Hi everyone.
I will try to keep this brief and apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge...I love cars (especially my Mustang) but am not a mechanical person. Anyway, I have owned my 2003 GT convertible for 4-5 years now, 60k without any problems, but recently it has been giving me a headache! I have seen several on these boards with a similar problem, though my problem is still unsolved.
My convertible is my "nice weather car" so I drive it very sparingly in the winter. Back in January, I noticed my theft light was solid and the car would crank, but not turn over. I searched the internet for potential answers and fixes, but after some troubleshooting, it sounded like an issue for my local Ford dealer. The dealer had my car over two weeks, eventually diagnosing it as a bad fuel pump and CCRM.
I got it back in early February and drove it several short trips without a problem. In the first 10 days of the month, I only put 25-30 miles on the car, just short errands around town, especially due to the crappy weather we've had; didn't want to take the car out too much. Anyway, last week, I saw my theft light is solid again and it wouldn't start. I had it towed back to my dealer, who gave me attitude and said that I must have done something wrong for the light to come back on/starting failure. I barely drove the car since getting it back and it broke down again two weeks after the "fix." Ugh. I feel like I'm being played. I'm especially frustrated because I just put a new top on the car very recently and afraid I am going to sink too much money into this car.
Anyway, the dealer finally called me today (after having car for 5 days) saying that they believe the thing that is preventing my car from starting and is keeping the theft light on is the instrument cluster, saying it will be over $700 to repair. Does this jive? Is this something they should have found during the initial problem with the theft light? It just seems really fishy and a high price to me. Is this something another mechanic would be able to handle for me or does it need to be dealership specific? After the CCRM and instrument cluster, will I finally be free of starting issues due to my PATS/theft light?
Thanks in advance, and I apologize again for my lack of car smarts and could really use some sound advice before I contact the dealer back tomorrow!
Sorry about the spelling error in my title, been a very long day and super tired.
I will try to keep this brief and apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge...I love cars (especially my Mustang) but am not a mechanical person. Anyway, I have owned my 2003 GT convertible for 4-5 years now, 60k without any problems, but recently it has been giving me a headache! I have seen several on these boards with a similar problem, though my problem is still unsolved.
My convertible is my "nice weather car" so I drive it very sparingly in the winter. Back in January, I noticed my theft light was solid and the car would crank, but not turn over. I searched the internet for potential answers and fixes, but after some troubleshooting, it sounded like an issue for my local Ford dealer. The dealer had my car over two weeks, eventually diagnosing it as a bad fuel pump and CCRM.
I got it back in early February and drove it several short trips without a problem. In the first 10 days of the month, I only put 25-30 miles on the car, just short errands around town, especially due to the crappy weather we've had; didn't want to take the car out too much. Anyway, last week, I saw my theft light is solid again and it wouldn't start. I had it towed back to my dealer, who gave me attitude and said that I must have done something wrong for the light to come back on/starting failure. I barely drove the car since getting it back and it broke down again two weeks after the "fix." Ugh. I feel like I'm being played. I'm especially frustrated because I just put a new top on the car very recently and afraid I am going to sink too much money into this car.
Anyway, the dealer finally called me today (after having car for 5 days) saying that they believe the thing that is preventing my car from starting and is keeping the theft light on is the instrument cluster, saying it will be over $700 to repair. Does this jive? Is this something they should have found during the initial problem with the theft light? It just seems really fishy and a high price to me. Is this something another mechanic would be able to handle for me or does it need to be dealership specific? After the CCRM and instrument cluster, will I finally be free of starting issues due to my PATS/theft light?
Thanks in advance, and I apologize again for my lack of car smarts and could really use some sound advice before I contact the dealer back tomorrow!
Sorry about the spelling error in my title, been a very long day and super tired.
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