Welcome to my (clutch, dealership, Ford, Alcoa) Nightmare
08-18-2010, 02:03 PM
#1
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Corpus Christi, TX
Posts: 129
Welcome to my (clutch, dealership, Ford, Alcoa) Nightmare
I just got my internet up and running here in my new duty station in Oklahoma. I've been without it for 2 weeks. Now it's time to vent. (this may be long)
I just got orders to move from Pensacola, FL to Enid, OK with a start date of moving to weeks ago Thursday, and a no later than report date of the following sunday at midnight, and leave in route was not authorized, meaning I was AWOL if not checked in by Sunday night.
In May while I was on a road trip back from Houston on I-10 (to Pensacola), my hydraulics in my clutch started to fail. I had to press my clutch pedal farther and farther before I encountered resistance. It eventaully led to my losing all pressure in my clutch and having to keep it in 5th on the highway until I was almost out of gas back in Pensacola, then hardshifting it off the highway to the nearest dealership. I hit a light and couldn't hard shift it into gear and it died. I restarted it in second with the gas pedal depressed to get it moving again and left it in second until I got to the dealer. The dealer fixed it under warranty and said that there were air bubbles getting into the hydraulic line, and that the Ford engineers said that they had seen this problem before, and a new clutch master cylinder would fix it. It worked, and I drove it around for another 3 months in Pensacola until it came time to leave under orders.
Within 2 hours on I-10, I started losing pressure again and I thought that it must be in my head. It wasn't. I made it to Hammond, LA and left it in the shop Thursday afternoon and overnight. Friday morning they charged me 100 bucks and pumped the air out of the line. I talked to the Pensacola dealership about whether or not they warrantied their work (they do, for a year) but they said that I would have to bring it back to Pensacola for them to look at it. This wasn't an option, so they said that since it was under warranty when the original problem occurred (my warranty expired mid July) that Ford should still cover me. They didn't. Oh well, 100 bucks got me back on the road with my wife in her car behind me.
I stayed on the road exactly one hour before I lost pressure again. With my dead clutch pedal and a full tank of gas, I decided to leave it on I-10 and pray for no traffic until I got to Lake Charles, LA where my in-laws live, because they are family friends with the service manager at the local Ford dealer. I chose to let it "break down" there, and spoke with the family friend. He suggested calling Ford special claims and opening a ticket for them to fix it since this should be covered by Ford since they didn't fix the problem under warranty, or at very least it should be covered by the drive train warranty (I only have 33k miles on it). This was Friday night, and they wouldn't be able to touch it until monday, meaning I had to repack my wife's car and we had to continue to OK, leaving my car in Lake Charles, LA.
The service manager went ahead and started ordering parts to fix it (new slave cylinder this time) while I dealt with "big Ford." A few days later, Big Ford told me to eff off. The total bill this time was $750 or so. The service manager that my in-laws know hooked me up with a "friends and family" discount and I paid 150 plus tax and he billed the rest to Ford. This made my life easier. I told him to proceed with the repairs and I would have someone pick up the car. My brother in law had a few days off work and he went out of his way to pick up my car from the dealership and planned on driving it up to me if I paid to fly him home (I can't leave the state until I finish in-processing briefings which I have scheduled until mid-Sept). The night before he left LA, he looked over the car and noticed that my 2000 mile old Alcoa's and Dunlop SportMaxx's were in bad shape. One tire had a 2 inch long, quarter inch deep slash, and the rim was missing a large chip.
At this point I was ready to scream. My car then went back to the dealership, where the service manager who had already helped me out a great deal then had to hear from me again. I felt terrible for punishing someone for their good deed, but I felt more terrible that my car had been damaged at his shop. He told me that sometimes on the old lifts they catch tires on the way off of the lifts, and can damage them and that he would get a new tire for me but it would be a week before it gets there.
So here I sit in Oklahoma, with my car 2 states away, still waiting on whether or not I have a driveable tire to get my car up here. I've also missed my window of opportunity to have my brother-in-law drive my car back to me because the tire was supposed to be on the car yesterday, and as of today, they still don't have the tire.
