Turoc2888

We bought a 07 GT BRAND NEW! At 1800 miles it had to go back to the dealership because it would not start. They changed the radio, telling us it was a bad switch in the radio... That never fixed the problem and returned to the dealership multiple times, just to be told they found NOTHING wrong with the car... so, thinking we were crazy, we bought a pair of jumper cables! Last year when we jumped the car, the radio died... The dealership ended up fixing it at no charge and waiving the deductable on the extended warrenty, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to help us! Last week, I noticed paint missing and alot of rust in the channels of either side of the back window, and also bubbles on the front lip of the hood. So I brought the car back to the dealership... they point blank told me it was not "normal" but they say that Ford is only willing to cover a portion of the body work to fix the problem. And I do understand that paint it not covered and the warranty is up on the vehicle, but I am having a hard time accepting that this is OK on a 4 yr old car that came straight from the factory. And to top it off, while it has been back at the dealership, they claimed to have found the electrical issue and are now putting the THIRD new radio in the car!! Is this stuff normal??

Ricardo

How would the radio cause it to stop starting? I took mine out and put in a Pioneer...starts just fine.
You live in CT? Maybe the previous owner drove it in the snow/salty slush, garaged it and let it sit. The warm garage would accelerate rust.

Wayno

Maybe it was a flood car! might explain the rust in channels and starting electrical problem.

BeachBlv

He said he bought the car brand new guys..

wayne613

No, not really normal overall. Factory radio is often crap, bubbling in areas of the factory paint job, yes, unfortunately not unusual. That said, replacing the radio because the car won't start? Yeah, not normal.

Might as well replace the rear passenger tire because your CD won't play while their at it, for all the sense that makes. The radio has 0 to do with the car starting.

So, this car is now 4 years old, in your care, with the extended warranty, which has now run out, and you're stating these issues are chronic is what you're trying to convey, yes?

The electrical system in certain areas leaves a bit to be desired for our cars. But I'd say if they're swapping out the radio as an explanation they're either lying, doing something to simply get you out of there, or incompetent. Any or all.

I would likely take this up with ford customer service, and see if you can get this resolved at another dealership at no charge. Especially if you can provide documentation of bringing it in multiple times for the same thing.

Blacksmoke

Guys the paint issue is a known defect.
In fact it has been on this forum multiple times.

I believe there is a TSB out on it as well.
When painting the cars sometimes they did not take the proper steps to insure there was no contamination and thus the paint issue with some of these cars.
The underside of the hood is the most common part for it to begin and it spreads.

The cure is to have the entire panel stripped and cleaned and redone OR get
a aftermarket hood. JUST repainting it will NOT fix the problem and it will start to corrode AGAIN.

Unfortunately since the car is an 07 I doubt they will cover it.
Arguments have been made it falls into the 5yr warranty but some dealerships are
not honoring that.

Your car not starting also has a TSB on it.
The alternators in many of these cars are bad.
They have changed the alternators they use FOUR times thus far on these.
Sounds like you may need to get the most updated alternator they have which HAS fixed the problem
I believe. (We had the same issue in our 06GT)

Your car is not a lemon. It seems to just have some of the issues that some of these have
which are addressed with TSB's. (Ford Technical Service Bulletins).
They release these when widespread problems occur that do not affect safety thus do not require
a recall.

The simple fact is that your dealership knows SQUAT about issues with these cars.
You need to google or look up the TSB's and take them to your dealership.

That way they can finally do what the hell they are supposed to do to fix the car instead of running around like
chickens with their heads cut off.

Turoc2888

We got the car brand new off the truck! So to have had all these problems, especially the reoccuring ones are our concern... The first several years we had the car, we did not drive it but maybe 40 miles a day, and at one point ford showed us a service bulletin regarding the starting problems and claimed we did not drive the car enough and needed to by a trickle charger... Instead we started driving the car more often...which in turn semi-fixed the problem... the car starts every day except when it sits for 2-3 days. They say thats normal... (???) They never once said it could be the alternator, but at one point did put in a new battery. We have taken the car back to the same dealership, which has now changed management and we still seem to get the run around on the issues.. Our main concern now is this paint bubbling and rust on the car. If we show them the service bulletin (which I did see online) are they responsible for fixing the problem??? We received the car in Aug of 06 so we are in understanding that the warranties are up. Thanks for everyone's replies!!

wayne613

Ok, finally I see where this went. Thinking the radio was abnormally draining power over it's sitting periods, it was replaced each time, and you needed to jumpstart each time as the battery was drained.

