Refusal of Service

[capt512]

Morning All,
After 1156 miles and continual problems with the" hesitation stumble when cold problem" as well as the "shift into reverse problem" that the LM dealership couldn't fix I decided to take my MM to the largest Ford dealership here in KC to let them give it a try. They sell ALOT of Saleen Mustangs ,Rousch Mustangs and Lightnings.

Talked to the Service advisor there yesterday and he said they'd be happy to work on it so I left it overnight so they could test drive it when its cold. Lo and behold at 6:45 this morning they call to tell me that they have been advised by Ford Headquarters via a bulletin that Ford dealerships can no longer work on any Marauders. All warranty work and routine service MUST be performed at a Lincoln Mercury Dealer.

Before I contact Ford directly I'd like to know if this sounds right to you Guys and Gals and I'd love to hear from a Ford Service Mgr. or advisor who owns a MM if this is true.

When I went to pick up my MM the service advisor stepped outside with me and quietly told me that his techs were anxious to work on it but that his service mgr. said they couldn't.

I told the Ford Service advisor that I've had my MM at the LM dealership 4 times for this Hesitation/stumble problem and that they haven't fixed it or the not going into reverse problem ,and he said that LM techs just don't seem to want to work on High Performance vehicles and certainly don't like having to deal with Knowledgeable Owners.
I kinda got the feeling that he was talking about his own Service Mgr. as well.

Any input or suggestions on this issue would be appreciated cause I'm at a loss what to do. I'm afraid when cooler weather gets here that driving when its cold will become dangerous due to this hesitation problem.
LM's answer.
Just give it some time and put some miles on it. Bullsh**!:mad2:

Thanks for your help, listening to me Bit**.
Mike

[sailsmen]

% in that my local Ford and Mercury dealers have large signs posted that they will work on all Ford products.

You may want to look up the Lemon law in your state and contact Ford's Customer Service line.

The Lemon Law may provide you with some leverage.

[Logan]

Uh... That's bullcrap. Ford/Lincoln/Mercury will work on any car, foreign or domestic.. That's completely assinine for them to suggest they won't work on their own product.

Let me translate for you:

"We don't know what the F*** is wrong with it either, and really don't want to go to the hassle of figuring it out, so good luck and so long."

[capt512]

Logan,

Oh they said they'd work on it. I'd just have to pay for it out of my pocket since Ford won't pay them as this would be considered warranty work and their not a LM dealer.

They'd be " more than happy" to work on it if it was out of warranty.

Ain't this the SHI**!

Thanks for responding,
Mike:bounce:

[JGaignat]

MIke,
Check your PM's

John
(another KC MM owner)

[Mike M]

Ask to see the bulletin from Ford.

[capt512]

Mike,

The service manager at Thoroughbred won't even return my phone call to explain the bulletin.

I did talk to one other Ford dealer after writing this post, who said they'd be glad to work on it, that they knew of no bulletin about not working on Marauders, and they set me up an appt.
They called back 5 minutes later asking for my VIN to get the OASIS report on my car and they'd call me back. Haven't heard from them since and that was 2 hours ago.

Same thing that happened at the other Ford dealership last night and this morning.Last night OK. This morning- nothing doing.

I've got a feeling this Oasis report is causing the problem. Anyone know how I can find out whats in it.

Thanks,
Mike:bounce:

[capt512]

John,
PM'd you back.

logan and everyone else, thanks for all your responses.

Anyone know what's contained in the Oasis report and how I can find out.

My VIN # is 2MEHM75V73X611992

As always help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[Murader03]

When I owned my '99 Cobra, my local Ford dealer could not work on the car under warranty. It had to be serviced by an authorized SVT Dealer. Since I've had the MM, this same shop has serviced the car every 5K miles with smiles on their faces. Have not had any warranty work done to date. Guess I got one of the MM's without all the problems. It's run a flawless 32K miles to date.

[SergntMac]

My LM dealership had two CV/PI cruisers in the shop at my last visit, one was a new motor under warranty. Guess it's a one way street our your way?

[cyclone03]

I would ask for a writen denial of service from any dealer that claims they can not work on the car.
It's a Ford/LM product warrenty is good at ANY Ford/LM dealer in the US!
Lemon Law? Breach of contract?

Martyo??

