I Have Had Enough With Ford!

GTA_V6_Mustang

Active Member
Nov 29, 2004
1,326
3
39
Miami, FL
Okay well I will start out saying this. I have owned 5 sn95's and loved them all. I have always been a HUGE Mustang enthusiast since I was a kid. You could literally cut me and I would bleed Ford blue. I even had my 94 (with 40k original miles) in my engagement pictures with my wife in I. We took pictures with it on the Homestead Speedway track. I am an ASE certified Master auto and truck tech (A1-A8 and T1-T8) and was a Shop Foreman for a Chrysler dealer for 7 years. So I am very technically inclined to say the least.

Now that you have a little background on me here is my story. I purchased a 2013 GT/CS in April of this year. I purchased it from Veterans Ford in Tampa (I live in Miami). I made my purchase there because it was the exact car I wanted. It had 18k miles on it and is a CPO. I even got the ESP coverage for it too. I absolutely loved the car and was super excited to add another Mustang to my collection. Fast forward to July. I started to get a grinding, whining and banging from the rear. Took it to a dealer here in Miami to get looked at. They changed the rear brake pads.... Needless to say that didn’t fix anything. It was also at this time that I found my front splitter had a chip at the bottom now... I was upset but let it go because it wasn't really noticeable. Called the dealer back and told them it was still making the same noise and getting worse. They ordered the ring and pinion and once it came in I took it back (attempt #2). They replaced the ring gear twice and put 3 bearing sets in it (2 weeks passed of me in a rental) and then I finally called them to check the status of it, as they would never call me. I was told about the above parts and attempts. They told me that Ford believed the housing was defective and they would have to order it. I picked up the vehicle (with a really noisy diff) and drove it till the new housing arrived. Once that arrived they called me and I brought it back and they made attempt #3. 2 more weeks pass and guess what? I am in a rental and still haven’t heard from the dealer. I called them again to see what’s going on and was told that it is still making noise and they do not know why. Another week passes and they finally say for me to take it and bring it back at a later date to try again... I have the text messages from service as proof this is what they wanted. At this point I picked my car up. It had oil all over the rear diff and exhaust (saturated completely), front splitter was missing a piece, bumper was scratched, and drivers seat was scratched. I informed them of this right away and was told "oh yeah sorry, I know where that happened, porter parked too far ahead. But we will fix it" Guess what? Still not fixed.

Now here is where it gets even more interesting. I figured that enough is enough. I am getting Ford involved. I called and started a case with my Area rep Mario Rhanda, I informed him of what was going on with the Ford dealer and how I refuse to take it back at this point because it has been a nightmare and disaster. So we came to the conclusion of taking it to another and have them look at it. I brought it to the next dealer (rear is whining so loud the person I talk to on the phone while driving can hear it). I brought it in and after a few days they replaced the evaporator (a/c was inop), the flood light lenses (ponies turned to unicorns) and did nothing with the rear. (attempt #4). They said Ford didn’t want to do anything with it. I tried for 3 days to get a hold of my Rep as he wouldn’t return my calls. Once the dealer told me I would be responsible for the rental as Ford wasn’t covering it anymore I let them know that if the rear locked up and I killed someone or myself in an accident they would be responsible. They didn’t really care. Finally once I had my car back the rep calls me. He tells me the dealer refused to work on it because of "workmanship issues" (previous dealer broke a diff cover bolt). He wanted me to take it back to the Butcher dealer. I said I refuse and feel it is unacceptable that Ford wont step in to get this corrected. He states the dealers have the right to do what they want. I even presented him with this scenario. -- If a dealer replaces a transmission in Florida and goes to New York and the transmission blows up, the dealer in New York can say "we don’t want to work on it because someone else did" and the customer is out of luck? Ford washes their hands with it at this point?" -- His response "yes that is their right". I made it clear that is poor, poor customer service on Fords part. At this point he made a comment about my car being lowered (stock control arms though). I told him to give me one legit excuse as to how lowering a car causes a gear whine in the diff? His response "I am not a technical person or a mechanic so I couldn't but the dealer advised him that had nothing to do with my problem". So why bother mentioning it then? I spoke with the dealer and they tell me Ford wants the original dealer to work on it and Ford tells me the dealer doesn’t want to work on it. Meanwhile I am stuck with a car that has had 4 ring and pinions replaced, 6 bearing sets and a new housing that still makes noise that NOBODY wants to help me with and Ford reps only suggestion is to take it back to the previous dealership that butchered my car to begin with. I made it very clear that is not going to happen. It should have been obvious that after all the attempts and parts they replaced they shouldn't be allowed to touch a rear diff again.

