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An owner's cry for help from Ford

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  YJSONLY 
#1 ·
This is an owner's cry to Ford for help. It has been posted at more than one Ford forum site in hopes that the Ford representative who reviews these forums sees it and decides to help work this issue out.

2016 F350 Crew Cab Dually, Torqshift 6, mods-cosmetic only



Took delivery of a brand new truck on January 15 in Hutto, TX. Two months later the automatic transmission started making a faint ticking noise in 4th gear. The noise was vehicle speed dependant and sounded like a baseball card in bicycle spokes which over time was growing louder.


First stop: Mckie Ford in Rapid City, SD
The tech heard the noise and despite being mph related closed the ticket after diagnosing it as a normal engine noise. If I wanted them to look any further I'd have to bring it back in 3 weeks. Not having faith in that dealership's ability nor time to wait that long as my wife and I full-time in our RV and had places to get to we moved on.


Second stop: Wolf Motors in Ogallala, NE
Small town, small service dept., good group of guys. Wolf heard the noise on the test drive and after running the truck elevated on jacks isolated it to the transmission. Unfortunately they did not have the resources to do tranny work. They suggested trying a larger town like North Platte, NE. Called Bill Summer Ford in North Platte and spoke with Kenny who was in charge of diesel/truck repair. I asked him, if you find it to be a tranny issue when could you tear into it? He said the very next day. Great, I made the appointment.


Third stop: Summer Ford in North Platte, NE
Arrive Monday morning for my appointment after driving 50 miles from Ogallala, NE. Monday happens to be Kenny's day off. Rhonda the service manager couldn't imagine why Kenny would say he could service the truck 'next day' because they have 2 other tranny jobs waiting. Wow, really? I travelled here based on his word. To try and help Rhonda then made an appointment for me at Anderson Ford in Grand Island. Grand Island....150 miles away.


Fourth stop: Anderson Ford in Grand Island, NE
Anderson Ford heard the noise and tore into the tranny the very next day. They couldn't find anything wrong but went ahead and replaced the valve body, clutch packs, an internal shaft of some sort and a 4th item I don't remember. After a week at Anderson I get my truck back and the tick is gone. Ah, all is well or so I thought.

The first time towing my 5th wheel which is way under the truck's max towing weight, the transmission makes a grunting sound going into fourth. Sure enough every time it goes to fourth it grunts. Drive back to Anderson, demonstrate the issue to them and give them the truck back. After sitting a full 7 days they tell me I have to drive 5,000 miles to break in the new parts. After opening a case with Ford I found out Anderson just didn't want to do any more warranty work because Ford doesn't reimburse them at the same dollar rate as if I were paying out of pocket. And, Ford Customer Care can't force a dealership to work on it. Need to find yet another dealer. Customer Care and I decide on Dick Edwards Ford because they seemed large enough to handle an issue like this. Dick Edwards Ford....another 208 Miles away.


Fifth stop: Dick Edwards Ford in Manhattan, KS
Take the truck and RV to them and demonstrate the tranny noise. Yup, they hear it and it's getting worse. Ford Tech Line reviews the work done by Anderson and sees that Anderson missed a step. When changing clutches an additive should have been added to condition the new clutch packs. Edwards Ford adds the additive, drives the truck 100 miles and tells me to try towing. The truck is worse than before. The grunt has changed tone but now the tranny delays and slips going into fourth and now third as well.


The truck is now a little over three months old, has about 8,000 miles on it and is sitting at Dick Edwards Ford while they wait for a callback from the Ford Tech Line that was due Friday (it's now Monday afternoon). Dick Edwards service seems to be the only ones who realizes (other than me) that this tranny is now toast and should be replaced. Ford's Customer Care department is of no help whatsoever. Seems their job is to be a go-between with the customer and dealer. Well the dealer isn't the issue. They have absolutely no ability to expedite things within Ford so they can't get the Tech Line people to answer the dealer.

Over the past month Ford has had my truck for 3 out of 4 weeks. They have thrown parts and fluids at the transmission which have only made matters worse. They've paid for parts, labor, three weeks of rental cars and their expenses keep climbing with no resolution in sight. With a truck that is three months old, and owner who has been inconvenienced far more than necessary and all the money Ford has wasted so far, the right thing for both parties at this point is to replace the transmission. Ford cuts their losses and I finally get my truck back. But as of this writting they've made no decisions at all on how to proceed from here.

Ford, I did not expect to have a major component failure after 2 months. I didn't expect to have one at all. And I didn't expect getting the vehicle repaired to be such a daunting effort. Situations like these do not hold well for Ford or it's vehicle owners. Please contact me via the PM system this site offers so hopefully I can update this post with a happy ending.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Not quite sure what you are expecting for a Ford rep on here. They are helpful with getting you in touch with a CSM but that is no different then you talking to them over the phone which you stated you have already done. If you feel that by joining forums just to rant about your issue is going to help, it will not. The reps here only forward your information on to a CSM which you have access to by just calling.

