RedGTyl

There is a really long story to this but I will spare everyone. Keep in mind my GT has 9,000 miles on it. The short story is that my car's transmission had a really acting up the last few months especially after long drives. there was alot of vibration, extremely inconsistant performance and the tranny was noisy. I brought it into the dealer 4 times and they told me there was nothing wrong every time. "our foreman cannot duplicate the problem" It was like the twilight zone. I would act up for me but not for them. I finally approached the general manager with my problem (we know each other because my dads video editing business is doing a commericial for them). He made sure the transmission came off today. And what did they find? well my hydralic assembly in the clutch was leaking which soaked my clutch. It was a slow leak which explains the inconsistancy of the problem. Sad that their impotent techs could not figure it out. Anyway they are replacing the entire clutch assembly except the flywheel. They still havent checked the fluid in the gearbox to explain the loud gears. So we'll see. Lets just say I'm relieved. I got so tired of eveyone tell me there was nothing wrong with the car.

The moral of this story is this. The general manager told me that the reason my problem wasn't dealt with is because Ford has been coming down hard on warrenty work. Now the dealership has to call a "hotline" to get permission to take off any part on the motor or drivetrain. Without enough cause they wont do anything. They almost screwed me over to the point of selling the car when there actually WAS a problem. My service adviser asked a few mechanics to take the tranny off but they refused. I thnk they were just afriad of being fired if they took the tranny off and there be no problem. Well there was. Thankfully I had a conection at that dealer. Who knows it might never have been fixed.

If dealerships are not helping you must be persistant. With Ford losing money they are not out to help you unless they absolutely must. Start a **** storm!


I'm curious, has anyone else had problems with warranty work?

emt4fire1951

My daughter is the Warranty Admin. for our local dealer. She was saying the exact same thing the other day. Ford is clamping down and the dealers are getting screwed on warranty pay. That said, the old man gets what he needs - LOL
I love my truck and Mustang GT but the MoCo sucks.

HaneyMotorsport.Com

That sounds about right. I have not worked at a Ford dealer for awhile now, but allot has to do with the dealership. Ford does warrantee audits periodically
on dealers. Some dealers have very high warrantee claim rate. If they find a dealer that "looks" like they are covering more than should, Ford will put the hammer down on them. One dealer I worked at, we had a tune up tech we called Mr. PCM. It seemed about 1 out of 15 cars needed a new PCM. Well after awhile, Ford caught onto it. Ford made the dealer have to pre-authorize any PCM or engine related electrical parts before preforming the work. So, if you have a problem with a service dept. helping you out....looking at your car under warrantee, try a different dealer. A Good Service Mgr. will stay on top of warrantee ROs to see what techs / service writers are flagging. I do know Ford is paying Less and allowing less amount of flag hours per a warrantee job.

CrazyAl

This isn't relevant to the warranty issue, but:

The T-3650 transmission has a reputation for being noisy, and that's not just in the S197 mustangs.

You might try changing the transmission lubricant. A fluid change or a different lubricant might help.

bascho

The situation between any of the OEM's and the dealerships is a chicken v egg issue. Ford clamps down on warranty spending because dealers are making warranty claims on parts that are not defective.

For those of you that don't know, when a part is replaced on your vehicle under warranty, that part is sent back to Ford under the warranty claim procedure. Ford tests every single part that is shipped back to us under warranty. You would not believe the percentages of perfectly good parts that are replaced under warranty.

What is Ford supposed to do? Keep paying money out to dealers that can't properly test and diagnose a problem? Ford doesn't hire the techs that work in the dealerships.....the dealership management does. The real problem with the auto service business is that there are very few mechanics anymore.......just a lot of part swappers.

Back to the issue......

Who knows who started this circle of dealers scamming Ford and Ford clamping down......but it's not easy to stop. Hopefully the national push to remove about a thousand Ford branded dealers might eliminate the crooks out there and help to fix this issue.

FredTT

But this problem isn't just with Ford. It with almost all dealerships. A few buddies of mine work at a Toyota dealership here in town, and they say the same thing. Manufacturers don't like to replace perfectly good parts, thats losing money. They have a right to make sure they aren't wasting money.

~Fred

shaners90lxhatch

You are absolutely correct. I work at the hotline (We not authorize warranty repairs we help the tech diagnose and repair the vehicle. That said dealer is on RTD, a babysitter for dealers that have ridiculously high warranty numbers) and the only dealers that really need to use it are dealers with inadequate techs. Until Ford actually hires all their mechanics, there will always be dealers that just replace stuff and don't diagnose the issue properly. Sorry to hear about your bad experience. It just goes to show that not all dealers are equal.

RedGTyl

Yea I understand where Ford is coming from. There is a reason they call them "Stealerships." Unfortunately Ford rightfully cracking down kept them from fixing a problem that was actually there.

Well this is what caused all my problems. I had a "money shift" as my friend called it. I put slamed it into 1st by accident trying for 3rd at 70 mph. I never let the clutch out all the way. I caught it before the rpm could hit redline (so the engine was spared). I think I sheared off some gear teeth or something. Thats when the car starting acting up in general. I dont know if that caused the leak in the hydralic clutch. I told the dealer what happened and they still said its covered because it was an accident and the tranny should not have able to go into first at that speed. Well it did. I was able to see my car on the lift yesterday. they had my tranny on a vice and the clutch on the table. I very interesting site especially since its brand new. Maybe I'll takes some pics and post them.

Arrow

Yeah, sometimes you know you're right, but you gotta prove it to the rest.

Same goes with doctors and computer techies.

RedGTyl

Funny this is a small world. Seems that you more than anyone else witness dealership BS. I was really suprised how unwilling the service foreman was to do anything. His attitude just sucked in general. IMO you had to be brain dead not to see the difference between my car and another one off the lot(it was night and day). I almost lost my temper with him. My service adviser was awesome however. He just couldnt find a tech who would feel the problem.

Thanks for the input everyone! If anyone has stories. Do tell :-)