ATTN : Anyone from FORD in the house? ( RANT )

**Chris Leckness** · 12-09-05, 01:30 PM

I am trying to decide the next action that I need to take in my saga with my 2004 Ford Mustang GT..... Legal Action? Any lawyers wanna chime in? Any Ford people in here?

About a year ago, I bought a brand new Mustang GT. This is not my 1st Ford, nor my 1st Mustang.

A couple weeks after getting the Mustang I noticed transmission fluid on the ground, I had a leak. Took it to the local dealership and they set me up a rental. A week or more later, I get my car back. When I get home, I notice the leak is still there so I take it back. 2 Weeks later I get my car back again and it seems all is well.

A month or so after getting my car back (3 months into ownership), I notice my cigerette lighter jack had no power. I noticed this when I was installing Neon lights under my dash. The power for the Neon lights was supposed to be supplied by a cigerette lighter adapter. Since power was not present, I removed the adapter and hard wired the lights to the fusebox in the same fashion that you would power a power amp for your car stereo. Worked like a charm. I decided to wait to report the cigerette lighter problem to Ford until I had to take it for something else since it was not that big of a deal.

3 Months ago, I was getting my oil changed and the under the car guy asked me if I was aware of a leak in my rear seal. I said, "Not again!!!!". He said it was a slow leak and to keep an eye since it my seal itself. Well, I take my car back a few weeks ago to get another oil change and he brought it to my attention again. OK, Thanks... Now I am going to take it back to Ford.

I took the car back to the dealership again and report the 2 problems. The service rep calls me and tells me that the cigerette lighter problem looks like someone cut the wiring off and asked me who did some work under there. Well, all I did was wire the neon lights under dash and it has nothing to do with the wiring for the lighter. He also asked me if traction control worked, I said I think, but was unsure as I have never had a Mustang with traction control. I mentioned that when I click the switch, I dont really notice a difference in driving. The led on the button was on always. Well, he said after transmission guy looks at it, they would look deeper at the lighter.

A couple days later, I get another call asking if I added an after market shifter. I told him I had installed a Steeda Tri-Axe Short throw shifter. Well he said it was the cause of my leak. I didn/t believe him, but had to take his word. He said it would cost $125 and since I did install the shifter, I aggreed to pay for the repair. No problem. ((( Read the end for something funny )))

Next:
The next day, he told me that it was sounding like "Ford" was not wanting to pay the cost of repair of the lighter issue since I had 12 months and 12000 miles and never reported it before. Does that matter? I have a 3 year 36000 mile warranty!!!! Well today he calls and tells me that they cant warranty the repair and that it would only cost.... Well, I dont know how much, cause I stopped him before he told me. I told him that I wanted to make a phone call and I would get back to him. I called the owner of the dealership, who is a friend of my mother's. He called the service manager and got the scoop and I don't blame him for trusting his staff, but he told me they couldnt warranty it. He did say he would split the cost of the repair and I think he said the repair would be ~$150. Well its not the money thats the issue, its the principle, I shouldnt have to pay for something that should be coverered under warranty. I told him to put it back together and I was coming to get the car and would fix it myself.

I then ran to the rental car company and returned the car, had them take me to the dealership.... I asked service guy to bring car and show me where they claim I "caused" this trouble. (if I didnt mention it already, they claim that "someone" cut the wire to the lighter) The tech that showed me the wire that was cut was not familiar with the trouble. What he did show me was a broken grey wire with "FRESH" shiney, exposed copper. ( hint hint ) Frustrated and pissed off, I just said, screw it.. gimme my car and speed away.

As I sped away, I noticed some new power I was missing and fishtailed in a situation where I normally don't. The car seems to never have had traction control working and now I was without traction control altogether. So now, traction and my lighter don't work.

Well, 20 minutes later I am typing this.....

PS. The bill they gave me after I paid $125 show the charge for the sealing the gearbox AND n/c (no charge) for replacing REAR MAIN SEAL!!! Why is the rear main seal replaced when I was told my fault in the shifter install was the trouble?????

The question is this, What to do????

**Chris Leckness** · 12-09-05, 01:31 PM

Photos incoming this evening....

