So tonight I get off the expressway and when I get to the light at the end of the ramp, I see this white smoke coming from under my hood. It blows out for a minute or so then I pull away and think WTF?

So then I noticed almost right away, my AC stopped blowing cold and it's blowing the hot air in from outside.

I am taking it back to the dealership first thing in the am but here's the problem.

My 3yr warranty officially ended in the middle of May.

I am still under 36000 miles though, although only by about 100 miles.

So what do you think the dealership will say.

 

The dealership is gonna hold their palm out waiting to get paid. Sorry, dude.

 

"SOL" dude!

 

Sorry dude but they will probably try to get as much $ out of you as possible. Tell them you are a very valuable customer and maybe they'll make an exception. Good luck.

 

Yeah, you might be able to haggle some kind of discount out of them. But more than likely there going to ask you to pay some serious dough. Pull into a few dealerships and ask the service managers what they can do for you, it cant hurt...

 

So quick update. I Amin the waiting area at the dealership right now. The service writer tells me that Ford took away all the district reps power to make deals in situations like this.

I politely explained to him that I understnd he doesn't make the call on this. I also told him that I bought my car here, and that this is the only place I come for service. I explained that if the dealership had any desire to retain
eas a customer, they should certainly look at the situation and come up with something to show they value loyalty.

Service manager called while I wa talkin with the writer, he said we will see what the situation is when he gets in.

I will again explain to him that even if ford won't help, they have the ability to do something at the dealer level, evev if they personally have to eat some costs to insure a happy customer.

Maybe the fix will be something simple like a hose or something of that nature and it will be an easy call.

I don't have time to run around town trying different dealers, plus I bought here so that should give me some bargaining power.

We'll see........

 

depends really on how good of a relationship you have with your dealership. i work at a land rover dealer and sometimes for very good customers my boss will choose to split or even goodwill the repair. but i have also seen him say no to ones that dont do there services or spend money when we tell them they need brakes or whatever.
good luck with the dealer buddy

 

Unless it's a simple fix, I'm not sure why the dealer would make an exception for you. A warranty is a warranty and yours is expired. Its generally hard enough getting things fixed when it's UNDER warranty. Good luck though.

 

The AC going out on an 06 is pretty alarming. Is this normal for a Ford?

 

OK results are in.....

The service guy came to me and told me the problem was a rock or some type of road debris had been thrown up and popped a hole in the condenser. The puff of white smoke was obviously the freon being released.

This is something that wouldn't be covered under warranty even if it was a week old.

He quoted me $619 for the repair.

I had no intention of having it done there under these circumstances. I did tell him to pass the info on to the service manager when he arrived and have him call me and at least tell me if there is any wiggle room, or if they can do anything to help me out.

I've yet to get a call.

I don't expect them to offer anything, but it never hurts to ask.

I then took my car to a local shop, where I know one of the mechanics pretty well.

He quoted me $300 out the door.