theDuff

Diesel warranty is 5 yrs, 100k. After base warranty is used up their is a $100 deductable. Actually, I'm not sure if that would kick in after 36k or 60k miles. Still, you can't beat a $100 deductable. I've performed $5k repairs that only cost the customer $100.

We replaced the piece of crap general tires on our escape with the firestone destination le's. These are great tires. Sure the mileage went down (about 1 mpg city/hwy) but this tire is BUILT. They weighed about twice as much. That's gotta mean something. They have 35k on them and they still have between 8-9/32" tread left. No cupping whatsoever which you really couldn't say about the old wilderness at's. They are also very inexpensive. They are trying to rebuild their reputation with these tires. Now all the other bridgestone/firestone tires...

I don't know if this is the topic to discuss this in or not. Since there will be 50 Boss 302R's available for sale, what do you think the odds are that there will be a Boss 302 available as a trim level? Maybe all the power of the 302R but in street legal trim, or is this like asking for a street legal FR500?

His Focus doesn't have an idle control valve. I doubt its the plugs, they're irridium and very expencive. I thought the interval was actually 105,000. Does the car feel shaky at idle or buzzy/vibrating. If its a shaky idle I'm surprised your engine light isn't on. The eltronic monitors on today's cars are very touchy, so I really doubt its a sensor, a misfire, or anything like that. If its buzzy/vibrating feeling you probably have an engine or transmission mount issue and the service center might put a couple different ones on before they get it fixed. Just be patient with them unless they're really screwing you around. Also ask them for the latest and greatest pcm software update. There are some various issues with the software that have been revised like weird engine light codes and such.

Are you sure we'll see the focus as soon as Detroit? We haven't seen any in camo yet have we? We've seen some powertrain mules with the old euro sheetmetal, but nothing in camo like the explorer. They'll probably sell three or four focii for every explorer so you would think it would get at least as much time in camo.

You want a mustang then. Or is the mustang not "modern" enough.

The sport trac shares absolutely nothing in common with the ranger and has absolutely everything in common with the explorer. Even the first generation was this way. Look again. Frame, drivetrain, interior, fuel tank, brakes, everything.... except the bed.

We see over a dozen super duties every day and I can't say we've seen all these wheel bearing issues your talking about, ever. Since the 2005 front end update the hub and ball joint problems have been greatly reduced too. Never done a hub on one, and maybe one set of ball joints. Now, the drag links...

I know it sounds stupid, but I had to vote for toyota on "the most fuel efficient car." Car is singular. The prius is the most efficient, isn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think a ford can beat it mileage wise. Oh, wait, the econetic festiva maybe? I voted ford for everything else because they were more opinion oriented.

I don't know how official this rendering is, but doesn't it look real prius-ish. I might need to see one in person before passing final judgement. The 1.6 eco with powershift sounds mighty tempting over Fords current offerings though. I was planning on buying a 2010, especially after they offered the coupe bumper on the sedan but I might wait until I lay eyes on this.

I disagree. I'm interested to know where you've inspected high mile severe duty Taurus/Five Hundred units. I work on them all the time and there have been no suspension wear issues. There were noise issues at the launch of the Five Hundred, and subsequent TSB's, but it wasn't due to wearing out or lack of durability. Maybe what you are referring to is the TSB that deals with the fit between the front springs and strut bearings causing a clunk noise during parking meneuvers? I haven't fixed anything on the suspension of a '05 and up Five Hundred/Taurus in years. The front axles have proven very reliable too although there was an axle seal issue on awd models from '07-'08. There are powertrain issues though. For example, to remove and install the transmission in a CV for an internal repair takes about two hours tops, plus the time it takes you to repair whatever it is your going to repair. On the Taurus it takes about six to seven hours just to remove and install. They're not fun. Its not like they're out all the time, but little differences like that in a service life might look huge to a bean counting beuracrat.

I am in total agreement here. What really needs to be changed? Even the focus with audiophile has 500 watts and a sub. Why improve? To lose sync functionality? The new fusion with the sony system is crazy loud with no distortion. Really, no one needs their stereo this loud. I felt my ears ringing half way through one song. If anything needs upgraded its the speakers on some vehicles. A lot of the base sound systems still use paper woofers and whatnot. BTW, Crutchfield does offer adapters for the new focus and it is a peep through style deck. It will trickle down to the rest, trust me. I still don't think its necessary though, and you lose that cohesive design. "Wow the dash on your car looks real nice except for that black plastic candy bar in the center that sticks out an inch and a half."

Doubtful without some modifications. Ask the guys on the focus fanatic forum or focaljet what things you might need to change.