Rsaturn9 · 12-09-05, 01:48 PM

Sorry to here about your Problem with Ford, My wife want's a new Mustang also, but this Rant just reminded me why I dumped Ford in the first Place, The 2 previouse New Fords I owned were constanly in the shop:realmad:

silentknight · 12-09-05, 02:01 PM

You should look into the Lemon Law info for your state, I But I think you have a limit of 1 year or 12,000 miles which it sounds like you are at right now. The BBB has some info on the lemon laws.

http://www.lemonlaw.bbb.org/

aximbigfan · 12-09-05, 02:19 PM

that sux sry to hear that....

chris

Ba-gug · 12-09-05, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by silentknight

You should look into the Lemon Law info for your state, I But I think you have a limit of 1 year or 12,000 miles which it sounds like you are at right now. The BBB has some info on the lemon laws.

http://www.lemonlaw.bbb.org/

Ditto, I used the Lemon Law when I lived in Florida against Mazda and got all of my money back. Long story on the issues with the car so I won't bore you, but the Lemon Law worked.

12-09-05, 02:57 PM

Your 3/36000 is only on the powertrain. Thats why the problem with the cig lighter. The shifter has nothing to do with the rear main ON THE ENGINE leaking. If he needs proof of this I would take my car elsewhere.

Your not going to get anywhere with the lemon law. You would have to lawyer up and I still don't think you are going to get anywhere since they fixed the powertrain issues.

If you are looking for some more Hop-Ups for it, PM me, We make 10% under drive Harmonic Balancers for the 4.6L.

What VIN number or Engine do you have?

2004 Ford Mustang V8-4.6L DOHC VIN R

2004 Ford Mustang V8-4.6L SC VIN Y

2004 Ford Mustang V8-4.6L SOHC VIN X

Let me know and I will look for any technical bulletins that may be issued on your car.

PS: Should have bought a Chevy!

Pocketbrain · 12-09-05, 03:19 PM

Yeah, I was going to say lemon-law it. Might be your only legal recourse. It's surprising how
it's legal to screw people over as long as you have your coins in some politician's coffers.

(X)

Fairlane · 12-09-05, 03:58 PM

I worked for Ford for over 10 years until moving on to greener pastures a couple of months ago. I spent 4 years in the field as an engineer working with dealerships. While they may have been "technically" able to deny the claim for reasons like the aftermarket shifter ,etc., there is another route you can take. If you are not satisfied with the decision of hte dealership, call the Ford Customer Care 1-800 number. I don't recall the number, but the dealer is required to give it to you if you ask and it's probably somewhere on Ford.com. Express your great displeasure with the situation, mentio nthat yo uare, indeed, a loyal repeat Ford customer and this might be your last one because of the denial. They will either give you some kind of concession over the phone like an extended warranty or they might turn the case over to a regional customer service rep who will call you to review the complaint. Very much like DELL, persistence is the key. Hold your ground and insist on being taken car of and you might be able to have something done.

I hope this helps!

tallredwookie · 12-09-05, 04:06 PM

If the dealer is a friend of the family they should cut you some slack and just fix the car....if I owned the place i would take care of family...word gets aorund quick when something like this isn't taken care of.

Good luck and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

**Martin** · 12-09-05, 04:18 PM

Chris, I'll speak to you later; I may be able to put you in touch with a guy who could sort this quickly, although I'll/he'll need some more details.

12-09-05, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by Martin

Chris, I'll speak to you later; I may be able to put you in touch with a guy who could sort this quickly, although I'll/he'll need some more details.

Does this guy belong to the boys club that starts with an M and end with a B with a O my in the middle? And does this guy live in Jersey?

G M Fude · 12-09-05, 04:57 PM

I'm surprised in the 21st century that there are manufacturers who will not warrant their cars -- the entire vehicle -- for less than 3 years or 100,000 km. Is that usual in the USA, only powertrain is 36/36? Ouch.

KCXLT · 12-09-05, 06:13 PM

I thought it was 3/36000 on the whole vehicle, something like 5yrs on rust and longer for emission control stuff.

Tankman · 12-09-05, 06:38 PM

This is a horrible story. Why wouldn't Ford just fix the "stuff?"

Perhaps good customer relations don't worry Ford? Who knows?

The mechanic you took the 'Stang to said, "seal itself." That, self healing never works.

And, get this, Mom's friend? Cross him off your "Holiday" list!

Bah Humbug Ford! :rolling:

A link to this post should be sent to Ford! Pronto!