[carfixer]

Your OASIS report is too long to post. I cant e-mail it from work so I will send it to you later tonight. Here is a Special Service Message that might be of interest to you:

16941 2003 CROWN VICTORIA/GRAND MARQUIS/TOWN CAR - HESITATION, BUCK OR SURGE DURING STEADY STATE DRIVING OR LIGHT ACCELERATION AT 30-60 MPH
SOME 2003 CROWN VICTORIA, GRAND MARQUIS AND TOWN CAR VEHICLES MAY EXHIBIT A HESITATION, BUCK OR SURGE DURING A STEADY STATE OR LIGHT ACCELERATION AT 30- 60 MPH. IF THIS CONDITION OCCURS, DISCONNECT THE FUEL PRESSURE SENSOR ELECTRICAL CONNECTION AND RETEST. IF THE PROBLEM COMES AND GOES WITH FUEL PRESSURE SENSOR CONNECTED/DISCONNECTED, IT IS LIKELY THAT FUEL PRESSURE VARIATIONS ARE CAUSING THE CONCERN AND THE FUEL PUMP SHOULD BE REPLACED. IF THE PROBLEM IS NOT ELIMINATED BY DISCONNECTING THE PRESSURE SENSOR, THE SYMPTOM IS NOT RELATED TO THE FUEL PUMP AND TECHNICIAN SHOULD CONTINUE WITH NORMAL DIAGNOSTICS. RECONNECT THE FUEL PRESSURE SENOR AND ERASE ANY STORED CODES CAUSED BY THE SENSOR HAVING BEEN DISCONNECTED.

[UncleLar]

Somebody is definitely stringing you along,I bought my 2003 Expy from a Ford dealer whose service dept spilled oil on the valve cover and intake cover and left it there on it's first oil change,since then ALL my service work has been done at my L/M dealers service dept including a front differential problem and a couple other smaller warranty issues.And they are glad to have me bring it to them.

[jgc61sr2002]

carfixer - Welcome to the MM site. Sounds like you are associated with a dealership. Looking foward to your posts. Thanks.:up:

[TheDealer]

Just for the record, no dealer has to work on a car that wasn't bought from them, unless it's and emergency repair and the selling dealer is over 50 miles away. We work on car from any dealer but some choose not to.

[capt512]

To all who have responded to my initial posts this morning I appreciate your responses.

For everyone else following along I wanted to post this new info I recieved today regarding this issue. Right or wrong its something to check on.

After talking with two more Ford dealerships I was told the same thing which is that UNLESS the dealership is a Ford/Lincoln Mercury dealership they are denied the tools such as software, manuals etc. that they need to work on our Marauders.
Just Ford dealerships don't fall into that category.

Both Service Managers I talked with said that the bulletin is posted on the Ford.com website but only dealers can access the information. Convienent HUH?
They said the same thing happened with the Blackwood and the Scirroco several years ago where Ford would not allow Ford Dealerships to work on those vehicles. Only LM or Ford LM dealers.

I asked them about the statement in the Owners Manual that says that" You may take your vehicle to another Ford dealership authorized for warranty repair" and they came back with "you need to read the next sentence which says" Certain warranty repairs require certain training though so NOT ALL DEALERS are authorized to perform all warranty repairs.
Looks like I'm gonna be forced to have any work done at a FORD/LINCOLN MERCURY dealer so I'm gonna look for one of those .

Thanks for all the input and suggestions to this post and please send that oasis report if you can.

Thanks all,
Mike:banana2:

[2003_MM_FYRE49]

Hi Mike,

I would like to know when that bullitin came out. I just had my cold stumble fixed at a Ford Dealer a few short weeks ago. I don't go back to my selling dealer anymore either because they can't fix it right the first. Something does not sound right with what they are telling you.

Tim, :fire: 49

[carfixer]

jgc,
Thanks for the welcome. I work at the 2nd highest volume LM dealership in the US as a tech so you will probably be hearing from me from time to time.

[capt512]

Tim,

I don't know when it came out or if it really exists.

Maybe one of the dealers or service managers on this forum who are Marauder owners can let us all know if this is true or not.

If so it affects all of us who may need warranty service at some point in the future.

Mike:confused:

[capt512]

Welcome again carfixer,

As you can see we may all be able to benefit by your experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the Ford rules and regs,

Mike

[cyclone03]

Carfixer.
North Park LM?
Or are they No.1?

[03SILVERSTREAK]

Welcome Carfixer-Glad to have you on board . :bows: :banana2: :cool4: :bounce: :up:

[carfixer]

Cyclone,
Fort Myers L/M

[60birdtom]

Let's see if I can set the record straight about this Service issue. As a L-M Service Manager and Marauder owner I am really interested in making sure that I, along with everyone else, can get their Marauder serviced and repaired by the Dealer.

I know of no restriction by Ford about having warranty work done at a Ford Dealer. Then again, I've never had the question asked before, so I'll do some checking. know that Ford requires that a minimum level of Certification be met to do warranty repairs and it is very unlikely that Ford techs would receive Marauder training. Perhaps that is the problem.