The clunkers I've seen turned in I do not want to work on. The mechanics bread and butter are cars between 60k-125k miles. When they get more than that it can be a can of worms. Everything you touch breaks, its bleeding to death so very dirty to work on, you can't get the customer to buy even the safety things (just fix the ac!). Where do you stop the estimate? I'd rather not touch em unless they're worth more than $5K personally. I'm anxiously waiting to do my first customer pay vct cam phaser job on an SHO for 15 hours labor. No, really.

A unit is rolling off the semi as I type. An SHO ordered for demo duty.

+1. They're driven very hard too. ----------------------------- We have some Sprinters come in for service at my dealer: some from a medical oxygen supply company and, before they went bankrupt, some DHL currier Sprinters. The currier vans were driven so hard (much like ambulances) they were junk before they hit 100,000 miles because the minimum wage employees really didn't care (not much like ambulances, they're saving lives). So, I kinda have a fear about what the future of ambulances is: how serviceable they are, how much warranty work they're gonna need and whatnot. (We service a lot of ambulances too. As a matter of fact a 6.0 is out of the van and in a million pieces on my lift as I type.)

All in all fairly positive. Some inaccurate info though: he basically was saying that the turbos were sequential (coming on in different rpm ranges I believe is what he said) when they're actually parallel. Its funny that he didn't like how the suspension was performance oriented. Too bumpy around town. I wonder if he drove the performance package with the summer tires and whatnot.

Are your sure you want them to? Trailers don't steer and that's essentially what your car is when towing behind an rv. I guess if it was locked though it might not be perfectly straight ahead. I always thought if not locked the steering might turn over a bump, not return, than your dragging your front tires sideways. Not good. "What smells like burning rubber honey?" I don't have any experience in this area so I'll shut up now.

So the ac quit working all together? The battery requires ac to keep its temperature down so the battery probably overheated, hence the warning and the dealer replacing the whole thing. I'm guessing it's some intermittant ac electrical concern. Even on the previous gen regular fusions they put a lot of unneccessary systems into the ac, overcomplicating it in my opinion. If you have no faith in ford service technicians why did you buy a ford? So you can fix your cutting edge new vehicle in your garage? Pardon me while I scoff.

In my experience it is hardly ever the wheel, its the tire. This wheel has at least six ounces on the outside and probably has a conventional hammer on weight on the inside as well. No amount of indexing that tire is going to help. We used to see this often with the dreaded Firestone tire recall due to replacement tires by companies like Goodyear being rushed to market. The 17" tires for the steel wheel Expeditions were the worst. Really this is inexcusable. That tire should have been sent back to the manufacturer. Especially since the consumer is paying a premium for that wheel and tire. Isn't that only available on the trac pac?

Has anyone out there even seen a 2010 3.0 Fusion? Was this a non starter? My dealer has about forty Fusions and non have the 3.0. About six sport 3.5's and the rest 2.5's. Off topic, sorry.

I wonder if you could get the grille painted.

There is no way it would have left my stall like that, especially with a concern so verifiable. The only thing regular about my "come-backs" is my inability to duplicate the customers concern. Sometimes that's the toughest part of my job. It sounds like the dealer doesn't have any type of quality control system. Our assistant service manager test drives every one of our jobs to make sure its fixed. He knows all about not verifying a problem too. I'll have him out in a car for an hour sometimes trying to get a car to act up. He even checks all the lube techs oil levels. The problem you had is just inexcusable if the concern was easily verifiable.

This is why people need to build a relationship with their mechanic rather than their service writer. I have been at my dealer for the last ten years, ever since college, and I take a lot of pride in doing the job right the first time and not letting it leave until it's done right. I have an apprentice and at times I want to pull my hair out with the things he's willing to call finished. I don't know how many times I go back over his work. Now sometimes new mechanics don't have the luxury of having a precepter like me or any at all. My dealer will hire anyone with a pulse and tools sometimes just because their is a huge shortage of mechanics with good experience. 95% of the time they're fired in six months. Your mechanic is probably one of these. The other 5% are either sent to school (sometimes you have to make a good mechanic like my apprentice) or they were stolen from another area Ford store. Those writers will shmooze you till the cows come home. A mechanic will tell it like it is. I bet Silsbee has some very good mechanics. Some that could have had that panel on and off with their eyes closed, and it would have been perfect. Your mechanic wasn't one of them. Everyone who has ears let them hear, build that relationship. You'll thank me in the long run.

Maybe too solid. An '08 I drove the other day was full of squeaks and rattles. Had around 20K miles on it. Maybe they improved things a bit by 2009. Put some more felt in a couple places, or maybe after a year or two... This was an easy option for them to add. It already has electric steering, a carryover from the hybrid. This was a no brainer to add more profit to some of the unit. Software would just need some tweaking. It seems like an obvious option to me. What's the option cost. If its close to the $2k glass roof on the Mustang this make good business sense.