There will be a drain regardless of what's done, as there are always things using power in the car even when not in use. I think many do store for extended periods as it's not their primary vehicle, but tend to yank the battery cable or use a charger as stated.

Our OEM alternators, and batteries(especially this) are usually marginal at best as has been said, as such, just starting the car up for a few minutes probably doesn't do much of crap for re-charging the battery itself if it's been drained any significant amount. It really needs to be at a moderate RPM range for a sustained time to do this, not simply started and left to idle for 10 or 15 minutes. Unfortunately, THAT is normal for this car. If it's working ok after a jump for an extended period then I'm doubting the alternator is actually faulty.

I think one of these service manuals states the range that should be draining in mA(milli-amps) when not in use, I just don't recall which. I'll try to look later if someone doesn't respond beforehand. As you might have better luck just diagnosing this yourself with a decent multi-meter.

Ah, here we go, page 15 of this. It should be < 50mA with everything(lights, hood light, etc) off.

Blacksmoke

You DO NEED the new alternator they have.
Make SURE to tell them you want the mos recent one.

Odds are this flaky dealership does not even know about the issue.
Unfortunately the place that should know MOST about your car and the common problems are often the places that know the LEAST.

I think everyone here can agree with me that improvements need to be made on the service area of MANY dealerships. Now days often YOU must tell them known issues because they themselves do not even know.

I had a problem with our red seats bleeding when I cleaned them, even with just WATER. Despite me showing them copies of people having this problem and PROVING to them it was not wear and tear, the did NOT honor the warranty.
In fact they waited after I brought it in FIVE TIMES and the last time the ADMITTED it was a faulty part they denied to replace them because they warranty had JUST expired after that fifth time. I still believe to this day they PURPOSEFULLY waited until the warranty was out so they would try to make us pay for it.

The seats ran 900 bucks A PIECE which with the two front seats and back ended up costing 2700 bucks PLUS another 200 for installation.
I told them to screw off and ordered a set of Katzkin seats which not only were of MUCH better quality... only ended up costing me half as much WITH installation.

We got black seats with red inserts, red stitching, AND custom embroidery.
If you ever replace those leather seats forget about the FORD leather.
Go to Katzkins seats. You will LOVE them.

They should be responsible for your paint problems but odds are they will deny covering it for you. My advice is to buy a nice aftermarket hood.
I say this STRONGLY. Even if you get another one from Ford you may end up having the same problem. If not you will still end up missing the chance to get a nicer hood.

BTW... I recommend THIS hood. It looks and fits FANTASTIC.
It is the Shelby CS6 hood. Not many people have it so it will set you apart from others who have aftermarket hoods and it looks absolutely AWESOME on cars.
Check out these pics of them:









These pics do not even do it justice.
This hood looks AMAZING in person.
Plus you do not need to add other parts to balance the look as with many hoods.
Many are bulky and do not match unless other parts are added to not make it look so bulky by itself and cause unbalance in the look. AWESOME HOOD!

wayne613

See here.

True. But in this case if the car can run for prolonged periods after a small jump, then I'd just point at likely not giving it a decent run to charge again, and I'd put money on a now weakened battery. Probably slightly less crappy (easier to charge back up fully) with a newer revision of the same alternator, but the current one is functioning.


Realistically, if you really wish to keep the mileage and grief down from this being a once in great while car to show-off/drive then if it were me I'd get and install one of these (as well as a red top optima battery for that matter)and be done with it:

One of the ones that mount directly to the battery, (again if it were me), so you just pop hood, turn back on, go. Of course, even with this you'd still need to charge the battery every few months, but it would save it from needing to be an bi-weekly thing at the very least.

Hopefully, one of the guy's that do store their car for prolonged periods with one of these can chime in, as I have no idea which would work well in our cars and the OEM battery you're likely using.