I bought a 2014 FX4 EB and I HATE it!
11-04-2014, 10:44 AM
#1
I bought a 2014 FX4 EB and I HATE it!
I've been keeping a journal on this, since my problems started.
It's a long read, but I hope someone here can help.
10/9/14 Took delivery of new 2014 Ford F150 FX4 from Autonation Ford, Katy (ANF).
10/10/14 Left on a 220 mile, one way road trip. As soon as I got on the highway, I noticed a weird shake in the whole truck.
10/13/14 With roughly 700 miles on the truck, I took it to the service department at ANF, where I bought the truck. The service advisor, Tom, said that the truck had sit on the lot so long that the tires had developed flat spots, so they swapped the wheels and tires from another identical truck. I picked it up and drove it home.
10/14-15/14 I drove the truck to work, hoping the shake would dissipate. It did not.
10/16-20/14 Truck sat in my driveway while we took my wife’s Yukon to New Orleans.
10/21/14 Took the truck back to ANF.
10/22/14 The service advisor this time was the team lead, Ron. He replaced the tires with Bridgestone Duelers, but wanted to keep it and drive it a little more to make sure the problem was solved. I didn’t have a problem with them keeping it, but I explained that I bought a truck with all terrain tires and I did not want the street tires. I mentioned to him that I thought it might be something with the driveline. He said that they wouldn’t look into that until they were convinced it wasn’t the tires.
10/24/14 Ron said the problem was solved. I picked up the truck at 8pm from the receptionist. As soon as I got up to speed, I immediately felt the shake. I turned back around and went back to the dealership. I left it with my salesman, JD. He said he would drive it himself to see the issue. 30 minutes later, as I pulled into my driveway, he calls me on my cell phone and tells me that he drove it and didn’t feel any shake whatsoever. I turned around and went back to ANF. We then took a drive together. I felt the shake and he insisted that he didn’t feel anything. He said the truck rode perfectly and there was nothing wrong with it. I saw that my end of the debate was going nowhere, so I dropped him off and drove home so mad that I was ready to trade the truck in on a GMC.
10/25/14 I took the truck back to ANF again, but this time talked to the operations manager, Jason. He wanted to drive the truck and feel the vibration for himself. I told him when I felt it, and he acknowledged that it was indeed shaking. During the drive, we both agreed that it didn’t feel like a tire issue and that it didn’t even feel like it was coming from the front end. His new plan of action was to drive as many similar trucks as it took, to find one that didn’t shake. Then he’d take both trucks to his tech and tell them to make my truck ride like the non-shaking truck.
10/27/14 This time in, I have another different service advisor, Roy. He asked me to come in and drive a few trucks to try to find one that didn’t shake. I drove a 2014 King Ranch … it shook. I drove a 2013 Platinum … it shook. Then I drove a 2013 FX2 (his personal truck) and it did not shake. At this point, he still thinks it’s a tire problem but they were going to keep the truck to discuss more options. He also said that the tech couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck, but never said what the tech actually checked or didn’t check. I don’t think he actually knew what he did or didn’t do.
10/28/14 ANF installed another set of Bridgestone Duelers and Roy called me and said that this time it was fixed. I left work, mid-day, to go drive it. There was no noticeable difference in the shake. I left the truck there, yet again. I am not completely convinced that this is not a tire problem and I express that to Roy.
10/29/14 ANF put a completely new set of tires on the truck, Roy called me and told me that it was ready. I went to drive it immediately after work. The shake was still there! I told him that it still wasn’t any better. He told me that the truck rode fine. He and everybody else there had driven it and no one felt any shake. He told me that it was all in my head and that I was crazy. By this point, I’m fuming mad and I told him that I’d just get my stuff out of the loaner and take my truck to a dealership that knew what they were doing. I went to get my stuff, and he disappeared with my keys, so I had to wait for the service manager, Scott, to bring them to me. His demeanor was always calm. We walked out to the truck as I wanted him to ride with me so I could show him the shake, and to show him that they didn’t fix a noise that came on with the passenger seat heater. When we got in the truck, he said he wanted to wait for the operations manager, Jason, so we could all go on the drive at once. When Jason showed up, he motioned for Scott to get out of the truck, stood in the open passenger door, and preceded to tell me the following: “You have the best tires you’re going to get on here, every time you come in here you’re cussing someone (which never happened), you called my service advisor a MF (which definitely didn’t happen), this is all we’re going to do for you, don’t bring this truck back here!” At this point all I could do was sit there with my mouth open, so I left.
