cmdwedge Member 35 Member For: 20y 9m 20d Gender: Male Location: Canberra, Australia Posted 28/04/05 05:07 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 05:07 AM Hi all,Well I've had my T for about 13 months now. I will try and give you a quick rundown of the problems I've had.Handbrake scraping (6 times). Backed off to the point that it now doesn't hold the car much at all. At least it stopped scraping.Diff whine at 95km/h. I'm on my 2nd diff now, just got told by my dealer last week that I will need another one again (about 6 months later). It's now whining from 30km/h to 75km/h, and gets louder each day.Wind noise - dealer adjusted doors 4 times before conceding defeat (each time, doors were out of alignment by 3/4 of an inch). Had to take it to their panel shop, and it was fixed.Radiator died somewhere in the last 4000km. During the warranty work last week, dealer reported that the radiator had spat a load of coolant out. No damage to radiator though, replaced under warranty.Shuddering steering at low speed. Reported it about 6 times, never fixed. Still ongoing.Steering clunk going from lock to lock, across the centrepoint (where the wheels sit straight again).Air bubble in the gearshift surround. Replaced last week, then took a chunk out of the scuff plate with a screwdriver on the driver's side. (Replaced under warranty).Overboost, fixed with reflash.Metallic 'jingling' sound in engine bay from day one. I suspect a dodgy alternator, but I'm no mechanic (hell, neither is my dealer). Sounds like it's from that area.And it just goes on. Last week, dealer had my car 3/5 days. Asked them to fix metallic jingling sound, air bubble in gearshift surround, rattling heat shield, steering shudder. Got it back on Friday, rattle still there, though they replaced a pulley and my radiator. Scuff plate damaged. Since pulley replacement, on cold mornings, car sounds like a 1980 Corolla with a bad fan belt, but after 20 minutes that sound goes away. This week, they're going for 4/4 (just rang them, they need it for another day). They replaced my scuff plate on Tuesday, and for some reason, when replacing the centre console gearshift surround, the handbrake popped out of the centre console. I can see the guts of the console quite easily, brake lowered or raised. Dealer agreed on Friday that it was rooted, so I brought it in on Tuesday. Picked up Tuesday night. 'We fixed it'. Hopped into car, and it was basically untouched. Walked back in, Service Manager comes out, says 'we tried everything', hops into my car and says 'yeah, that's not right'. We look at a bunch of other BA's, they're all OK (handbrake cover sits INSIDE console, no gap). Agrees to fix on Wednesday, I say 'keep it till Thursday so you can fire it up first thing in the morning while it's cold'. I rang them today, they had tried a new handbrake cover, didn't work. That's about it. In 2 days, they replaced my handbrake cover and not much else.I'm over it. This car is a lemon, it'll never be fixed. I'm tired of Canberra dealers and I'm tired of Canberra Ford service. I've put up with this piece of crap for long enough. Unfortunately, a 3 year lease means that I'm stuck with it. Let's pray that it's stolen or some grandma writes it off for me. I hate this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobrav8 Member 1,969 Member For: 19y 9m 13d Gender: Male Location: New Zealand Posted 28/04/05 05:11 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 05:11 AM Gees - you poor bas*ard - are there no other ford dealers - none of these sound like major problems - they should be able to fix them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboDewd FG Falcon fan! Member 1,452 Member For: 21y 6m Gender: Male Location: Canberra Posted 28/04/05 05:13 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 05:13 AM Go to consumer affairs. If you buy a product you are entitled to onethat works - its law.Ask for a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xr6t ute Member 442 Member For: 20y 8m 20d Gender: Male Location: Gold Coast Posted 28/04/05 05:18 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 05:18 AM Some dealers service department are pathetic, they either say its within spec or dont even fix it at all. that's whats really letting some of T owners down. Try another dealer if you can Shane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdwedge Member 35 Member For: 20y 9m 20d Gender: Male Location: Canberra, Australia Posted 28/04/05 05:25 AM Author Share Posted 28/04/05 05:25 AM Looks like I forgot to mention that the quoted turnaround for a new diff (#3) is 8-10 weeks. Beauty. I guess I can just keep inching the volume on the stereo up each day to drown out the sound. What number does it go up to? I figure that that's the number of days I have before the new diff arrives (or my eardrums explode).There are only 2 dealers in Canberra, and 4 service places. I'm taking it to the one recommended by a certain old-time FXR6T.com board member, he swears by them. And it's hopeless.Best service I ever got was in Frankston, Victoria. When I drove down to see the family and the handbrake shat itself down there. Took 3 hours and fixed the problem for 4500km (best record ever). