3 yr old car, 30 k from new. Full Ford Service history, purchased from Ford main dealer at exactly 1yr from first registartion.
At annual service, attention requested to investigate 'slight pulling to the left'.
Outcome,
"needs new steering rack Sir, 'the threads on one track rod end' have stripped". £270 + labor +VAT. (I guess that is actually the threads on the rack that have stripped, it is not possible to replace the part). It is not now possible to drive it safely.
Sound like some hamfisted 'mechanic' was at best over enthusiastic. Ford will not in the first instance entertain a claim since current purchaser did not take delivery in the first 12 months after registration.
Any comments or advice? Garage was only asked to investigate what was a minor inconvenience, and ends up generating significant income from someone who can ill afford it.
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This is a premature failure of a safety-critical component, and Ford should be taking it very seriously indeed. The car has been in the Ford dealership network all its life, and there is absolutely no reason for them to walk away from a problem of this nature. I suggest you contact Ford head office direct, and keep making a nuisance of yourself until someone does something about it. The idea of a track rod end parting company from the rack in a high speed corner is too scary to think about.
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As a former long-time Ford owner (I could obtain spares anywhere in Europe and find a mechanic), I had a problem with my wife's new Fiesta; the suspension knocked when travelling over rough surfaces and it ate (left) front tyres. The garage's response was to change the tyre and not tell me! No problem, they said. At the 3rd service (18,000 mls) I drove the foreman around the town. He got the message, it was fixed (the front steering had not been correctly assembled), and I received a large bill. I complained like hell to both the garage and Ford, but got nowhere. So, I haven't bought a Ford since. Nor has the company. They could have settled the £400 bill and I would have continued buying Fords. But they didn't and I haven't. Very expensive from Ford's perspective. Is that one reason they are in trouble at the moment - have they lost sight of the customer's needs and safety?
JB
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JB
Interesting! We too had a new Escort that eat NSF tyres. There were no obvious faults like knocking or pulling steering, but the outside edge was gone in 2 or 3 k. Ford dealers were hopeless. Blamed us for always turning into our drive from the same direction. Gave it a cursory toe in check, found no problem, so 'it must be OK'. Several checks in their workshop (two different dealers) several very nasty letters and phone calls to FMC, two tyres and 10 months later thay finally had an outside company do a 4-wheel alignment. (Yes, the Main dealer couldn't do one!) It was found to be misaligned front and rear. Given it hadn't been curbed it had come out of the factory like it. So much for their toe-in checks. Don't know if it fixed it because we sold it in disgust.
Ford's loss - I'd never buy another. Wrote to them to tell them why. Did they reply? Need you ask?
regards
John
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John,
As I am in the maintenance business, I hear a lot of flannel about why equipment fails (both from the user and the maintainer), but the "turning the same way into the driveway" is a classic! Perhaps HJ ought to compile a book on the excuses used by the trade!
JB
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Peter,
Interesting choice of words here. Do they mean "the threads were stripped when we looked at them and before we did anything" or...."the threads have stripped" as in since we started fiddling.
Big difference.
David
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Good question? The steering 'felt' fine until after it was investigated, my guess is that garage were to blame. Maybe the threads were seized and a long spanner applied. How can we tell?
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Peter,
Even with older cars that have been untouched for ages the thread is mostly fine. The locknuts are quite hard to free sometimes but then the actual thread is fine because it is protected within the long threaded sleeve.
I would like to get someone who is used to seeing such things too look at the offending parts in your case, I think then the culprits may become obvious.
David
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peter,
threads don't strip themselves ...
As DW says, lean on Ford. If you have the FSH, you can point out that IF the threads weren't stripped by the current ford blokes, they must have been done by the last ford blokes - (if there is any record of rack maintenance on previous SH.)
But I agree - sounds like the old brute force and ignorance routine.
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Peter, check your email,
Regds,
Stuart
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Another reader managed to wreck his Mondeo PAS rack end seals by forgetting to use mechanical sympathy. You can smash the seals of a lot of PAS racks by forcing them against the stops on full lock.
HJ
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Ford have finally agreed to offer a 75% Discount on the price originally quoted. This was despite the original Service Manager response that there was no point in going to Ford as they would not offer anything as the car was more than a year old when aquired by current owner. ( I dont think it was, it all comes down to time (not date ) of delivery!).
If at first you dont suceed try, try...................
Thanks to all who responded with useful info.
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