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dropped it off this morning and got a loaner (see the end). dealer rep called me back around 4pm telling me multiple things, then changing them later.
first they said they looked at the fluid and drained some out. apparently they are under the assumption that if you have oil and water mixed and let it sit for an hour it will separate, and mine did not, therefore in their eyes there was no water in the diff. later in the conversation the rep said they never even saw the fluid as they have a machine that does it all. strike 1.
next the rep told me that the milky, white color is perfectly normal for the front diff. i kindly explained that no gear oil that i have seen in 40+ years was ever milky white brand new out of the bottle. strike 2.
next they said that due to my fluid film (use it every winter - https://www.fluid-film.com/) they could not see if there were any leaks around the seals. i again informed her that the problem was not leaking fluid (no evidence of it at all) but rather getting water inside. she said that since they could not visually see a leak they would not explore any further into the issue. strike 3.
so i called ford directly which was no help at all (the last rep was however this one was an outsourced employee somewhere other than the US and barely understood english). their suggestion was to call another dealership and explain what happened and have them look at it, so i did. 2nd dealership said they have never seen gear oil that was milky white that didn't have water mixed in and could not believe the first dealership said it was normal. they offered to look at the car if i was not satisfied however they are about an hour away (next closest ford dealer to me).
i called the original dealership back and said, almost verbatim, "i'll tell you what. i'll come pick up my truck and you can get me a new, unopened bottle of motorcraft gear oil for my front diff. if we open the bottle and it is milky white i will walk away a happy customer. if not then you cover the cost of the bottle and fix the diff". suddenly everything changed. the rep asked me to leave it overnight as they had already ordered the new rear window (having that replaced under warranty, again), so they don't want to lose the warranty work and know they will if they continue down this path of lies with me. now the rep was "sympathetic" to my problem and put me on hold to speak with someone else. came back and said the head service guys, both behind the counter and actual mechanic, said that it didn't sound right but they didn't have time to look at it today nor did they have any idea why it would be like that. they asked me to leave the truck overnight to look again tomorrow. they said the only way it could happen would be if i submerged the truck, which i never have, so strike 4 and 5?
i'll report back again when something else happens. i have this sinking feeling in my gut they are going to try to tell me nothing was covered and i owe them hundreds of dollars in fees for no work performed. hopefully i am wrong.
oh ya, the rental. gave me a 2019 escape. first words out of the reps mouth - sorry, this came back late on tuesday and we haven't had a chance to clean it. she wasn't kidding. the car was disgusting. i also noticed it had the 4.2" screen mounted way back (towards the windshield) in the dash and the backup display was not in the mirror like mine, which made the backup camera almost pointless. i tried taking a shot showing it but the photo doesn't really capture it. it's much farther away than the photo makes it seem and really hard to see anything clearly.
dealer rep called me today and said they have determined that there is some contaminate in the front diff but they don't know what it is. went on to explain the drain and fill method of changing the diff fluid (how mine was done) only gets about half of it, then went on to say the machine they use only gets out half too (then why did they waste the money on a machine that has the same results as a human?). the only way to determine the problem is to take out whatever is needed to remove the diff cover, which they estimated at 8-9 shop hours and $900-$1,100, and explore. makes sense, but it doesn't. according to the rep the warranty will not pay to determine the cause, it can only be invoked once the cause of the problem is known. so essentially if the mechanic who happens to get my job takes it apart and says the cause is not something that my warranty would cover i would be on the hook for the entire bill, or more than $2,000. if the cause is discovered and covered it would pay for it all.
seems like a catch 22 to me if ever there was one. we need to take it apart to determine the cause for the warranty to be invoked but the warranty won't pay to have it taken apart to determine the cause.
i'm waiting on a call back from ford customer service to see what, if anything, i can get them to do about it.
Machine for a diff? It's just a bowl. I got all of my rear diff's oil out with a pump, without removing the cover. I know because when I filled it I had to use exactly the capacity amount.
The time is probably pretty long for taking it apart, it's buried in there. They always estimate high.
not sure if there is a difference between the front and rear (can't imagine there would be for drain/fill procedure) but i do know the front is a pain to get to the cover.
called ford (not the dealer) and got my advisor. explained everything that has happened and while he couldn't say that everything would go my way he said he can't see any reason that it wouldn't. he agreed that it seemed silly that the problem can't be diagnosed unless i agree to pay the bill when that is exactly what the warranty is for. unfortunately this was after 5pm EST today and the dealer's service is closed for the weekend, so i have to wait until monday or tuesday to hear back from him.
No, they aren't really different, I think the same 8.8 case can be used on either. (assuming an 8.8 rear diff) I haven't done the front, yet, but other than the tight access, it shouldn't be much different draining the oil with a pump. Did they just stop halfway through?
finally got a call back from ford yesterday and the rep said they (ford) are going to cover everything, which is how it should have been from the start. the rep was an awesome guy who said between buying a CPO and the ESP there should have been no way the dealership denied me and tried to make me pay the bill. now we shall wait and see ho0w long the repairs make, and what was the original cause.
What I have heard is: Ford uses something white(cant remember what it was called) to check the gears, the other reason is because the diff isn't connected unless it is in 4wd so it does not get hot enough to evaporate the condensation that enters through the vent. Here us fordtechmakuloco's video on it
interesting video. the oil they drained looked amazing compared to what mine was. no joke, mine looked like a melted vanilla milkshake when it came out
dealer called and won't be getting into my truck til monday. not only is ford covering the repair (under warranty as it should be) the rep waived my $100 deductible cost as well without me even asking. really nice guy.
