KubotaB

I have been having troubles with an engine knock in my 17 3.5 ecoboost.I have another thread on that somewhere a few pages back here.

I have been into the dealer 4 times for diagnostics and attempted repairs. 29 total days in the shop. After attempt #4 they sent me on my way with a new high pressure fuel pump and said all was good. I got home and the noise was STILL THERE. Pissed off, I immediately called the dealer and told them. I eventually got to the service manager and explained my situation. 70 miles round trip to dealer, so that's 140 miles (pick up and off) each time in the shop, 560 miles driving back and forth, ridiculous. We talked and he gave me examples of other trucks (his mechanics) making similar noises and eventually blowing up. He was in full acceptance of the noise and the issue and we discussed further plans for fixing the vehicle. Case was opened with Ford immediately after arriving home from dealer.

Now 3 weeks and one "dodgy" call later, I'm being told some nonsense story that hes pulling for a favor from the regional Ford rep to come down and check it out, off the books. All sounds like complete BS.

I decide to call Ford directly and inquire about the issue and push it from that end. I got the guy on the phone to read me back the dealer's service manager's notes and it rambles on and on how "it is NORMAL and my vehicle has been tested and conforms to engineering specifications. They brought in another vehicle and it made a similar noise" THIS IS COMPLETE BS. 4 attempts at a repair say this is clearly not normal, or this BS would have stopped at diagnostic attempt #1.

How am I ever going to have any leverage or documentation in this situation if the records are being falsified? I'm told one thing and the records say the 100% opposite.

SIDE NOTE: The service manager has promised me a 100,000 mile warranty for my troubles (which is not on paper yet), so I'm sort of stuck. If I go to a new dealer (I found one very willing to help closer to home) I'm basically throwing away the +/- $1,500 warranty offer.

mdphotographer

did you get any paperwork for any of your repair visits? There has to be some for them to submit to Ford to get paid for the attempts to fix the problem. Only reason I can see them not having paperwork on it would be they did nothing at all to fix the problem.

KubotaB

Yes, sorry I was unclear in my original post. I have paperwork from the visits. Of course they consolidated the paperwork into to two invoices, one for the two diagnostics and one for the two repair attempts

The falsifying was between the service manager and corporate Ford. He is responding to them and my open case by saying we believe the noise is fixed or is normal. To my face he says "oh no not normal, XYZ's truck had that and blew the engine". "We're going to fix it."

How is it possible to say the noise is fixed/normal when they just had is for 4 weeks and 4 visits attempting it? Now that they can't diagnose it and a case is open hes telling Ford everything is normal to avoid conflict between them and the dealer.

Now I have absolutely ZERO chance of getting any cooperation out of Ford Corporate because all they say is they trust their dealers.

mdphotographer

antho

So what exactly is wrong with your truck?

Eduskator

What kind of free 100k miles warranty are they giving you? Probably one of these third party local warranties who forces you to perform all your maintenance at the same place and, as soon as you miss one or go somewhere else, it gets cancelled.

Give a call to Ford corporate, if not already done, and keep all your service record.

KubotaB

Your guess is as good as mine. It has an engine knock. From what, I do not know, nor does the dealer at this point.

Some on here have been guiding me towards thinking it is VCT solenoid. I haven't even had a chance to discuss that with the dealer yet.

KubotaB

It the Ford Premium Care warranty.

I have numerous calls into corporate with no luck. Get read generic lines stating to deal with your local service manager..... ect. It seems like the only way to make things happen is to request a buy back. I'm finding that then they will likely jump into action to try to fix it rather than have to deal with a buy back.

tvsjr

I went through the buy-back process and still got told to pound sand. The 4WD system isn't fixed, the newly-created steering issue hasn't been resolved, the hard 5/4 downshift... 57 days in the shop, 2016, 36K on the clock (first attempt at repair at 11K)... and they decided to give me two payments reimbursement. Not eligible for buy-back. So don't expect them to jump.

Now, assuming you're in a one-party state (where only one party must be aware of a conversation being recorded), I'd fire up a recording app on your phone, drop it in your shirt pocket, and go have a conversation with the service mangler. See if you can get him to tell you the same thing - that the same noise has blown up other trucks, etc. Then, take your recording and go visit the general manager. Explain to him you'll be going to corporate next, unless they'd like to make something happen.

gopherman

I have a knock as well @ 23K (along with several other issues) and believe it's due to something in the VCT. Unfortunately, without a proper scan tool, I can't prove this (most will not show VCT duty cycle error). Even so, the issue itself may not be showing operational issues yet, but are deteriorating in such a way that at some point you may end up with a stretched chain or worse. After hearing a number of vehicles with VCT issues, I am pretty sure the knock I'm hearing with mine is VCT...but the dealer will not do anything despite hearing it themselves. I've been told that since there are TSBs for the 3.5 (with a very similar knock), they've been able to push them through, but not for the 5.0. I just began the lemon law process and while I'm not entirely hopeful, it's the first step before hiring an attorney. If all that fails, I'll be selling it outright.