At this point Ford needs to just put an entire rear diff in it and be done with it. I still love my car but would NEVER BUY ANOTHER FORD. Only reason I am still tolerating this is because it’s a Mustang. I even made it clear. I am not trying to Lemon the car if that is what they fear. I just want my car fixed. There is no reason a stock car should make so much noise when my 94 with Hotchkiss upper and lowers, poly bushings and 3.73's makes less noise. Now Ford wants me to take it to a 3rd dealer for a 5th attempt to continue to waste my time. They made sure to tell me that dealer can say they don’t want to do anything with it either. Again EXTREMELY poor customer service and I made that very clear to him. At this point I want to get a lawyer involved but just want the car fixed. I call the Ford number to try and escalate it further but they just keep referring me back to the above rep.

I want everyone to know what a disaster this experience has been. I would never recommend Ford again after this fiasco and see that Ford really doesn't care about their customers. The last dealer even told me that the only way Ford was going to possibly do anything is if I fought them hard on this. (which I have been doing). That is wrong and shouldn't be the case. No customer should have the company who built their car acknowledge the car is broken and have you continue to operate a vehicle that could potentially be unsafe without being proactive in helping fix it. If there are any Ford reps on here that would like to contact me about my case # and get more info. Please feel free to PM me.
 
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OK, the Prokit is only a 1.5 inch drop so no way is that your problem. When you lower a car you change the pinion angle, and on cars that are really slammed the angle can become so severe that it can cause problems, but like I said that is not going to happen with 1.5inch drop. Nothing like a bad dealership experience to take all the fun out of owning a nice car. A lady named Deysha from Ford Customer Service monitors this board so hopefully she will see you post and reach out to you. She seems very helpful so maybe she can do something for you . Good luck.
 
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OK, the Prokit is only a 1.5 inch drop so no way is that your problem. When you lower a car you change the pinion angle, and if the angle becomes to severe it can cause problems, but like I said that is not the case here. Nothing like a bad dealership experience to take all the fun out of owning a nice car. Ford Customer Service monitors this board so hopefully she will see you post and reach out to you. Maybe she can help. Good luck.

Trust me I know this. Drop is 1" front and 1.5" rear. Pinion angle is still within factory spec. The rear started whining bad after they replaced the housing and 4th ring gear set. I know what the problem is. Its the pinion depth. I know its not set correctly because the whine can be controlled with throttle input. I can sit there and make the whine go along with the music on the radio by playing with the pedal at speed. Whine is under light throttle, gone under accelt and coast. That is a pinion gear issue.
 
Something I noticed on my car is rear end noise is much more noticeable depending on which pan hard bar you are using. When I lowered my car, I put on the MM PHB with metal spherical ends, and had a lot of rear end noise in the car. So much so that I set up an appointment with a local Ford dealer to have it worked on. Decided to play it safe and put the stock bar back on while it was having warranty work done, and the noise was gone as I drove it to them. My point is that the MM PHB "created" a rear end howl, that doesnt exist with a PHB with rubber bushings. Not saying that is your problem, but you may try swapping that out to see if it helps at all until you get it fixed right.
 
