Dealer refuses work on car after they accepted/worked on car
 

This is a long story, so I'll try to make it as quick to the point as possible.

June 9, 2015 I was idling outside, car was fully warmed and A/C was on. Idle dropped down for a second but came back up immediately. No stall. Same issue happened a couple days later, also only happened once that time as well. A couple weeks after I had a sluggish throttle followed by a p1336 Crank/Cam sensor CEL. I garaged the car immediately and that was the last time I have driven the vehicle. I had started the vehicle and it threw p2196 and 92198 for o2 CEL's. Then a p061b PCM wrench. The p061b code is the only continually thrown CEL.

Car was taken to Shamaley Ford and removed a week later due to service writer lying to my face saying work could begin immediately, then a week later nothing had been done. I'm not going to play that game.

Car was towed straight to Casa Ford here in El Paso from Shamaley Ford where I know several local Mustang/SVT owners take their vehicles. Spoke to Craig, service writer, he said bring it in. Craig is going on vacation, hands me off to Javier. Javier is going on vacation so next week I get a call from Shawn saying the car is ready. Um...okay. I get to the dealership already knowing something is wrong. Somewhere between three service writers someone wrote down "No crank, no start" as the issue. Since the car cranks and starts just fine their job is done. I inform them not only is this not the issue, I never said it was. I inform them AGAIN of the issue, this time making Shawn write down every code in chronological order.

Shawn gets fired or quits, now leaving me with Joe - which I had to find out by calling the dealer for an update. Joe tells me because the car is modified its not under warranty. I inform him I am 100% aware this is out of my pocket and have no issue with that. I pay a visit to Casa Ford and this time speak to Javier, who is now my service writer, again(That's 4 different service writers, passed along 5 times in case you were wondering). I'm informed the car has been force flashed back to original Ford PCM parameters. Apparently the now long gone Shawn said it was okay. My SCT tuner has now been locked.

This is where Jimmy, the shop foreman comes in. He tells me my intake tube(JLT Series 2) is too big and that is the cause of all this mess. I tell him that's impossible, its been on the car since 2007. He then says the tune is the issue(Lund tune, FYI) because tuners change the parameters and Ford's original tune is the only way not to cause damage. I am back with Will, the service manager and Jimmy trying to go back and forth over this. I explain my tuner is now locked and the car cannot run properly without a tune for the intake, intake manifold, as well as high flow cats with long tube headers. Jimmy continues to argue my "tube" is causing the MAF sensor to read improperly, as well as my intake manifold having deleted the CMCV plates(Ford Racing intake manifold, FYI) is causing addition chaos. Absolutely ZERO MAF/intake/CMCV/etc codes have been thrown or read. Jimmy wants me to replace entire intake system back to stock to OEM, or upgrade to Ford Racing intake with Ford Racing flash, but high flow cats will create CEL and render my vehicle unsafe to pass Texas emissions standards(which it always has, even with the cats/headers/tune).

Will, the service manager, agrees getting the SCT tuner unlocked with a revised tune(PCM code has changed) from Lund is the preferred way to go. Bring tuner back, upload file to car, diagnose vehicle, fix it and pay the dealer. That was the agreement we had come to.

I returned to the dealer, uploaded the tune. Jimmy comes over to me, says "We're done". Apparently he has changed his mind and will no longer be working on the car because of "potential damage". Dealer also now wants $25 per day for storage.

Long story short...

Dealer accepts car, I am COMPLETELY transparent about modifications.
Flashed back to stock which I am unaware of, I pay $150 to SCT to unlock tuner.
Shop foreman, after having performed work on the car, now refuses to work on the vehicle.


This is the absolute WORST customer experience I have ever had in my life. I am infuriated, now $150 out of pocket AND several months. This dealer performs work on modified vehicles - why is this one different?

Casa Nissan across the street(same owners) had not only performed work, but also WARRANTY work on my 2009 GT-R, fully aware of tune, upgraded turbos, etc. My Mustang has nothing near what that vehicle did in modifications.

I have called Ford and the only thing I am being told is once I have gotten the car back I can call them back and they will call the dealer to see what happened. That's not helping me get the car fixed, which is all I want.

Any advice?

Maybe Viva Ford, or Borman Ford in Las Cruces?

Perhaps Texas Hot Rods on the East side? (just Google Maps showing them up, thought I'd mention them, but I have NO idea if they're worth a crap or not.)

What I'm saying is to get another place to work on it. Or even go to Casa's mechanics directly and see if one of them will play... but maybe that's the issue, and it's a blessing in disguise that Casa won't work on the car now, their mechanics aren't for anything but stock.

You said other Mustang/SVT people go to Casa... have you chatted with them regarding this experience, and/or are their Fords stock or modded?

As far as the Ford vs Nissan thing... The Ford guys apparently don't need ya/want to work on that car, for whatever reason. Probably because it's not gonna be worth it and they have stock cars to work on. The Nissan guys either need the business or really like workin' on a GT-R, modified or not. But thems just guesses.

I wish ya luck, truly. Dang shame they flung ya about like that. But I think you just need to walk away. And/or get an attorney for negligence, if you want. BBB maybe... I mean, seriously, sounds like Casa needs a spanking.

Ford made like 2. Billion in profit do you think they even care ? Ounce any ford warrenty is done they'll just crap all over you. Pretty much most dealers operate the same way . Do as I did keep repeating your story in their face or: Facebook on a daily basis I fought almost 7 years for a new hood I pay 40 ford paid 40 dealer paid 20 % that's 100 % then 2 months pass they have the balls to ask for my old hood 😳 yah for the $600.00 I had to pay they said no .

Ed. Seriously. We know. It's Ford.

But beyond that... this is not even a Ford corporate problem. This is a customer/dealership problem.

Ford themselves will never, would never, advocate a dealership working on a modified car. They will, in every case, tell the dealership "Go stock or it's your problem, or the customer's. We do not support the mods unless they are dealer installed Ford Racing products. Go away now."

As such, this problem has NOTHING to do with hoods, and nothing to do with Ford themselves.

Antigini- any resolution yet? have you checked your PM inbox, sent a suggestion from a local guy down there...
tim

This is why I don't allow Ford dealerships anywhere near my car... ever.

You can occasionally find a competent tech at a dealership, but more often than not you just won't.

Find a good Mustang shop near you. If there isn't one near you.. find a good Mustang shop far away from you.

Take it to someone who actually cares about their work and knows what they're doing.

For you to have to pay $150 to get your tuner unlocked that THEY (Ford) locked is not cool at all.

Call a local news station. Tell them everything. Give them really bad publicity. That's the only way dealerships seem to care about their customers.