Our techs have immediate Internet access to all TSB's and SSM's when diagnosing and repairing any L-M that lands in their service bay - and we encourage them to use it! There should be no reason that any L-M dealer tech would not be able to quickly research, diagnose and repair any Marauder. While they may not be familiar with the unique characteristics of the Marauder due to low sales volume it does not mean that they can't quickly learn.

It is not surprising that many Service Advisors aren't aware of these cars since they seldom see them and they probably are not aware of the various TSB's and SSM's about them. That really should not be a problem. It is not their job to fix the car - that belongs to the tech! Insist that the Service Advisor write the order anyway detailing your concerns and then let the tech determine the repairs. It's that simple.

Taking your car - any car - to a dealer that did not sell you the car really is your choice as an owner. On the other hand, a Ford only dealer might not want to do warranty work on a Marauder since his tech's really aren't familiar with them no more than they would be familiar with the complicated electronics of a Town Car.

[Smokie]

Taking your car - any car - to a dealer that did not sell you the car really is your choice as an owner. On the other hand, a Ford only dealer might not want to do warranty work on a Marauder since his tech's really aren't familiar with them no more than they would be familiar with the complicated electronics of a Town Car.

The Marauder has low sales volume, no advertising, and has been discontinued. This facts mean that any dealer can honestly say " I can't fix it because my techs are unfamiliar with it " So I guess that implies that if you buy a Marauder you better not move during warranty period to another town or state, because just about any dealership "can deny" warranty service due to being "unfamiliar with the complicated Marauder".....does it seem to anyone else there is something wrong with this picture ?

PS: No flame or disrespect is intended by my comments, I personally have a great relationship with my "Ford" Service provider who does all work on all my Ford vehicles; including Marauder.

[Crazieboutamerc]

Originally posted by UncleLar
Somebody is definitely stringing you along,I bought my 2003 Expy from a Ford dealer whose service dept spilled oil on the valve cover and intake cover and left it there on it's first oil change,since then ALL my service work has been done at my L/M dealers service dept including a front differential problem and a couple other smaller warranty issues.And they are glad to have me bring it to them.

I felt the same way when I lived in Rapid City, any work done on my aerostar was done at the L-M dealer. I wouldn't take any vehicle to McKie Ford for anything.

unfortunatly now McKie Ford is now the L-M dealer also. If I need any warrenty work on my Ford/L-M I will take it(have it towed to another dealer. Hell in the 80s Mckie Ford almost got black balled by the Local AF base for its business practices.
the moral of the story Don't ever take you vehile to Mckie Ford in Rapid City SD

Tim

[one50npump]

I had our Marauder in at Blue Springs Ford a couple weeks ago, and had no problem getting anything covered by warranty. Got my Pre 12000 mile front end allignment.

[60birdtom]

C'mon Smokie - lighten up! I think that you're missing the point here.

Our dealership would work on any Marauder and I couldn't care less where you bought it. The point I was making is that a Ford only dealer might not want to work on a Marauder if his techs weren't familiar with them. For that matter, why would you even want them to?

The same would be true if someone wanted us, as a L-M dealer, to work on their F-350 Diesel. Why would an owner even want us to try since no one in our shop is familiar with them nor do we even have manuals or test equipment for them.

C'mon guys.....a little common sense goes a long way here.

[Merc-O-matic]

60Bird is right.....some common sense.
You don't go to a Podiatrist if
you need brain surgery. Duh!
Go where they KNOW the car
and WANT to help (Ford or L-M)
Gotta Love It!

[Smokie]

I worded my post very carefully and used the word "implies" meaning a possible scenario. I am not having any problems with Ford, however one of our members was "refused service". In regards to common sense: I have a great deal of it and I also am a very patient man. The differences between the CrownVic and the Marauder are minimal since they share about 80% of their parts, the 32V 4.6l resides in other Ford brand products. If a tech. can only work on a Vic and is lost with a Marauder I would not want that tech to check the air in my tires. As far as going to L/M dealer to find that "expertly trained tech." with all diagnostic equipment unique to Marauder; that tech does not exist were I live. I have found the greatest amount of ignorance about MM. at my local L/M dealers. My local Ford Quality Care free standing "repair facility only" is where I have found the greatest amount of knowledge and desire to work on my MM.

Again, my post is not intended to be deragatory to any individual on this forum and it is not written in anger, the only person here that might be upset is the gentleman that was refused service,and I do not speak for him.

[RCSignals]

Except that, as far as I can tell, there is no separation of Ford info from Mercury info in the Ford on-line and DVD system.
This all seems very strange to me. While there are differences in the Marauder from a CVLXSport for instance, they are not so different that a "Ford" tech shouldn't know how to work on one. The engine is basically the same as that used in a Mustang Mach 1 as well