Something I noticed on my car is rear end noise is much more noticeable depending on which pan hard bar you are using. When I lowered my car, I put on the MM PHB with metal spherical ends, and had a lot of rear end noise in the car. So much so that I set up an appointment with a local Ford dealer to have it worked on. Decided to play it safe and put the stock bar back on while it was having warranty work done, and the noise was gone as I drove it to them. My point is that the MM PHB "created" a rear end howl, that doesnt exist with a PHB with rubber bushings. Not saying that is your problem, but you may try swapping that out to see if it helps at all until you get it fixed right.

NVH is horrible with Spherical end joints. I dont run Spherical ends on anything I run. And I am not running Spherical ends on this one either. Plus the noise has been there long before the repairs were attempted. I actually only dropped it inbetween attempt #3 and #4.
 
Yes. I sent that alert out so that she will see your thread when she logs in.

Awesome, Thanks A lot. BTW, lol

***update***

Friday I went to start the car and it was Dead... lol. No biggy, just a battery but only dealer close to me was the dealer that did all the damage and repairs to begin with. I took it to them to change the battery (which they did quickly with no problems). I spoke with the service manager this time and I told him to put it on the lift so he can see the broken bolts from his tech's previous repair. Him and the foreman seemed "shocked" about it. Then the writer makes a smart remark and goes "how did you even see that" I sharply told him "because when I picked it up it was dripping diff oil all over my driveway and the exhaust smelled HORRIBLE from all the gear lube you guys left all over everything." He quickly backed off. I told them that they need to understand. I am extremely OCD and I am not your average customer. I check my car over thoroughly and take very good care of my stuff for someone to treat it the way it has been treated there. The service manager said he was going to contact me to setup bringing it in to fix the broken bolts but they never called me and just so happen to skip over the fact I told him its still making noise.
 
... He tells me the dealer refused to work on it because of "workmanship issues" (previous dealer broke a diff cover bolt). He wanted me to take it back to the Butcher dealer. I said I refuse and feel it is unacceptable that Ford wont step in to get this corrected. He states the dealers have the right to do what they want. ...
I understand where you’re coming from, GTA_V6_Mustang. However, if a dealer “breaks” something during a repair, that dealer is responsible for it. No other dealer will repair it, because since it’s no longer a warranty issue, they won’t get paid for it unless you or the previous dealer agrees to pay them.

I thank you for bringing it in to them after all and having them take a look. You’re welcome to PM me with your VIN, dealer, full name, and case number so I can update it.

@FordCustSrvc

She may be able to help.
Thank you for the mention, Noobz347!

Deysha
 
I understand where you’re coming from, GTA_V6_Mustang. However, if a dealer “breaks” something during a repair, that dealer is responsible for it. No other dealer will repair it, because since it’s no longer a warranty issue, they won’t get paid for it unless you or the previous dealer agrees to pay them.

I thank you for bringing it in to them after all and having them take a look. You’re welcome to PM me with your VIN, dealer, full name, and case number so I can update it.

Deysha

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I have sent you a PM with the information.


**Side note**

I really need to get that Screen name changed, lol. Its SOOOOOO old.
 
Okay, update. The broken parts from the original dealer have been fixed. They were pretty nice about it. The rear end still makes noise as they didn't do anything with the gears (and I don't want them to). I am just going to have to find a dealer that is willing to do this correctly.
 
All of this over a 8.8" rear. I mean, it is not like building a 8.8" rear is rocket science. It is hard for me to believe that the dealer does not have a competent technician.
 
Mines currently at bozard ford in Saint Augustine getting a rear end. My next car will be purchased from them just because of how awesome the service team is treating me. I didn't buy the car there but they are doing everything they can to get it right for me. It's a bit of a drive for you but just wanted to voice my recent experience.
 
Okay, update. The broken parts from the original dealer have been fixed. They were pretty nice about it. The rear end still makes noise as they didn't do anything with the gears (and I don't want them to). I am just going to have to find a dealer that is willing to do this correctly.

I find it hard to believe that somebody that's an ASE Master Tech won't just fix it on their own. Why go through all the headache of rentals, lousy techs working on your car and being without your vehicle all the time? If the warranty is not worth the paper it's printed on then ask to get your ESP refunded and fix your own car! I never buy warranties because they're bogus.