mbct

I'm one of those 2004-2008 guys, who thought my 2008 was a keeper. But as really expensive and/or hard-to-work-on things break on that truck (warped manifold with broken studs, painful plug changes with early 5.4 3v, IWE vacuum), I have been watching comments here to decide if the next truck is a Ford or if I move over to Dodge. Lots of local shops won't even work on the 5.4 motor and I keep catching my local Ford service department trying to just lie and upsell unneeded repairs. They became a "profit center" a few years ago. So it looks like Dodge. The Ram guys complain too, but its a new set of problems at least.

twinturbra

pick your poison, no matter who you choose, each have problems and each dealer is out to make money.

papa tiger

Production lag on the 15 will drive up trade-ins !

mbct

And you know, I get that, I really do. I'm not out to get something for nothing. But firstly it gripes me that a truck that stickered for almost $50K has several expensive design flaws, and Ford chooses to stick the dealer or the customer with the fixes. Second, it REALLY gripes me when I am in for an oil change (cause of the coupon and all), and the asst service guy comes out and tells me I need an immediate rear brake job for $450, cause I have less than 1 mm of pad left. I declined, pulled both rear wheels and found that the thinnest pad had just about 3mm of material left. Or when my neighbor is told that they can't guarantee an alignment unless he also pays for them to fill the tires with nitrogen for an additional $88. Argue about the benefits of that all you want, but it has NOTHING to do with an alignment. I'll happily pay MORE to someone I can trust in order to avoid this kind of outright fraud. But good luck finding that in anything but the very smallest independent shops. OK, rant mode off.

twinturbra

My rule of thumb is only take it to the dealer for warranty work. Once that runs out, it goes to a trusted shop. Some of us are lucky to have trusted mechanics to take our vehicles too. Those who don't, pick the shop with the best reliable service, even if it is a Chevy....

mbct

Good plan, and one I follow when its something I can't or don't want to do myself. My trusted guy said he did not want to tackle the passenger side exhaust manifold, and most people who have done it say they will never do it again. So its off to Ford, and what might just be the most expensive repair bill I ever paid to anyone.

tanked_darren

Oh man some of these complaints remind me of my old gmc when I had the oil change for life, as soon as I made my money back I stopped going. Dueck in richmond worst dealer ever!!!