ford4v429

any word on how the floor got wet?

glad to hear they'll have you a new motor in there soon- stuff happens, but its never fun when it happens to you... sounds like theyre on the ball trying to make it right as possible

ageless1

No word on the H2O yet. They're going to get the engine done before tackling that, they said. I'll report back when I find out though.

Krohn

Glad to hear everything is coming together!

ageless1

Thursday update: I called my FCS rep (Mark) before contacting the dealer this afternoon. I voiced my concern about the leak and he called the dealer to work out an overnight stay (supposed to rain tonight). I stopped in and talked with the service guys and he reported that the leak guy (they sub leak work out to a leak company) spent an hour and a half and could not find any leaks. I explained that I park my car uphill and the circumstances that I found the leak and we found an uphill location to park it and they will call the guy out again tomorrow.

Here's some issues, the notes from the leak guy looked like it said 15 min, not 1.5 hrs but it was poorly written and upside-down from my angle. The ford tech also said he took up the carpet but I have to call B.S. because in order to get the carpet up, you need to remove the following parts: Sill plate, kick panel, passenger seat (which would require the battery terminal to be disconnected), rear seat, center console, rear quarter panel trim and the seat-belt anchor- I highly doubt that he (or anyone) is able to do that, water test, put it back together, hook up the battery and write it up in 1.5 hrs., let alone 15 minutes. Likely- he ran a hose over the cowl and door seals and called it a day. Kind of irritating that the likely outcome will be that tomorrow will reveal nothing to him and I will take the car back knowing that I will have to bring it back in as soon as Monday.

I intend to call Mark, from Ford Customer Service tomorrow if they again report that they can't find a leak. Any other suggestions on who to speak with and what to say to get this resolved properly?

I saw pictures of the oil pan after they drained and dropped it... looked like a dang pineapple grenade went off in there! I am trying to get them to email me the pics so I can share.

FordService

Thanks for the update, ageless1. Please stay in contact with your CSM who is in the best position to assist you with this.

Deysha

ageless1

Day 12 in the shop:

Just heard back from the dealers service department. The car was parked nose up throughout today's rain. It has been a intermittent drizzle since around 6 am, so that's about 8 hours. He reported that there was water coming in somewhere (no kidding!) and that the next course of action would be to call the leak guy back out... WTF! We left it there overnight so the leak guy would have something to trace and now you tell me it's going to be next week before you can get him out there?!

I understand that some leak guys only stop by a particular dealer on a specific day each week, but come on, we knew it was likely to leak. If that's the case, we're looking at April 3rd before it's looked at again (making it 18 days in the shop) Call someone else, do it yourself, start taking it apart... do something! I told those clowns at the beginning that it's going to at least have to have the carpet pulled to find this thing.

BTW- Georgia lemon law requirements:

- must fall within lemon period (12,000 miles)
-and-
- Must be a "major" problem. ie: something that presents a safety hazard or affects the reliability/value of the car
-and-
- In for repair 3* times for the same problem (have to give them a chance to fix it)(* kind of a shady area, a lawyer will know how many times they have a chance to fix something. Some items have only one chance)
-or- in the shop (out of service) for a total of 30 days (within the lemon period)

Rant: So, they want to wait until day 18 until they look at it again, cool! Realize that this will be day 18/30. Rant over.

At what point do you guys/gals think I should contact a Lemon Lawyer, because I after spending literally hours and hours searching forums, TSB's and articles related to water leaks of the S197, I am beginning to believe that I am, in fact, dealing with a lemon car. Obviously, the earlier iteration of this model had some serious water issues (that likely was the underlying source of the plethora of electrical problems) They eventually 'seem' to have fixed those issues because finding an '11+ with water issues is few and far between.

ageless1

Day 17: Got my car back today... Brand new complete engine, leak supposedly fixed... we'll see during the next rain. The leak was at the bottom of the windshield and occurred when driving or parked uphill.

I spoke with the Service manager about what would consider a fair compensatory request for such a major hassle with such a new vehicle. He said it really was between Ford Customer Service and me and that I should contact him with any such requests. I realize a lot of it has to do with money and I paid way too much for a base so I know they made a killing on me (hindsight...). At any rate, what do you guys think a fair request would be? Here is a list of things I'd want that should not affect the warranty; things I am seriously considering upgrading myself and the market price I've seen:

Leather take offs (leather seat covers), $550(katskinz)- up to $1100 (OEM)
Aluminum (solid) drive shaft, $700-$800
axle back exhaust, $400-$700
window tint: $150-$400
Ceramic coated headers $400-$600

things he brought up and eluded to but can't "quote" him on:
1-2 car payments, $475-$950
100,000 mile (component) warranty on new engine (full warranty on new engine, already have a 7 yr/ 75,000 mi b2b), $???

I also thought about asking about:
Free oil changes for the life of my vehicle (at least 7yr/75k mi or 100k mi)

What do you guys think? I paid $22,200 for the car, $1450 for the extended warranty, $550 gap coverage so I know for a fact that they made a killing on me already.

Joeywhat

I would ask for tangible things. Warranties are not exactly iron clad, and if Ford wants to be difficult then you have to take it to court (and their ridiculous arbitration process). A friend had MAJOR issues with TWO engines in his Focus, and they eventually just stopped returning his calls and basically told him to pound sand. So he bought a different car and that whole case is basically just "under investigation", whatever that means.

Long story short, I wouldn't put too much faith in an extended warranty, I'd go for tangible things you can get some enjoyment out of.

FordService

Glad to learn this was handled for you, ageless1! Now, your CSM will take care of you. Have a good one!

Deysha

ageless1

Thanks, Deysha!

Well, I got my car back on a Wednesday afternoon, it was supposed to rain over the weekend Thursday through Sunday) and was going to call my CSM (Mark) after it rained, to report if the leak was solved. I got a voicemail from Mark on Friday afternoon around 4 (he leaves work at 4:30) saying he was checking to see if everything checked out ok and if he didn't hear back by Friday (not sure if he meant that Friday or this Friday) he would assume all was well and close the file. I left him a voicemail shortly after 4 on Friday and said I was waiting for some good rain to test it out in and another on Monday morning asking him to call me back because I wanted to report my findings and address a concern I had with some lingering moisture still present in the padding. It did not rain all weekend but we got some heavy rain Sunday night into Monday morning. I called again today but did not leave a message because it went straight to voicemail and will try again tomorrow (Wednesday) to reach him.

FordService

Thank you for the update, ageless1. I’ve documented this on your case as well, so your CSM can see this.

Deysha

Pelogius

Hello,
Just wanted to share about my 3.7L v6 in my Ford Transit.
This van I just bought about 1 yr ago. It has 30K miles on it. My wife was driving thru town the other day at a traffic light. The engine as idling started making very loud clanging noises and died. Would not start. I cannot find any info on this motor without it costing me an arm and a leg. So, I tried to start it in my driveway and it turned over and did start momentarily enough for me to hear the #2 cylinder indeed making the loud noise. So, I proceeded to tear into it. The issue looks like the valve has come apart or broke where it is retained or locked above the spring. It has dropped down hitting the cylinder. I am still in disbelief. I am not the first owner, so there is prob no chance for help from Ford.