My Baby's in the shop

[JoeCamper]

While driving from the nursing home where my Mom is on Sunday 12/8/13, the “Cleaning Exhaust Filter” message came on. I thought this was good since I had about 25 miles to go. The truck usually waits until I'm almost home before deciding it wants to clean the filter. However, the instant fuel mileage did not show a decrease in mileage as it usually does. I suspected something was wrong. I parked the truck in the driveway. Later that evening, I cranked the truck back up to put it in the garage. I now had a “Drive to Clean Exhaust Filter” message. On 12/9/13, I had the same message, but could not drive long enough to clean the filter as I had to go to work. After work, I drove to clean the filter, but it would not go into the “Cleaning Exhaust Filter” mode. After driving close to 10 miles, I started for home. Then the message center displayed a symbol of a wrench. I couldn't get the folks at Ford to give me a warm fuzzy feeling that it would be OK to drive it to the dealer without clogging up the filter and, of course, you pay if it clogs. Since it is still under warranty, I called for a tow truck. Now we wait and see what they find.

 

[f100cleveland]

I hope Ford pays for the tow bill. I thought the cleaning was automatic and you didn't have to babysit it.

 

[Dogman]

“Drive to Clean Exhaust Filter” message that only come up two times on my truck last time was two weeks ago. It was on for sometime too, good 40 plus miles. I was told that it will show up if the DPF is getting full. One thing seam to work good is, If on the big road and there is room. Ill slow down to about 45 mph then gun it up to 80 then back off the do it again. This seam to help blow the ash and crap out of the DPF faster then truck goes back to normal. I drove to Ashville NC turkey weekend, mileage was really crappy. I was getting about 12.6 mpg but after some good long driving and some really good fuel. I was able to get it up to 18.7 mpg. And it was hand figured out too....

 

[JoeCamper]

I hope Ford pays for the tow bill. I thought the cleaning was automatic and you didn't have to babysit it.

Yup. Ford paid all of it except $21.00. The reason for that is I have a local dealer that's about 4 miles from my house. I wouldn't take my truck there. See my thread about my last adventure.http://www.superdutydiesel.com/forums/showthread.php?30231-Service-engine-light
So, anyway, my preferred dealer is 42 miles away and I think they only pay up to 35 miles if you bypass the closest dealer.
As you might expect, they found a bad fuel level sensor. Since the truck thinks the fuel is low, it will not start a DEF regen cycle, which makes sense. So, the sensor will take care of the fuel gage and the DEF system. However, they don't have one in stock and don't have one in the regional warehouse, either! So, they won't have one until Monday.

 

[JoeCamper]

Well, my truck went into the shop on Tuesday, the 10th. They got the part on the afternoon of Monday the 16th. You shouldn't have to wait that long for a common part. When I called Monday afternoon, I was told they had the part and would be getting right on it. Tuesday afternoon I called and was told they had been working on it for over 4 hours. So, they didn't get "right on it." OK, I thought, it should be ready Wednesday afternoon when I get off work. So, Wednesday afternoon I call expecting it to be done. The service writer tells me that they are getting ready to drop the fuel tank. Huh? To replace the fuel level sensor, the first thing you have to do is drop the tank. So I asked, "what did they do for over 4 hours yesterday?" The guy tells me, "I don't know." I hung up disgusted. Then I couldn't help thinking about it, so I called my buddy (he has sold me my last 4 vehicles) at the dealership and asked him what he knew about the integrity of the service writer. This guy was new and I didn't know him. My buddy is the finance manager at the dealership and has been there a long time. He agreed that this was not proper and he would check for me. A few minutes later, he called me and said the service manager would call me right away. I waited and waited, walked 2 miles on the treadmill and still no call. Called my buddy again. Now he's hot. He told me I would hear from the service manager right away even if he had to drag him to the phone. He called me in two minutes! I gave him an earful and told him I especially didn't appreciate being lied to. Bottom line, I got my truck back Thursday afternoon. The service manager called me a couple of times at work to keep me informed on Thursday. Why can't people be honest? When I got there, I immediately went to see my buddy and thank him for helping. He told me there would be some changes made. I found out that the service manager and the service writer are both new. If the service writer had just told me the truth and made sure I had it on Friday, he wouldn't have gotten in trouble. I hope he doesn't lose his job, but if he does, it's his own fault.
Anyway, I'm glad to have my baby back! I hope she never goes into the shop again for anything except routine maintenance.

 

[BIG JOE]

Sadly.. the above sounds very typical of Many Dealership shops anymore.

Joe

 

[`08 Blue Crew]

I feel your pain. My truck blew a hoe adapter just outside Des Moines, IA in October. Got truck and 5er towed to a local RV Park, then Ford paid to tow the truck to the Ford dealer. When I called the dealer to arrange for the truck to get towed and a rental car (I have ESP) the service writer told me they don't have any rentals available so I should try other rental companies. I asked why he doesn't do that as i get a rental car as part of my ESP. He said, OH, let me talk to the rental car guy. when my truck was ready he told me as part of ESP I had a $ 100 deductible. I said, No, the truck has less than 36K miles. It is covered under regular warranty. Oh, OK I'll be right back. He returned with a corrected bill.

Bunch of knuckle heads working there these days.

 

[WD40]

As of this week I will never go back to the dealer here in the town where I live, I will be driving 25 miles out in the country to
get any work done by a small town dealer.
Doug