Thread: Dealing with Dealers

So, some of you may recall a dealer told me i needed a new wiring harness on my Taurus SHO. (they also reflashed it without telling me killing the aftermarket tune, and making it run like garbage. I took it back to the selling dealer and raised a stink as it wasn't warrantied. They checked and said the harness wasn't shorting anywhere. however because it was running bad (due to running a 3bar map on a 2bar tune) they blamed the issues on a map sensor.

Get it home, Have my Father check it over for a week. He confirms the wiring harness is not the issue (no broken wires etc) said it was most likely squished when the engine trans had been removed in the past. (he's an ASE master tech). He also told me what was wrong with the car.

Finally took it to the best rated dealer within 100 miles. They also confirm the wiring harness isn't bad, and agree with what my father said was wrong with the car. (bad turbo sprayed oil into the Cats and ruined them)
They said the harness is CLEARLY not the issue.

So now im going back to the first dealer to get my Diag fee back, since two FORD dealers and an independent mechanic have agreed they were wrong. Any tips on how i go about doing this?

if you have this in writing, go there and lay it on the desk. then ask to talk to the manager or the owner. then if they give you crap still, just call ford directly. dealers hate getting rated out to the higher ups.

so is the turbo and cats under warranty? did the other dealer fix that? then you got some traction against them.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

if you have this in writing, go there and lay it on the desk. then ask to talk to the manager or the owner. then if they give you crap still, just call ford directly. dealers hate getting rated out to the higher ups.

so is the turbo and cats under warranty? did the other dealer fix that? then you got some traction against them.

Not under warranty i didn't go too into that because this wasn't a rant post, but basically, the car was wrecked badly. Car fax said no structural damage, but they found structural damage (bent subframe bolt) They said the IC was cracked and glued (I have my own theory on that) and since its collision its not covered. They didn't explain why that didn't cover the turbo. The Cats are aftermarket, (thanks previous owner) and not covered. Im going to call the GM at the selling dealership and raise hell. But atm im waiting for the mechanic to call me and tell me why the turbo isn't covered, and explain the glue. Im thinking it was from when i checked the IC and used some RTV to hold the gasket in place when i put it back together.

dealers are scumbags to much of the time.

my truck went in for a trans rebuild under warranty, im kinda anal and dont trust anyone, so i get under the truck and look for the tell tail bolt scars from air guns. well i found the marks on the bolts, but also found this.

how much hell would you raise if you looked under your car/truck and saw this act of BS.




yup. thats epoxy on my transfer case. i raised some mighty hot hell for them, called GM directly, called the owner douched his ass out too.

when i took it back to be fixed again, the gm's all you didnt have to call GM. im like you didnt need to smear sh it on my t case and call it good either....... dicks head.


i learned sometime later theres a metal plate that sits in them notches, the case cracks from the truck going in and out of gear over time. theres a after market fix for it of course lol

Honestly, I spent 125$ to be told what i already knew. Im raising hell with the selling dealer, especially considering the car fax said no structural damage.

The only good news, is that i can get a replacement turbo and IC for $600 Im just going to gut the cats. Not dumping $700 for new dowpipes, not yet anyway.
Should have bought the BMW 335i i was looking at

Update: getting my refund from the dealer. They had to refund via credit card which is bleh, but at least it was fairly painless. 2 phone calls.
On the other hand the latest dealer hasn't contacted me with asnwers to my questions. How can an intercooler cause a turbo oil seal to fail, why isn't my Turbo being warrantied, and where exactly is the glue that they said was used to "repair" the intercooler. If its where I think it is. Its just RTV silicone used to hold a gasket in place.
I swear I thought VW service was spotty until dealing with ford.

Is this the same "lemon" car I remember reading about a while back? If it is, for ****s sake- why on earth did you keep the damn car ?!

Originally Posted by CrazyGuy03

Is this the same "lemon" car I remember reading about a while back? If it is, for ****s sake- why on earth did you keep the damn car ?!