I called the national Ford customer service line and they told me to simply take it to another dealership.
It's a long read, but I hope someone here can help.
10/9/14 Took delivery of new 2014 Ford F150 FX4 from Autonation Ford, Katy (ANF).
10/10/14 Left on a 220 mile, one way road trip. As soon as I got on the highway, I noticed a weird shake in the whole truck.
10/13/14 With roughly 700 miles on the truck, I took it to the service department at ANF, where I bought the truck. The service advisor, Tom, said that the truck had sit on the lot so long that the tires had developed flat spots, so they swapped the wheels and tires from another identical truck. I picked it up and drove it home.
10/14-15/14 I drove the truck to work, hoping the shake would dissipate. It did not.
10/16-20/14 Truck sat in my driveway while we took my wife’s Yukon to New Orleans.
10/21/14 Took the truck back to ANF.
10/22/14 The service advisor this time was the team lead, Ron. He replaced the tires with Bridgestone Duelers, but wanted to keep it and drive it a little more to make sure the problem was solved. I didn’t have a problem with them keeping it, but I explained that I bought a truck with all terrain tires and I did not want the street tires. I mentioned to him that I thought it might be something with the driveline. He said that they wouldn’t look into that until they were convinced it wasn’t the tires.
10/24/14 Ron said the problem was solved. I picked up the truck at 8pm from the receptionist. As soon as I got up to speed, I immediately felt the shake. I turned back around and went back to the dealership. I left it with my salesman, JD. He said he would drive it himself to see the issue. 30 minutes later, as I pulled into my driveway, he calls me on my cell phone and tells me that he drove it and didn’t feel any shake whatsoever. I turned around and went back to ANF. We then took a drive together. I felt the shake and he insisted that he didn’t feel anything. He said the truck rode perfectly and there was nothing wrong with it. I saw that my end of the debate was going nowhere, so I dropped him off and drove home so mad that I was ready to trade the truck in on a GMC.
10/25/14 I took the truck back to ANF again, but this time talked to the operations manager, Jason. He wanted to drive the truck and feel the vibration for himself. I told him when I felt it, and he acknowledged that it was indeed shaking. During the drive, we both agreed that it didn’t feel like a tire issue and that it didn’t even feel like it was coming from the front end. His new plan of action was to drive as many similar trucks as it took, to find one that didn’t shake. Then he’d take both trucks to his tech and tell them to make my truck ride like the non-shaking truck.
10/27/14 This time in, I have another different service advisor, Roy. He asked me to come in and drive a few trucks to try to find one that didn’t shake. I drove a 2014 King Ranch … it shook. I drove a 2013 Platinum … it shook. Then I drove a 2013 FX2 (his personal truck) and it did not shake. At this point, he still thinks it’s a tire problem but they were going to keep the truck to discuss more options. He also said that the tech couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck, but never said what the tech actually checked or didn’t check. I don’t think he actually knew what he did or didn’t do.
10/28/14 ANF installed another set of Bridgestone Duelers and Roy called me and said that this time it was fixed. I left work, mid-day, to go drive it. There was no noticeable difference in the shake. I left the truck there, yet again. I am not completely convinced that this is not a tire problem and I express that to Roy.
10/29/14 ANF put a completely new set of tires on the truck, Roy called me and told me that it was ready. I went to drive it immediately after work. The shake was still there! I told him that it still wasn’t any better. He told me that the truck rode fine. He and everybody else there had driven it and no one felt any shake. He told me that it was all in my head and that I was crazy. By this point, I’m fuming mad and I told him that I’d just get my stuff out of the loaner and take my truck to a dealership that knew what they were doing. I went to get my stuff, and he disappeared with my keys, so I had to wait for the service manager, Scott, to bring them to me. His demeanor was always calm. We walked out to the truck as I wanted him to ride with me so I could show him the shake, and to show him that they didn’t fix a noise that came on with the passenger seat heater. When we got in the truck, he said he wanted to wait for the operations manager, Jason, so we could all go on the drive at once. When Jason showed up, he motioned for Scott to get out of the truck, stood in the open passenger door, and preceded to tell me the following: “You have the best tires you’re going to get on here, every time you come in here you’re cussing someone (which never happened), you called my service advisor a MF (which definitely didn’t happen), this is all we’re going to do for you, don’t bring this truck back here!” At this point all I could do was sit there with my mouth open, so I left.