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rota_Motor Guests Posted 28/04/05 05:39 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 05:39 AM geez, now theres either one of two problems here.1) you are a car hypochondriac that thinks theres always something wrong with the car, even when its fine (although I suggest this isnt the problem, since the service manager agrees there is an issue)which brings me to my second point.2) the service dept. you use doesnt really have any idea about how to fix the cars problems, or just isnt interested in doing warranty work when they have retail jobs that pay better.its times like this I wish I did work at a ford dealer again so I could share some of the more common issues and exactly what causes them, there are a few cars I have heard with scraping handbrake issues etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdwedge Member 35 Member For: 20y 9m 20d Gender: Male Location: Canberra, Australia Posted 28/04/05 05:58 AM Author Share Posted 28/04/05 05:58 AM geez, now theres either one of two problems here.1) you are a car hypochondriac that thinks theres always something wrong with the car, even when its fine (although I suggest this isnt the problem, since the service manager agrees there is an issue)which brings me to my second point.2) the service dept. you use doesnt really have any idea about how to fix the cars problems, or just isnt interested in doing warranty work when they have retail jobs that pay better.its times like this I wish I did work at a ford dealer again so I could share some of the more common issues and exactly what causes them, there are a few cars I have heard with scraping handbrake issues etc.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Rota..On point one - I can see where you're coming from. However, for the first 6 months of owning the car, I kept telling my mates and girlfriend that it was just 'new car blues' and everything would eventually get sorted out. My brother hopped in the car the other day and immediately said 'diff sounds loud again'. Ford service agrees. I actually said, upon hearing that it would be 8-10 weeks to replace, that 'at least the car's still drivable'. Then the service manager said 'yeah, but it's going to get worse until it gets replaced'. I'm not a whinger, honestly. I try to save up a bunch of problems before taking it in for warranty work, rather than for one thing each time. The steering really has been shuddering for 9-12 months. Everyone who hops into my car can feel it when we park the car. This coming diff will be #3 - Ford wouldn't have replaced the 1st one if I was just being pedantic. It was really genuinely noisy (many other forum members have the same problem). The handbrake could be heard from a mile away when it started scraping away, and it's now backed off to the point that if I put the car on even a slight incline, put it in park, pull on the handbrake to the full extent that I can, then drop it back into neutral, the car will roll.I'm really believing that the warranty work just isn't paying for their supper and that my car is always last priority. In the last two days, they have replaced the handbrake cover and little all else, despite having it for approx 16 working hours.Grr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA_Turbs Member 836 Member For: 21y 4m 17d Gender: Male Posted 28/04/05 06:17 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 06:17 AM Best service I ever got was in Frankston, Victoria. When I drove down to see the family and the handbrake shat itself down there. Took 3 hours and fixed the problem for 4500km (best record ever).<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Funny you say that. I have never had a good service experience there. I could fill a thread with things they have done to my car. My car actually suffered substantial damage whilst in thier workshop. Just stuned at how little they car and how much they know that they have a monopoly on Ford Servicing on the Mornington Peninsula.I wouldn't put my car back in thier workshop if they offered to service it for free, and that's not a flippant remark, I mean it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rota_Motor Guests Posted 28/04/05 06:22 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 06:22 AM I meant no offence, as I have worked at a dealership before, and there are a surprising number of people that come in complaining of the noise that every other car in the showroom also has, or something similar.just the fact that the dealer agrees there is a problem means its not just you.it really sounds like you have a sh*tful service dept. that you use, and also like you say, they arent interested in your car. it makes me wondwer if they have even had a look at the handbrake mechanism to see what the noise is, or even tried thinking about why the car has problems, rather than just looking at the problem.as for the diff, the 8-10 weeks shouldc be just waiting on parts (ridiculous I know, but you put a claim into the dealer, they then forward the claim to ford australia, and tyhen they forward ther claim to the manufacturer of the diff, who then decide what the problem is, then send a new unit out) but once the parts arrive, it should be a one day job to change the diff.I hope things get better for you and your car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paradoxx Colossal Member Member 5,049 Member For: 20y 4m 13d Gender: Male Location: Perth, WA Posted 28/04/05 06:29 AM Share Posted 28/04/05 06:29 AM Not Jeff Wignall's ford is it?Or are they in Mornington? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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