They wont take it back. I've tried! I left messages with 4 different lawyers offices and I never get a return call. Ford Corporate is useless, "Our dealers are independently owned" . They best the dealer has been willing to offer is to pay for half of whatever HIS PEOPLE find wrong with the car. But im convinced hes told them not to find anything wrong with the car. The only leg I have to stand on now is carfax, because the car has been shown to have structural damage, when the carfax said it didn't.

Holy crap - what a nightmare

I called to cancel the warranty since it was useless. Told I had to have the dealer do it. when I called the dealer I didn't get an answer. Big surprise so I called ford corporate hoping they could get through. The lady I talked to got put on hold for 10 minutes and shunted to voicemail. But during our conversation I told her everything that happened. She recommended calling the GM, Telling him I wanted to trade out of the car ( on Ford corporates recommendation).
I finally got through to the GM and ended up coming to a deal. Basically sight unseen they gave me 12k for the car. I owed 15, but the KBB trade in is 10,500 for a GOOD one. mine isn't good. Went to the dealer, went over there lot. First 2 choices were a 2012 Volvo s60 T6 awd (300hp, 325 ftlb Inline 6) and a maxima. The maxima had less miles but it was a roach (the drivers seat rocked back and forth, it didn't drive right etc). the Volvo had an accident reported but no airbags.
My 3rd and 4th choices were both being diagnosed for issues.... Yeah. So I drove the Volvo. Loved it, Luxurious, firm but comfortable ride, well composed, and a wave of torque that throws you back. Ended up getting it.

I lost 3k on the deal. But im rid of that freaking SHO.


On another note, the finance guy was friends with the lending VP at my bank got me a stupid low rate at 72 months. The caveat was that I had to get the warranty at cost. it still came out to the same price per month so ... whatever. Now I have a warranty.

and that wraps up the good, the bad, and the ugly lol

Never again will I buy a ford product.

Originally Posted by CrazyGuy03

Is this the same "lemon" car I remember reading about a while back? If it is, for ****s sake- why on earth did you keep the damn car ?!

Its because he waited too long. He waited too long on everything.

Originally Posted by 04lss

Never again will I buy a ford product.

Hate to tell you this...but

The 2012 Volvo S60 is built on the Ford P3 platform...so you bought another Ford.

That's a knee-slapper!

Oh man... Lol

frigging dave shows up and kicks him in the balls lol

Originally Posted by MrPoopyButthole

Hate to tell you this...but

The 2012 Volvo S60 is built on the Ford P3 platform...so you bought another Ford.

Oh I know Volvo is owned by ford, but the engine and electronics were made in house from what I can tell. Unless ford has been hiding an inline turbo 6.
I just realized it has the fusion auto, But its a Jap made trans so not too concerned there, and the service records say it was flushed at 70k. Also Imported from Belgium. From what I can tell, the p3 platform is the Euro Ford platform. Ill call it "ford Lite"

Originally Posted by FordMan77

Well, at least you got it taken care of finally. As far as swearing off any make of manufacturer I've learned that everyone has their issues, its just how much are you willing to put up with, lol... I've seen newer cars warp heads (Subaru), while others may run for 200K with just basic maintenance w/o issues. Being that your SHO was wrecked, then modded on top of that made it a bomb waiting to go off. At least you aren't too far in the hole $$-wise on it.

Just a little clarification when I talk about ford, I mean the Domestic ford Lincoln mercury, and most Mazda, that share the same basic drivetrains etc.

I know ford can make good cars. I know half a dozen people with f150s that have over 200k miles. My father had a wagon with the 3.0 that hit 300k miles.
I just don't have good luck the sho was the third Ford I either owned or drove regularly.

1. Ford Aerostar. 120k miles. AC was like an asthmatic coughing. It would overheat, and the shift cable broke 3 separate times.
2. Ford fusion (06) 97k miles when I bought it. New clutch, 2 new dog bones, new mounts, new axle, new ball joint, new intake (runner flap issue), Rebuilt engine for piston slap. All within a year. Drove and rode nice though.
3. The SHO.

I get that it was wrecked modded etc .... but every time I give ford a chance it bites me in the a$$. Ive had $700 GPs with 230k miles that were far more reliable than some of these. I just don't want to risk it again. The Sho was the "another chance"