This is my nightmare.
[/vent]
I just got orders to move from Pensacola, FL to Enid, OK with a start date of moving to weeks ago Thursday, and a no later than report date of the following sunday at midnight, and leave in route was not authorized, meaning I was AWOL if not checked in by Sunday night.
In May while I was on a road trip back from Houston on I-10 (to Pensacola), my hydraulics in my clutch started to fail. I had to press my clutch pedal farther and farther before I encountered resistance. It eventaully led to my losing all pressure in my clutch and having to keep it in 5th on the highway until I was almost out of gas back in Pensacola, then hardshifting it off the highway to the nearest dealership. I hit a light and couldn't hard shift it into gear and it died. I restarted it in second with the gas pedal depressed to get it moving again and left it in second until I got to the dealer. The dealer fixed it under warranty and said that there were air bubbles getting into the hydraulic line, and that the Ford engineers said that they had seen this problem before, and a new clutch master cylinder would fix it. It worked, and I drove it around for another 3 months in Pensacola until it came time to leave under orders.
Within 2 hours on I-10, I started losing pressure again and I thought that it must be in my head. It wasn't. I made it to Hammond, LA and left it in the shop Thursday afternoon and overnight. Friday morning they charged me 100 bucks and pumped the air out of the line. I talked to the Pensacola dealership about whether or not they warrantied their work (they do, for a year) but they said that I would have to bring it back to Pensacola for them to look at it. This wasn't an option, so they said that since it was under warranty when the original problem occurred (my warranty expired mid July) that Ford should still cover me. They didn't. Oh well, 100 bucks got me back on the road with my wife in her car behind me.
I stayed on the road exactly one hour before I lost pressure again. With my dead clutch pedal and a full tank of gas, I decided to leave it on I-10 and pray for no traffic until I got to Lake Charles, LA where my in-laws live, because they are family friends with the service manager at the local Ford dealer. I chose to let it "break down" there, and spoke with the family friend. He suggested calling Ford special claims and opening a ticket for them to fix it since this should be covered by Ford since they didn't fix the problem under warranty, or at very least it should be covered by the drive train warranty (I only have 33k miles on it). This was Friday night, and they wouldn't be able to touch it until monday, meaning I had to repack my wife's car and we had to continue to OK, leaving my car in Lake Charles, LA.
The service manager went ahead and started ordering parts to fix it (new slave cylinder this time) while I dealt with "big Ford." A few days later, Big Ford told me to eff off. The total bill this time was $750 or so. The service manager that my in-laws know hooked me up with a "friends and family" discount and I paid 150 plus tax and he billed the rest to Ford. This made my life easier. I told him to proceed with the repairs and I would have someone pick up the car. My brother in law had a few days off work and he went out of his way to pick up my car from the dealership and planned on driving it up to me if I paid to fly him home (I can't leave the state until I finish in-processing briefings which I have scheduled until mid-Sept). The night before he left LA, he looked over the car and noticed that my 2000 mile old Alcoa's and Dunlop SportMaxx's were in bad shape. One tire had a 2 inch long, quarter inch deep slash, and the rim was missing a large chip.
At this point I was ready to scream. My car then went back to the dealership, where the service manager who had already helped me out a great deal then had to hear from me again. I felt terrible for punishing someone for their good deed, but I felt more terrible that my car had been damaged at his shop. He told me that sometimes on the old lifts they catch tires on the way off of the lifts, and can damage them and that he would get a new tire for me but it would be a week before it gets there.
So here I sit in Oklahoma, with my car 2 states away, still waiting on whether or not I have a driveable tire to get my car up here. I've also missed my window of opportunity to have my brother-in-law drive my car back to me because the tire was supposed to be on the car yesterday, and as of today, they still don't have the tire.
This is my nightmare.
[/vent]
08-18-2010, 02:39 PM
#2
Sorry about all your problems, it seems like everything should get worked out eventually, though. Are they going to do anything about the chipped wheel?
Anyways, welcome to Enid, America. Just about out of here myself.
Anyways, welcome to Enid, America. Just about out of here myself.
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