I called the national Ford customer service line and they told me to simply take it to another dealership.
11-04-2014, 10:44 AM
#2
10/30/14 A friend of mine at work has heard about this since day one. Since the second time I dropped the truck off, he said that it seemed like a driveline issue, to him. After talking to my dad, who was an old school mechanic for 20 something, years, as well as a helicopter mechanic in Vietnam, he said the same thing. The friend started searching the old interweb for a possible solution. Low and behold this is a common problem and there are several TSBs about this very issue. The Ford specifications say that if the driveshaft run-out is more than 1mm (0.040”) at the front, center, or rear of the shaft, install a NEW driveshaft. At lunch, we drove the truck over to his house, put it on jack stands and put it in low gear. Imagine our surprise when we got under the truck and looked at the slowly turning driveshaft!
Watch the edge of the driveshaft in relation to the running board in the background.
You don't need a dial indicator to see that this had more than 0.040" of run out! After seeing this I'm quite sure that the "tech" at ANF did a visual inspection of the truck, at most. If the second service advisor (and team lead) would have just humored my request, I would have been a happy camper a week ago. All total, in the first 21 days I owned the truck, ANF had it for 9 days and couldn't figure out what a dumb customer figured out in less than an hour.
On top of all this, on the invoice I was charged $200 for wheel locks and $400 for tint on the front two windows. The salesman said they put this standard on every truck ... the wheel locks were never put on. After I complained about that, he said he'd just have them cut me a check. That was two weeks ago; I haven't seen that either.
I think Ford makes a good product, even though there might be a few flaws, but there are certain dealerships that absolutely suck. Autonation Ford Katy is one of those that suck ... through and through. I called back, after we figured out the problem, to talk to the top of the food chain person, at the dealership. From the conversation with the receptionist, I thought the operations manager was the top guy; the same guy that chased me out on 10/29 and told me not to come back. Even still, I left him a polite message telling him that I found the problem and that I'd like to talk to him about it. After all the crap, I was still willing to let him make it right. That was around noon ... at closing time I still had't got a return call.
I also sent an email to the operations manager, with an explanation of the problem and a link to my YouTube video, showing the wobbling driveshaft.
I sent a similar email to my salesman, to show him that there was a problem with the truck, as evident in the video. I haven’t got a response from him.
10/31/14 The operations manager called me back, and started by saying that the email that I sent actually went to the general manager, who forwarded to him. He would never say that they should have checked the drive shaft. He simply said that if I would like them to check the drive shaft that I could bring the truck by. I respectfully declined and told him that after he said to not bring my truck back, that I didn’t think it’d be in my best interest if I did.
11/3/14 Dropped the truck off at Mac Haik Ford, in Houston. Josh, the service advisor said that the truck would need to go to “heavy line” for them to look at the driveshaft. They didn’t have time to look at it, so it sat there overnight.
Watch the edge of the driveshaft in relation to the running board in the background.
You don't need a dial indicator to see that this had more than 0.040" of run out! After seeing this I'm quite sure that the "tech" at ANF did a visual inspection of the truck, at most. If the second service advisor (and team lead) would have just humored my request, I would have been a happy camper a week ago. All total, in the first 21 days I owned the truck, ANF had it for 9 days and couldn't figure out what a dumb customer figured out in less than an hour.
On top of all this, on the invoice I was charged $200 for wheel locks and $400 for tint on the front two windows. The salesman said they put this standard on every truck ... the wheel locks were never put on. After I complained about that, he said he'd just have them cut me a check. That was two weeks ago; I haven't seen that either.
I think Ford makes a good product, even though there might be a few flaws, but there are certain dealerships that absolutely suck. Autonation Ford Katy is one of those that suck ... through and through. I called back, after we figured out the problem, to talk to the top of the food chain person, at the dealership. From the conversation with the receptionist, I thought the operations manager was the top guy; the same guy that chased me out on 10/29 and told me not to come back. Even still, I left him a polite message telling him that I found the problem and that I'd like to talk to him about it. After all the crap, I was still willing to let him make it right. That was around noon ... at closing time I still had't got a return call.
I also sent an email to the operations manager, with an explanation of the problem and a link to my YouTube video, showing the wobbling driveshaft.
I sent a similar email to my salesman, to show him that there was a problem with the truck, as evident in the video. I haven’t got a response from him.
