tammijoe

I was wondering if anyone else has had this same problem. My baby has left me on the side of the road 3 times now. The problem is that the car will first start to die and then start back up, this will happen about 3 or 4 times,then all of a sudden the gages and computer will go crazy and then the car will finally DIE!! Once she dies there is nothing I can do, but just sit and wait for a tow truck and since I live in Baton Rouge it is a long wait for a tow truck or either I pay and wait for Ford to pay me back which I have now had to do twice. I am really upset with all of this, I really want to keep her since it is the first year for the new model, but I can't keep taking a chance since I drive 25 miles one way to work and drive winding roads. Has anyone else had this same problem???? The service manager has even taken the car and it broke down on him twice. They said the last time it was a bare wire and when the motor got heated up it caused this wire to short out and cause the computer to shut down. I noticed when I was driving it the other day the anti theft light, water temp. and engine light came on briefly. But last night the whole dash lite up and she shut down. If someone has any idea what I need to do or what may be wrong with my baby let me know. :cry:

Galaxie

Never heard anything like that... but maybe it would be a good idea to get the car bought back and get a replacement vehicle from Ford. Look at the lemon laws in louisiana if you can.

lodom

I'm going to second Galaxie's recommendations and sugguest you contact an attorney specializing in lemon law cases ASAP in Louisiana.

slammer223

If your dealer was witness to two breakdowns and doesn't or can't fix it, its time to see another dealer or start talking to Ford directly. Good luck.

tammijoe

I just got off the phone with Ford, I called the 800 # and I pretty much told them they have poor CSR. All they wanted me to do is just call my dealer. I told them I had already been dealing with them and I wasn't complaining about them I was calling because there is something major wrong with the car. The dealership informed me that it would be hard to get a rep in this time of the year due to the holidays. I don't know who to believe. I already know the lemon laws in Louisiana because I have had a vehicle bought back before. I really hate to go thur that process, but it looks like there is going to be no way around it.

slammer223

I wish I could give you more specific help, but if you've already talked to Ford and they are giving you the brush-off, I don't know what else to advise. It sounds like they're treating you like that because you're a woman, and that's not right! Don't know if you can get any good info from this, http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?showtopic=38820
but it might be worth reading anyway.

tammijoe

Thanks so much for all of the information, but I have been on the phone as well as online all day trying to get something done, to NO sucess. And thanks slammer I did read that thread it was some what helpful. Yes they are giving me the run around. I sent Ford a long email but I have done that in the past and got no response, just had to vent, just maybe they may call who knows. I printed out the lemon laws today for Louisiana and they had changed form the last buy back I had several years ago when the lemon laws first came into effect. I have to give them 4 ATTEMPTS to fix the vehicle or a total of 90 days in service. Well this will be the 4th attempt. But I guess it will take me breaking down on a dark road and someone running into my car before they do anything. I could go to the dispute board but that also takes along process. I am determined to find a way to talk to someone other than that CSR line, that gets you NO where for sure. Sorry for all the venting, and thanks once again for all the info.

tammijoe

Update:

Well my husband went to the dealership last night, and the service manager told him that the Stang started right up for them. But he did say that they checked everything out and could not find anything causing this problem of breaking down like before. He also said that he is going to talk to the general manager of the dealership they may do a swap. I know both the service manager and the general manager. As a matter of fact they have me in a used car off the lot and not a rental because they don't know what to do. I will keep everyone posted.

VintagMustang302

I have issues too. I posted on another thread. I have gotten nowhere with Ford too. I have to go through the Better Business Bureau to get this resolved before I should sue them. It's a long process and very irritating.

Best of luck to you and your Husband on these problems. They should give you a new car or give you your money back.

tammijoe

Hey Vin, I know the process is long, I have been there and done this before. Have you looked in the back of your vehicle manual?? There is information on the Dispute Board, which is a board to make ford get on the move. I used them last time and they were putting understand it just takes time, but they are pretty good. I have to give the dealership one more chance before I can start my process. If you do decide to use the Dispute Board make sure you have all your RO's and documantation together, because you have to fill out a form and mail it along with a copy of the RO's. Good Luck to you.

Big-Foot

Tammijoe - I really hope that you can get things worked out to your satisfaction.

I tried the lemon law route on an obvious lemon and the system let me down bigtime. Read the following thread. Make sure you keep carefull records..

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?showtopic=38820

tammijoe

Well, the dealership gave me an update today. Seems that they are going to replace my wiring harness. They informed me that the last time they tried to repair it. The service manager spoke to an engineer and they recommoned replacing the harness instead of doing another repair. The part is not due in until mid next week and my Stang should be ready (hopefully) by Friday next week. We will see!! They know this is the last chance they have to repair it. I told them today this is getting old. They were going to put me in a rental because I am in a loaner from the dealership, but I was scared they would put me in a tin can, so I told them I would stay in the Crown Vic. I don't think they want to push me to much....lol. Also the car was due to go into today for a oil change and tire rotation...funny they said they would handle it..lol. I have yet to pay for a oil change or tire rotation since I had the car, because it has always been in the shop when it is due.

Galaxie

Tammy,

please keep us updated on the situation, hopefully it gets resolved to your satisfaction.

icemant180

If it isn't the harness it might be the circuit board for the computer that gets manufactured in China. They don't do enough quality control checks on these cards. Good Luck and keep your chin up.

grrr428

Not to make light of your situation Tammijoe, but remember the jokes about if Microsoft/Bill Gates make a car? (Iceman's comment made me think of it. I had a problem back in 1982 with a Capri 5.0's onboard (early version!) computer, they just changed it out)


Microsoft Car
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the

computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating, "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they painted new lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull ove r to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.

For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car unless you bought "CarNT," but then you would have to buy more seats.

6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive -- but it would only run on five percent of the roads.

7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "general protect ion fault" warning light.

8. The airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?" before deploying.

9. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the antenna.

10. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally Road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 percent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.

11. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

12. You'd have to press the "start" button to turn the engine off.

grrr428

(11. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.)

BTW that reminds me of BMWs new system!

tammijoe

Grr,
That is too funny. I needed that, it made me ROFL.

Tammy

tammijoe

UPDATE!!!
Just spoke to the dealership the harness is in, they are suppose to start working on it either late this evening or first thing in am!!! I hope this solves the problem. Some people have been telling me once they change the wiring harness the car is never the same, does anyone know if this is true??? I hope this fixes my problems so I can drive my Stang, I really enjoy driving this car.
:drive:

grrr428

Good luck.
It should be fixable. The car should never be the same again (that would be a good thing, right?)

Electrical problems are notoriously hard to diagnose, but if they find the problem you're 90% on your way to the solution.

mallorysmom

Tammi, just a thought, but have you been on blueovalforums.com yet? It's also a good place to get a direct line to Ford people, and they really do read what is posted. Good luck!