The whole "drive 5,000 miles to break it in" is a complete BS line. Man I wish I would be a customer on the receiving end of a comment like that.

Call Ford back and escalate your issue. Once Ford approves a tranny replacement, they will ship one and the dealer will normally receive it in a few days.
 
#5 ·
I agree, he isn't going to get any miracles from Ford Service on any forum, but reading about his issues, and Ford's methods of resolving them is educational, for lack of a better word for it lol. I hope we hear more as this develops for him, and hope he has a positive outcome.

Telling a guy to drive 5,000 miles on a transmission that has been suffering an apparent factory defect is, well, an entertaining suggestion. Unfortunately all you can do is make the demand, from there you are at FMC's mercy as to how they want to proceed with working on the vehicle. At some point, a new tranny is just going to be the cheaper out for FMC.

It does suck that you're without your truck for the duration of their tinkering. That's the part that always chaps me.
 
#4 ·
I feel your pain. Sounds like my experience with my 2008. Wait until Ford laughs at the Lemon Law brochure you were handed with the sale. In far too many states it applies to nothing larger than a 250.

That said, very few of the 6.7's have an issue such as yours. Ford should step up and replace the truck.
 
#6 ·
How heavy and did it start towing it with 8 miles on it?
Clutches need to burnish in a certain way. Card in spokes sounds like a broken locating tab or ear on something. I'm not an auto trans guy but few things here are unknown.
The bouncing around and driving to a place and that guy is not there and they have no idea would be frustrating.
I don't believe you are not on a rant as you only laid out in chronological order your ordeal.
Hope you get squared away soon
 
#7 ·
What you found out at Anderson is the norm for the dealer. They charge $125 or whatever the public but ford is not going to pay them that, it's about $80. You need money, what do you want to work on? Dealer does it because that's the program. Can't be a dealer and say," we only do cash work, no warranty".
 
#8 ·
Been working with Ford Customer Care, spoke to every supervisor I could, called Ford corporate...nothing. But within two hours of making this post the dealer called and said the regional rep was going to come out. Ten minutes later they called saying they were approved for a new transmission.

Well, it may not have been the post but it was a nice coincidence. But then again could it be the social media...?

So yea, a brand new unit. Dick Edwards Ford got the transmission some time Wednesday and got me out by Thursday lunch. For a guy to roll in from out of town with a situation like this, these guys were great start to finish. Imagine that, a positive post for a dealer.
 
#9 ·
Congrats on the end of your nightmare.

The timing does make you wonder, doesn't it?

If you first post was read here by someone at Ford that could help, your detailed account without the drama maybe made the difference. I expect that when each of the dealers you visited were asking for Ford's help, they were not painting the whole picture accurately of everything that has happened. They have a screen in front of them accounting various attempts to fix....just data to them plus they have your verbal description of events that I bet they tune out for because they hear people wining and complaining all day long over stupid stuff and assume your plea for help is more of the same.

I really think in this age of automation/computers, a lot of decisions are made solely based on "the data" on the screen in front of the decision maker. IMO, it does not always accurately tell the whole story.

Again, I'm glad you sitting on top of a new transmission!
 
#10 ·
Glad to hear you got it all fixed. I highly doubt it had anything to do with your posts. Look at how many people do not get assistance that post on the forums.

I really think this was more of a dealer network issue then a Ford CS issue. After all, they have to go by the tech's word and if they are crappie techs, then you get crappie service.

Hope you begin to enjoy your truck again!
 
#12 ·
Never discount the power of the pen. Or, in this case, the internet. I had an issue with a Ford product about ten years ago. I hit a wall with the dealer and with customer service. I wrote letters to nhsta.org and to some Ford forums. I got a call from a well known journalist that has an automotive column in a very large newspaper in the Midwest. He found my letter online and asked if I would allow him to run it in his column. I agreed. This was on a Wednesday. The article was to run on Friday. Monday morning my cell phone rang. It was a VP with Ford Motor Company. He asked me which dealer I would like to take my car to. He also told me I would be reimbursed for my previous repairs that Ford had earlier denied . It's just sad that it takes such measures to get them to do what's right.
 
#14 ·
Here is a small/short article talking about this issue. This is the day and age that we live in. I was attending this convention (I am a real live hank hill). Some people use media in a bad way some use it to make things "right" as some companies drag their feet or "that's not covred or we cant help"..... How social media can leverage a customer service experience : LP Gas
 
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