Puddle356

I have the front end noise TSB, I brought a printed out copy of the actual TSB in when I brought my car in today. They are now telling me I need to pay for all of it, which is over $500 for new strut mounts and whatever else that repair needs. My question is, are TSB repairs supposed to be free, even if you are no longer under the original warranty?

Nuke

I've not experienced out-of-warranty TSB work wirh Ford. My experiences with Toyota, however, have been that they have done the repairs free when out of warranty. I wish you luck.

Leoleo

NO, if you are out of warrenty, You pay for the repair. A TSB is NOT a recall. Recalls you don't pay for, TSB you do, unless you got a warrenty.

Puddle356

okay, thanks for the info. so they screwed me out of money because they didn't fix the problem the first two times I brought it in for this same exact problem.

Leoleo

They didn't check for TSB the first time??? Damn, that sucks.

Always asked if they check on TSB. That is what a the TSB is for, dealerships and auto repair shops to look up known problems.

I would take my business to a different dealership.

SCCAGT

Just for clarification, TSB's are for informational purposes. They are a manufacturers official notification system to all dealers and repair facilties. They will give information regarding commonproblems, and how to fix them. They use TSB to address opinions as well. GM, for example, has issued a TSB regarding the use of nitrogen for filling tires on its cars. They dont disapprove of it, nor do they endorse it. They say if you want to use it, its fine with them. There are some benefits whether actual or perceived.
Since Toyota was mentioned, I'll give an example of their warranty work TSB. They redesigned the cylinder heads on their 2.2l 4cyl with smaller coolant passages. These smaller passages did not allow for enough heat transfer and caused the cylinder head temps to run higher than before. If an ownerdid not follow the recommended oil change schedule, the oil would lose its ability to handle heat due to thermal break down and leave deposits in the engine. These deposits would grow and get to the point of ruining the oil pump. In some cases, people that DID follow the oil change schedule AND had proof that oil changes were done at those36 proper intervals, would get either a new engine or a full rebuild of their current engine. Notice they didnt include those that could not prove they performed the maintenance as instructed. I had one customer in my shop about 4 years ago that got in on this deal. She had to run all over the place to find her records since she didnt go to one place all the time. But she got it taken care of. When she brought her car here, we saw that oil pressure was fine when the engine was cold, but then dropped to 5 psi once it warmed up. I heard of the TSB before then, so Iremoved the valve cover to find the rockers were covered with at least 1/2" of sludge. Goop was everywhere.

So, no, TSBs are not a guaranteed free fix for the consumer.

If you brought it to them when it was under warranty for the same issue, that makes it a documented problem. They SHOULD take care of it for you. But thats up to each individual dealer. Throw a small fit and see if it gets you anywhere. If not get ahold of a regional rep and fill him in on the problem and the sequence of events.

Puddle356

yeah, see here's what has happened with this. 1 year ago, I start to get the noise, do some research, figure out its the front tsb. I bring it in and tell them, "I think i have the front end noise tsb", and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about but took the car and said they would figure it out. the car was under warrenty then so it was free, all they fixed was the sway bar linkage. 6 months later the noise is back exactly the same way. I bring it in again and they say "well now the other side has a bad sway bar linkage" and at that point i was out of warranty so I had to pay a $100 deductable. now 6 months later, again, same noise is back. I bring the printed out TSB statement in with me this time so they know what they need to do, and they are now saying I need to pay again. I'm sitting here saying why should I pay again because you guys couldn't fix the problem the first two times.

GidyupGo

By your own admision, they DID fix it the first time because there was a 6 month interval between the noise stopping and reoccuring. The TSB for the front end thunk noise is for the strut mounts and they are about $50 each plus labor. All a TSB is, is when a problem crops up frequently enough, the Ford engineers come up with a specific plan, step by step, on how the garage tech will fix it. It's a guideline, in or out of warranty.

Puddle356

bleh, I'm really getting frustrated with this now. I paid the $100 and called a ford rep, they looked up my VIN and told me I dont have the front end tsb. and after a conversation with them all they did was send my complaint back to my dealership. when I asked the guy at the dealership "so I'm going to have to pay $100 every 6 months basically for this problem" he just said "well good thing you got the extended warranty" wtf...

GidyupGo

IF the front end thunk noise is happening, the TSB is for all S197 Mustangs. I would try a different dealership.