Friend of a friend
Focus 1.6 manual is 34mths old and still under warranty, 1 owner bought from local Ford garage.
Gearbox failed at end of January -recon gearbox fitted - it lasted 7 days. New gearbox was fitted - it lasted 2 weeks and failed so it is now in for a 3rd gearbox replacement in as many weeks.
Service manager said he hopes this new one will be OK as the warranty on the gearbox will expire when the car is 3 years old i.e. 1st March.
Surely after a catalogue of disasters Ford cannot simply disown the warranty work! or is the service manager correct?
What would you do?
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Its obvious that the gearboxes are not being properly rebuilt. So long as the owner keeps all paperwork I can't see Ford being able to wriggle out of their obligations.
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The fault occurred under warranty, and until it's fully fixed it's down to Ford. They can't walk away from an existing problem at midnight on 28th Feb.
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Tell the friend of a friend to read his Warranty and Service Guide.
Mine (Focus) says ............
"Warranty on repaired or replaced parts.
Any part repaired or replaced under warranty will be covered for the balance of the originally applicable warranty period."
I imagine this will be a condition of most car manufacturers' warranties.
Edited by L'escargot on 12/02/2010 at 09:25
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Correct, I have a friend who had a gearbox go on his mercedes with two weeks left on his three year warranty. New box fitted, no problem, but found out that same new gearbox if fitted one day after warranty expired and was being paid for would have had a 12 mnth warrranty!
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Agree re the warranty conditions. but replacement parts must be servicable. Clearly a gearbox only lasting 7 days is not servicable.
This is the kind of thing that small claims courts are there for. I cant imagine even Ford arguing over this one though, the replacement part should last a reasonable length of time.
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Not made point very clearly, gearbox fitted under warranty although brand new was only under warrranty for two remaining weeks of warranty. If that had failed, although brand new and shipped from Germany to dealers, just a few days after the original warranty had expired then it was not then under warranty and it would have been time to reach for the cheque book !
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The replacement gearboxes which have been fitted are clearly not of merchantable quality.
As a matter of interest how did the replacement gearboxes fail? I wonder whether they all had the same fault?
A friend of mine bought a Ford exchange gearbox for his Escort quite some years ago. That wasn't much good, either!
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This is from Ford UK info on new car warranties:
"Parts Warranty
Ford Authorised Dealers only use original Ford replacement parts for warranty repairs. These parts meet our stringent quality and safety standards, which means the performance and the resale value of your Ford are less likely to be affected."
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Would they be brand new gearboxes which you would purchase at the parts counter or are supplied to the line or are they faulty boxes sent to Back Street Joes reconditioners? In this case sounds like the latter.
Edited by Fullchat on 12/02/2010 at 20:18
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Its very hard to believe they would have been new boxes.
Some car makers now fit used parts under warranty (check the T&C's). Our local BMW dealer routinely fits used parts.
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They are reconditioned gearboxes which have been reconditioned, not by Ford themselves, but by a Ford approved engine/gearbox reconditioner. They are supposed to be top quality, but if the OP's and my friend with the Escort's experiences with them are typical, then it would appear the quality of these boxes leaves a lot to be desired.
Have you ever wondered how much a brand new Ford gearbox would cost if bought from a Ford Main Dealer's spares department as a Ford spare part? Thousands of pounds, I would imagine! Hence the fact they sell reconditioned ones.
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They are reconditioned gearboxes
That covers a multitude of sins.
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Ther T&Cs are apparently as set out on the Ford site. Its up to the friend of a friend to make what use he may. As for Galaxy's point, the retail price has nothing really to do with it. Either Ford back their puff, or make it clear they are willing to let dealers flout their good name, by sourcing possible sub-standard components.
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a reconditioned box is not defined in law it could simply be a s/h one with a wash and brush up
brand new german side linkage gearbox for my capri 2.0 s in 1979 £600 with a crate and straw to protect the metal
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Wow. Reconditioned gearboxes -- must be a result of the single year manufacturer warranty plus last two from the dealer network.
When I had a gearbox fault on a two-and-a-half year old Hyundai, which turned out to be a linkage problem in the end funnily enough, Hyundai replaced the 1st/2nd synchro with a brand new replacement, effectively rebuilding the box themselves in the process.
I had assumed that all parts replaced would be brand new. One more reason not to bother with newer cars it seems -- keep the money in the back pocket if dealers are routinely replacing gearboxes with what would appear to be second-hand junk. That's what I'd pay the backstreet place half the amount in labour for!
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Perhaps there is another issue, input shaft, selector, clutch that is damaging each box soon after it is fitted.
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Don't get hung up on the warranty date. Warranty is in addition to your statutory rights.
See: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=43
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You can always extend manufacturer's warranty after 3 years for £200-£500 (make/model specific).
Worth considering for the peace of mind.
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Worth considering for the peace of mind.
Agree with that. Could save a huge amount of hassle.
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a reconditioned box is not defined in law it could simply be a s/h one with a wash and brush up
I remember reading that a few years ago following a debate about a failed recon engine on another site. It's incredible, isn't it?
Recon could involve a quick wash down with a hose, a ground-up rebuild with all new parts, or anything in between.
I've never understood what the "value add" of a recon box is over a drastically cheaper secondhand/breakers yard unit, especially as most breakers will guarantee major units such as engines and 'boxes for 30-90 days. The better ones even test components before they strip them and offer them for sale.
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I had a similar problem twenty years ago with a FIAT.
Original gearbox failed when the tripod bearing on the end of one of the driveshafts failed.
Replacement (s/h rebuild) fitted by main dealer, twenty miles down the road, gearbox went again. The original casing had been reused but not cleaned out properly.
Rebuilt gearbox worked but the wrong crown wheel was fitted this time. Back again for another strip down.
This was all outside warranty period, I paid the first time but after that down to FIAT and the supplier.
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