford has acknowledged the problem with the recall and to hell with you if you don't get it taken care of within their timeframe. I take responsibility for that but I own a business and make exceptions all the time to satisify a customer, Ford coulkd care less if you told them you were buying two new vehicles tomorrow. Garbage company to whom I have been a faithful user of their products for 20 years. Never more!!!!!! Consider this when you choose your next vehicle.

 

Way to go Joey!!!!! Im with you 100%! Ford better start realizing they are losing customers at a great rate due to these 97 4.2V6 blunders they dont want to fix!!!! ARE YOU READING THIS FORD!!

 

Yep, Ford's response to this problem has been completely illogical. 99B29 was a Owner Notification Program. Ford now calls these Customer Satisfaction Programs. The idea behind the practice is that when they find a common, serious problem, (Losing an engine at 50k, 60k, 70k or even 100k is a serious problem and certainly angers the affected owner) that is a non-saftey or emissions related, they fix it before too many customers experience such an unacceptable failure. The idea is to avoid a future problem. Ford knew in 06/99 that this was a problem. In 10/99 they issued an updated service bulletin to address the problematic gaskets. This was TSB #99-20-7. It explained that Revised front cover and lower intake manifold side gaskets have been released for service. The front cover gasket covered all 4.2L engines built prior to 5/01/97. The revised lower intake gaskets were for all 4.2L engines built prior to 1/15/98.

What Ford did in December of 1999 (and this is where I personally believe they made their first big blunder) is issued ONP 99B29. This included all 1997 model year 4.2L F-150s built through 12/31/96.

The problems with ONP 99B29:

• It didn't include all affected vehicles.Remember: the program only covered vehicles built through 12/31/96. TSB 99-20-7 states that the gasket they recalled was installed on engines through 05/01/97. What did they think was going to happen when the engines or gaskets not included in 99B29 fail???Well... my truck wasn't included, but my gasket failed and I'm pretty uspet now that I know the facts.
  
• It didn't address all of the problems. TSB 99-20-7 was issued 2 months prior to ONP 99B29 and the ONP program was based on this information. The TSB clearly states that all engies built prior to 5/01/97 "REQUIRE" a revised engine front cover gasket and lower intake manifold side gaskets. Where is the logic in recalling a vehicle to replace one failing gasket when you don't also recall it to replace another gasket that is just as likely to fail??? The current situation indicates that this was HUGE mistake. What has, and continues to happen, is that many owners who went in for the 99B29 procedure later lost their engine due to a lower intake manifold gasket leak. It basically shows that 99B29 was a complete waste of time, money and effort because the engines failed anyway from another gasket leak.

I feel that Ford just continues to aggravate the situation for customers as well as themselves as time goes by and they let the failures increase. There are enough affected vehicles that eventually this will get as much negative media attention as the 1995-1996 3.8L Mustangs and Windstars with headgasket failures. It's obvious for everyone who looks that this is a factory related problem and only commonly affecting vehicles built with 2 specific gaskets. All the average owner or observer has to do is look around or reference their own experience to know that these gaskets are failing prematurely. Those engines listed in the TSB are failing regularly and those built with the revised gaskets simply don't have these specific problems. Just look at what other owners are experiencing with their 1999-on 4.2L or a 4.6l or 5.4L engine. You can see that these failures are specific to the 3.8L and 4.2L V-6 engines of the 1997-1998 model year vehicles.

It does cost $1100.00-$1300.00 for an owner to have the engine front cover gasket and lower intake manifold gaskets replaced at a Ford dealer. From my estimate for a full recall, it would cost Ford about $700.00-$800.00 in administrative, parts and labor fees to replace both of these gaskets on each affected vehicle. Considering that a satisfied owner is a customer for life, doesn't it make much more sense to pay the $800.00 now and make it up 10 fold on the next vehicle that satisfied customer purchases??? Ford lost $5,500,000,000.00 (yes 5.5 billion) in 2001. Is losing long-time customers really the way to get back on top???

Has Ford Customer Satisfaction Program 99B29 really satisfied anyone involved???

 

Right on again Aj. Since ford has a e-mail system, is there any way to forward all this we have been talking about on the 97 4.2 engine to them. When I talked to them, they acted as if they knew nothing about any message boards or complaints from anyone but me. They are very well coached on what to say. It is as if they are reading a script of some type. Maybe if we keep talking about it they will do something. One guy on the blue oval page said I was one of the "few" people that got such a small engine in a big truck and stressed it to the point of failure. My truck has never had more than 500 lbs on the bed and has never pulled a trailer of any type. Again Aj thanks for being there for us unlucky souls with all your knowledge on this. Steve

 

The problem is the gaskets. Regrattably, we do have to listen to uniformed, well.... morons that know nothing about the facts.

If this were about the owner or how the truck is used, we would be hearing about this problem on all model years, not just the 1997-1998 4.2L equipped F-150s. It doesn't bother me to much. In the end, I have facts and they have uninformed opinions.

Ford is already reading the messages. Also: If 300 people post a complaint in the forums, imagine how many are actually calling Ford directly, to complain.

 

Hi, my name is Bob, I own a 97 F150 with a V-6. I love the truck - its been good to me since I got it - but its out of warranty now.

It has the leak - and I'm sure its a matter of time before she locks up on me. I'm not going to wait for Ford to do anything about it - I am going to pursue them however - but with my luck, I'll loose. If I sold the truck in today's used car market - I'd loose the more than the repair value SO I'm gonna fix it.

Does anyone know a good shop in the Cleveland Area to get my truck repaired?

Thanks

badsparky@att.net