Bird1606

This was my logic. The problem was not fixed under warranty, so they should fix it.

I am second owner on the car, and it's original purchase date was July 2007, so my warranty hit 3 years in July, that's why it's out of warranty, not miles.

What really screwed me was that I'm in the Navy. The dealership that did the work under warranty was in Pensacola, FL. I got orders to move to Enid, OK, and I had 4 days to get here, or I was AWOL, and bad things happen. It failed the second time on the highway in that four day window. I put it into a dealership in Hammond, LA thinking that since it was the same issue that Ford didn't fix under warranty, they would pay to fix it. The Hammond dealer saw that I was living out of my car and I let them know that I had to be in OK in 3 days, and so they charged me 100 bucks and sucked the bubbles out of the line, figuring that would at least get me to OK where I could have it fixed permanently. It didn't make it out of the state. I then left it in Lake Charles, LA, where I knew the service manager (my in-laws old friend). He said that it should be covered under the power train warranty. It was late Friday when I dropped it off, and I had to be in OK by midnight Sunday, so I took my wife's car and left my car a few states away. The service manager called back and said that the Ford engineers told him that the slave cylinder needed to be replaced, and that the drive-train warranty didn't cover it, then he gave me the number of Ford to call them and try to fight them.

I called Ford and opened a case with their special case division or something, and they called me 2 days later. They said that since it is no longer under warranty, they would not pay. They said that this was the slave cylinder that had failed, and before it was the master cylinder, so it was a different part, different failure, and Ford wouldn't pay. They said if I had any more issues I could take my car back to Pensacola (of course at this point I was living in Northern OK, and my car was on the Texas-Louisiana line).

The charge was 800 bucks, but the service manager buddy of mine charged me 150 and somehow charged the rest to Ford. My in-laws drove the car to me 2 weeks later, and I arranged a flight for them back to LA.

I thought it was over at that point, but now 2 weeks later it dying again.

I've scheduled to take it into the Ford dealership here in Enid, which will be my forth dealership for the same problem, and if Ford tells that the powertrain won't cover it, I don't know what to do, because I don't know the service manager this time, and I'm frankly sick of not having a car, and watching a good chunk of my expendable income go to fixing the same problem.

I'm tempted to go the lawyer route, but I won't even know what type of lawyer to call, or how to start something like that.

TPony

After reading your post, I think is time to trade it off and cut the loses. You have had you fair share of problems with the stang. At is has become unreliable. Trade it for a newer stang or something else. IMHO.

JDWalton

Go to base legal and ask for guidance, its free. Call Ford and request to reopen case. The PROBLEM is what needs to be addressed. Its the same problem, with parts that were already good replaced. Obviously, the same problem keeps presenting in the same way, it is not your fault that the dealer is misidentifying the problem and replacing the wrong part. Your complaint has remained the same the entire time.

"The clutch is loosing hydraulic pressure." This is your first complaint, this is still your complaint, warranty covers it, under federal law they have to fix this.

not to mention, this is a power train issue. This isn't like your radio isn't working, one of the most basic functions of the car, the clutch disengaging, is not happening. The car is being immobilized due to a mechanical issue in the power train.

Cal26Stang

I don't know why you went to ford in the first place, you sound like a very competent owner? obviously you know better than to argue with ford over anything your 100% right on

Bird1606

I went to Ford because it was still under bumper to bumper warranty, and the part that failed they should have fixed on their dime. Their "fix" didn't work, so my logic was that even though the warranty expired, the problem occurred under warranty so they should still fix it. Also when it occurred a second time I was in the middle of a cross country move, and I stopped in the first town I found on I-12, and trasmission places can really rip you off if you don't get the right shop, and I didn't know anyone in the area, and it's easier to fight Ford Motor Company after the fact than it is to fight Shady Bob's Rip Off Transmission from a few states away.

Bird1606

Thanks for the advice. I'm headed to base legal this morning, and I wrote a few emails to local lawyers in town last night.

Unleashedbeast

any updates with your progress?

Bird1606

Yeah, it actually got resolved.

I went to base legal and the advice given to me was to trade in the car for a new one, and to try to leverage my car for a good deal on a similar model. I didn't think that it was the most practical advice, because I still owe 7g's on mine, a new C/S is going to be around 35k, and the blue book on mine for dealer trade in is 17k. With the mods on mine I know that if I got it to a big market (Dallas, Houston) I could get 22-25 for it if I was patient from a private party, so 17 was not attractive. Plus I really don't want to trade it.

So my next course of action was to contact a local lawyer who told me that I needed to get Ford to deny coverage of my claim in writing, and then we could proceed from there.

So I took it in to the local dealership, explained the situation very politely, and let them know that I wasn't mad at them, or trying to come after them, just that I wanted my car fixed, and if it couldn't be done under warranty then I wanted it in writing.

They ran some tests, and gave it back to me working for no charge* (not entirely accurate, because there was a separate electrical issue I paid them to fix, but it was cheap).

So for now, my car is working again, it's driving like a champ, and I've got a good honest local dealership to work with.

Turns out 4th time's a charm.

incorrigible

Glad you got it resolved and are keeping your car. That's one of the sweetest Mustangs I've ever seen!

Bird1606

Thanks! Yeah, I really didn't want to have to, but when I joined the Navy I had to go from having my truck as a beater and my Mustang as my fun car, to my Mustang as both. That means it has to be reliable, so something had to give. I'm really glad it all worked out.