NOMARQUIS
08-14-2009, 07:24 PM
After being persistant for nearly 3 months, I finally got Ford ESP to replace my driver's side head under warranty. I have to give props to my dealership, as well as other members around here who helped me along the way.
This all started when I had my car up for sale. I was open with all who were interested that it had smoke on startup from the left side exhaust. So, needless to say, I had one fellow that was really interested in my car, but he would only buy it if I had the smoke problem fixed. I had told my dealer about the problem before, and after 3 weeks of confinement, I got my car back, was charged 100 dollars and was told the smoke issue was normal and they couldn't fix it. Armed with some info from here, some contact numbers and a slew of controlled frustration, I went to my selling dealer (who sold and serviced my car since new w/ the first owner). I spoke to the dealership owner, and showed him what my car did. He agreed to dig into the problem.
First, they took video of start up. I met with the technician who agreed that he wouldn't want to drive a car that did this. For God's sake, my car only has 20k on it and had smoked once in a while since I got it with 13k. They emailed the video to the Ford Tech Hotline and then Ford stepped up.
Ford instructed the service manager and tech to do some tests. After these tests, the dealship dismanteled my left side of the motor. Once the driver's head was removed, they found that the valve guides were mis-machined on cylenders #6, 7, and 8. A Ford service engineer came out and confirmed the problem. My dealership then ordered the new head. After about 10 days, my car was retuned to me. The car was obviously well kept while at the dealership. I got it back free of any new scratches and all workmanship was done correctly. All the wiring was placed in the proper looms and everything underhood was clean and posisitioned properly. I took some time to thank the tech, who looked to be a little older and was knowledgeable.
During the service visit, the guy who wanted my car backed out. I'm glad he did. The SB 'rauder sold, and now, I don't mind my car as much. After 300 miles, I've not seen any smoke, and the oil level is still full.
I'm a fussy SOB and it was an embarassment to start my car at shows, games or where ever and have a big smoke cloud behind it. It didn't do this alot, but when it did, it really was a joke.
I'd like to thank everyone at my dealership, FMC, and everyone on this board who helped me out. You all know who you are. Now I can finally enjoy the Marauder experience like I did back in late 2003 when I bought my first one!
Thanks for reading.
BTW, My ESP saved me nearly 2600 dollars. I guess I'll gladly pay my 100 dollar deductable. I say my old head. It really looked bad. 3 cylenders had blacked valves and there was oil deposits every where.
I was wondering, now since I have a new head, I have different size spark plugs on the left bank... Whay is that? There is one of those white "Ford correction" sticker under my hood with another plug number on it.
This all started when I had my car up for sale. I was open with all who were interested that it had smoke on startup from the left side exhaust. So, needless to say, I had one fellow that was really interested in my car, but he would only buy it if I had the smoke problem fixed. I had told my dealer about the problem before, and after 3 weeks of confinement, I got my car back, was charged 100 dollars and was told the smoke issue was normal and they couldn't fix it. Armed with some info from here, some contact numbers and a slew of controlled frustration, I went to my selling dealer (who sold and serviced my car since new w/ the first owner). I spoke to the dealership owner, and showed him what my car did. He agreed to dig into the problem.
First, they took video of start up. I met with the technician who agreed that he wouldn't want to drive a car that did this. For God's sake, my car only has 20k on it and had smoked once in a while since I got it with 13k. They emailed the video to the Ford Tech Hotline and then Ford stepped up.
Ford instructed the service manager and tech to do some tests. After these tests, the dealship dismanteled my left side of the motor. Once the driver's head was removed, they found that the valve guides were mis-machined on cylenders #6, 7, and 8. A Ford service engineer came out and confirmed the problem. My dealership then ordered the new head. After about 10 days, my car was retuned to me. The car was obviously well kept while at the dealership. I got it back free of any new scratches and all workmanship was done correctly. All the wiring was placed in the proper looms and everything underhood was clean and posisitioned properly. I took some time to thank the tech, who looked to be a little older and was knowledgeable.
During the service visit, the guy who wanted my car backed out. I'm glad he did. The SB 'rauder sold, and now, I don't mind my car as much. After 300 miles, I've not seen any smoke, and the oil level is still full.
I'm a fussy SOB and it was an embarassment to start my car at shows, games or where ever and have a big smoke cloud behind it. It didn't do this alot, but when it did, it really was a joke.
I'd like to thank everyone at my dealership, FMC, and everyone on this board who helped me out. You all know who you are. Now I can finally enjoy the Marauder experience like I did back in late 2003 when I bought my first one!
Thanks for reading.
BTW, My ESP saved me nearly 2600 dollars. I guess I'll gladly pay my 100 dollar deductable. I say my old head. It really looked bad. 3 cylenders had blacked valves and there was oil deposits every where.
I was wondering, now since I have a new head, I have different size spark plugs on the left bank... Whay is that? There is one of those white "Ford correction" sticker under my hood with another plug number on it.