Van is here!.......and gone

[DePottey]

The good (great) news is that we picked up our 2000 E350 PSD Clubwagon yesterday. Looks and drive great on the way home.

The excitement is dampened however since I have already called Roadside assistance and they are on the way here to tow it back to the dealer.

While driving in this morning, the radio quit working. A little later I noticed the voltmeter was pegged low. Then the airbag light cam on. Then the ABS light, and the "brake" light. Then all of the gauges, including the gas gauge were pegged low. The whole time, the headlights were getting very dim.

On the plus side, the PSD ran great the whole time and I did make it to work.

I imagine it is either a bad alternator, or some loose wires. Hopefully it will be back in my hands shortly after lunch today.

[MikeD]

Almost the same thing happened to my '97 PSD Club Wagon. Turned out the alternator, regulator (in the alternator), and both batteries were "bad." Apparently the regulator quit killing the alternator and the batteries. Had the van for 20 hours before I had to be picked up by roadside assitance. The fun truly started when the dealer got involved. The "technician" told me my battery cables "had went bad" and that he had ordered new ones which would take three weeks to come in. I asked what "we" were doing in the mean time. He siad "just waiting, I guess." I suggested he keep checking other things like the regulator! Of course the wires were fine but the alternators were on national backorder! After a long series of incredible decisions by the service manager and the brainiac technician they managed to get everything replced except the drivebelt pulley! You see, Ford had changed the style of pulley that they used on the alternators during the time between when they made my van and when we had ordered a replacement...

About 3 weeks in the shop the first day I had it!

This was just the beginning. I also had two out-of-round tires and one tire with radial pull, all straight from the factory. The rear brakes and brake drums had to be replaced under warranty. The hub caps fell off. Couldn't be aligned without pulling...

Good luck,
Mike D.

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2000 E350 Super Duty PSD, White Chateau, Idle Control, Everything Except Power Seat. Ordered 8/12/99, built 9/15, ETA 10/04/99

[DePottey]

Ouch....kick me while I'm down. I hope I have better luck.

[MikeD]

I really didn't hate Ford for the defects in my van. They could have and should have done better. I do hate the dealers, especially the service people. They just don't care about doing anything right and it shows in their actions. I seen it posted dozens of times by the pickup guys, "I love my truck but I hate my dealer."

Mike D.

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2000 E350 Super Duty PSD, White Chateau, Idle Control, Everything Except Power Seat. Ordered 8/12/99, built 9/15, ETA 10/04/99

[cloudy joe]

It doesnt do anything positive to hate Ford, you are right about that. We choose to drive 'em. Just the same, we deserve better from Ford as far as quality and keeping a short lead on dealer service. Good luck, let us know how it goes, and what is you dealers name?

[cloudy joe]

"Quality is job one"! We don't hear that any more, I wonder why? My '85 fried all the dash wires at 250k, and my '80 was a buy back at 5k -more electrical problems. When I worked for a shuttle outfit, one of the Fords caught fire (87) and burned up at Christmas. I watched it become a yule log. Luggage, presents, not ho, ho, ho, at all! We got the poodle in the crate out alive, barely. The owners changed his name to "Torch". Good luck!


P.S. One more probelm like this and send it back. The van is a sum of it's parts, and for the $$ you just spent, it should be perfect; not just have a great motor that is not a Ford part anyway.

[GSETTER]

The DePottey van is back and going strong! THe plug to the alternator was not plugged in! THe dealer fixed it and we were back on our way. Tom tooks his buddies grouse hunting today and already got a rock chip in the wind shield. Our dealer is Boyer Ford in Minneapolis, and we are very satisfied with the service so far. We have over 500 miles on it so we are ready for a short trailer hauling trip on tuesday. All of Tom'd co-workers got to see it being hauled away, those are the people that wont be Ford customers! I got four dog crates and one bench seat in there no problem. THis thing is great!

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2000 E350 white club wagon for hauling gordon setters and a 34' Sunnybrook TT

[This message has been edited by GSETTER (edited 09-26-1999).]