10/31/14 The operations manager called me back, and started by saying that the email that I sent actually went to the general manager, who forwarded to him. He would never say that they should have checked the drive shaft. He simply said that if I would like them to check the drive shaft that I could bring the truck by. I respectfully declined and told him that after he said to not bring my truck back, that I didn’t think it’d be in my best interest if I did.
11/3/14 Dropped the truck off at Mac Haik Ford, in Houston. Josh, the service advisor said that the truck would need to go to “heavy line” for them to look at the driveshaft. They didn’t have time to look at it, so it sat there overnight.
The following users liked this post:
joedotmac (11-04-2014)
11-04-2014, 11:00 AM
#3
Senior Member
So you hate the truck because it has a slight vibration that can be fixed? Sounds like a crappy dealership to me. I would be mad also, but I would be mad at the dealership.
11-04-2014, 11:19 AM
#4
Talk to the Ford Customer Svs reps in this web page under ford customer service. While complaining will help you vent and feel better, going to the right parties and asking for help Ina civilized manner goes a long way. The folks on the customer service portion of this site are great and should be able to guide you.
11-04-2014, 11:31 AM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Rockwall/Wichita Falls Texas
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The problem is AutoNation 100%. Took a company truck (F250) to the one in Burleson several times. Same type of response. Called the 1800# and same exact response you got. Pissed me off. The shake could've been damn near anything. Bent wheel, bad tire, one loose bolt... U-joints, bent A-arm... I could go on and on. Sure, change the tires and wheels... But you can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result- insanity. Stay away from AutoNation. Not sure about Sales, but every one of them I've encountered have about as much mechanical knowledge as my steel toe boots. My 7 year old daughter probably knows more about trucks then these jack wagons. Take that truck to another dealer for service. Then start writing emails and letters all the way up the ladder at FordMotorCo.
Last edited by OilFieldCash; 11-04-2014 at 11:36 AM.
11-04-2014, 12:09 PM
#6
Catchy titles get more attention, but since you asked, yes, I hate the truck. I drive 12 miles to work. In that short of a trip, riding in that shaking thing makes me want to kick a puppy!
Ever had someone tap their finger on your forehead? The first few seconds aren't so bad. After a minute, you're ready to choke them. This is the same way.
If they can fix the shake, I'll be happy with the truck.
If they can't, I'll be trading it in as I can't stand to drive it the way it is.
11-04-2014, 01:13 PM
#7
Fast Driver Slow Truck
same issue here, bought truck Thursday at the same dealer. test drove it at 5pm so I never got much over 40.
next day on the way to work I'm running 70 down 99 and its got a weird shake to it. slow down and it changes. anyways vibrates super bad in the passenger seat not so much in the drivers seat.
feels like a bad shock or completely unbalanced tire. Its at ANFK now and if they can't fix it w/ tires i'll see if its driveshaft related. I sort of think it may be flat spots but since the truck was on the lot since April. Either way it makes me seasick so if they don't fix it I don't know what i'll do about it. loaner truck(exactly the same as mine) does it to a much lesser degree.
next day on the way to work I'm running 70 down 99 and its got a weird shake to it. slow down and it changes. anyways vibrates super bad in the passenger seat not so much in the drivers seat.
feels like a bad shock or completely unbalanced tire. Its at ANFK now and if they can't fix it w/ tires i'll see if its driveshaft related. I sort of think it may be flat spots but since the truck was on the lot since April. Either way it makes me seasick so if they don't fix it I don't know what i'll do about it. loaner truck(exactly the same as mine) does it to a much lesser degree.
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11-04-2014, 01:19 PM
#8
Doesn't surprise me coming from autonazi's that's what everyone called them when they started buying up local dealerships. So glad my dealer declined their offer. They should have hooked up an EVA would have pinpointed the vibration in one test drive.
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11-04-2014, 01:24 PM
#9
One Clean Machine
iTrader: (5)
Try another dealer not owned buy those Idiots!
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Wanted33 (11-06-2014)
11-04-2014, 01:27 PM
#10
Retired and loving it!
I hope you can get this fixed to your satisfaction. I have a 2014, and it is the smoothest riding, quietest vehicle I have ever owned.
Once it is fixed, please let us know here, thanks.......there has got to be a simpler explanation that the tires, especially if three other trucks you test drove all did the same thing!
Once it is fixed, please let us know here, thanks.......there has got to be a simpler explanation that the tires, especially if three other trucks you test drove all did the same thing!