F175

1300 miles?

I'd be crying bloody murder! Damn!

rlh33963

I just got off the phone with them and they claim it had 1400 on it the second time I brought it in. The paperwork doesn't reflect that. In all honesty it may have had more, I haven't kept as familiar with it over the last couple months as when I first got it. But the paperwork I've got shows 12851 when they first had it back in the beginning of December and 12900 for 12/31/18.

rlh33963

I'm trying to upload photos of the paperwork, but I'm not getting them to post. They appear to upload correctly, I see the images, but when I click upload my post only appears to contain this text I'm writing. They're .jpeg, so it should work.

rlh33963

rlh33963

Here is a current photo of what my truck now reads. I just picked it up today and drove it to the other dealership and then home.

RL1990

The dealership acknowledges that the battery is dead and it must be jump started and that the battery tested good. Therefore, it would be foolish to just throw a new battery in it. What they need to do is take the time to monitor battery drain when the truck is off. Something is turning on when the truck is supposed to be sleeping.

JCR 56

1300 miles is not a road test, that's a road trip. I don't know what kind of range your truck gets, but they would have had to refill the tank at least twice seems to me.

JCR 56

But that shouldn't cause the truck to quit while he's driving it unless for some reason the charging system quits charging.

Phyer Phyter

With the electronics in todays vehicles - when voltages are not correct hinky things tend to happen that don't make sense. Different electronics require different voltages 2v, 5v, etc and can vary depending on different conditions. When something isn't "Just Right" the gremlins come out to let you know and all kinds of weird things can happen. The condition being experienced can be totally unrelated to what the cause is. When it is an intermittent thing like a poor connection, cold solder joint on a circuit board, temperature or moisture related (plus many more or combinations of many more) - Well they can be a bitch to replicate, locate and correct. I don't care how well trained or experienced you are you'll some days be ripping your hair out.
Part of the problem is Ford doesn't allow technicians to think for themselves. (many cant anyways but I digress).
1)Verify the complaint. if yes go to step 2.
2)Check for TSB's that address verified complaint.
2a) If TSB located - perform prescribed repair. Verify if condition is corrected. Yes? You are a great technician. No? Why did you perform that TSB?
3) Contact Ford and wait for instructions on how to proceed.

Technicians (most that I know of) work on a flat rate system. Ford will tell you what a given repair will pay you in hours and how many $$ per hour. (usually quite a bit less than retail). IF the technician cannot duplicate the condition reasonably quickly they (and the dealership) will move on as they don't work for free. I mean who does? Would YOU? No repair = no pay.
I have seen 1st hand where if something is covered they expect the dealership to spend hours upon hours (emphasis added) to diagnose and repair a ghost. As soon as its not warranty and the customer pays it becomes a matter of "Well never mind I can live with it" (I am not saying this is the case with the OP in this tread).
I will give you an example. Which, by the way, is a very true story.
1)A customer brings their car in for a "Springing/Sproining sound on right hand turns from the front of the car"
2)Work is dispatched to the Steering and Suspension Technician.
3)He road tests, cannot verify complaint.
4)Brings the car into the shop inspects front suspension. No obvious indicators to complaint.
5)Removes front wheels and investigates more discerningly. No signs or symptoms of customer complaint.
6)Checks TSB's, No TSB's specific to customer complaint.
7)Consults with Shop Foreman, Road tests again with Shop Foreman. Cannot verify customer complaint. Returns repair order to tower (with no billable time) and is assigned another vehicle to work on. Technician now has spent anywhere from .3 to as much as 1.0 hour (labour is billed in 10ths of an hour) that cant be billed to the customer or the manufacturer as no repair was performed. Customer SAH wont pay 1 hr labour for "No problem found" So dealership "eats" that time as does the mechanic.
8)Another shop foreman or "senior" technician is assigned this vehicle to see if he can diagnose
9)He road tests and cannot confirm complaint.
10) Possibly repeats step 4 & 5. with same results.
13) Vehicle is turned back in for another job.
14) Customer is adamant that noise is there and exists under the conditions described is getting irate and threatening lemon law, lawyers and going to corporate, blah blah blah.
15)I am given the car to give it one last try to confirm customer complaint. I take it for a road test. Again cannot verify complaint but being told how "uptight" the customer is getting I try harder. I drive the car much more aggressively. (much more than most people would normally drive) Start doing some dipsy doodles swerving HARD left to right - right to left. Wait, I think I heard something. Do it again. THERE IT IS I CAN REPLICATE CUSTOMER COMPLAINT. YIPPEEE! but wait - its coming from under the seat?
16)Bring the car back to the shop to investigate. Wait, Hold it, Whats this? A freaking golf ball under the seat that on very HARD right hand turns rolls hard enough to hit the return spring for the seat position lever and VOILA! "sproing" (under emphasis added).
Now to sumarize:
The service writer, the front end guy, the shop foreman (2wice), another mechanic, the tower operator (2wice), the service manager, and myself have all been involved with this vehicle and this customer and his complaint only to find a golf ball under the seat making the noise. WHAT that is not covered WARRANTY WTF???? Now the dealership cant really bill the customer, which they should for at least 1.5 hours labour, is out approx $400 in revenue and wages and lost billable time, the wages the mechanics wont get paid plus more for all the peoples time involved with this complaint.
Now I will concede that the golf ball is the extreme but you would be surprised how often "stuff like this happens" (no problem found)
This is a typical event in any dealership almost any day.

[end rant]

Phyer Phyter

IF the battery keeps doing dead I would be looking at the charging system. The battery could also have a bad plate or connection internally that is intermittent that maybe gets jostled loose on a hard bump. So it could still be the battery.