Does it make you feel ripped off?

Alex Bruene · January 4, 2007

Is it just me, or would it P you off when you've got a truck blowing coolant out of the degas bottle, and it has an oversized CAC and tubes, intake, monster exhaust, guages... and what's that... no tuner installed? Stock flash? When you check the clrdst pid, and it's about the same distance as it is from you customers address to your dealer? The warmup pid says 1? You ask the customer if he's been using a programmer and he says, "You mean like a chip? Of course not". ARRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Vented... I feel better now!

Jim Warman · January 4, 2007

Integrity takes a holiday....

In another thread, I describe a data log that Hotline led me to in an effort to diagnose an elusive ETC problem.... Today, we got an 06 F150 with a blank message centre.... So that we could order a new cluster, I called hotline to ask about finding out the vehicle mileage.

Well..... conflicting information at it's finest (but reading responses and reading between the lines) - I was told that there are no data logs stored in the PCM.... none (touch the IDS tab at the top of the screen - touch the swiss army knife and touch special functions.... Entering <a certain number> will bring up three information repositories. One being ETC freeze frame, another dealing with ABS EEPROM and a third I can't recall... I'm sure that there are more.

However, accrued mileage is something we wont be privvy to. Ford feels that if we can display it, we can change it. I'd mentioned that Dodge saves mileage in the PCM and can be displayed as a PID.... unimpressed, the engineer said he couldn't understand why.

alex, I am pretty sure that we will see the day where we will be asked to upload data and warranty will be denied on the basis of those uploads...

As for seeing all the eye candy that comes along with tuners, I state what I see to the powers that be in our store (it helps that I am one of the powers that be) and make recommendations from there. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck.... it's probably a duck..... I don't need to see it fly....

Torqued_Up · January 4, 2007

I have seen similar trucks with an exact description and rundown. Yeah, it pisses you off when you are a mod tolerant dealer (to a point) and a customer !@#!?$! LIES to you! I just want to know what the hell happened. Here's the problem. You know this crap goes bad on it's own so did he abuse it till it broke or did the parts go bad? Flip a coin and then bend over. Next, what can you do about it? The warranty manual, owners manual, PCED and a cute little sticker under the hood make mention of aftermarket modifications and voiding the warranty. Great! Can we prove it? how DO you void a warranty repair? Do you call 9-1-1 to get the warranty police or do we call Ford and tattle on the customer? Does it make me feel ripped off? YOU FREAKIN BET IT DOES!

Keith Browning · January 4, 2007

Yeah integrity is a good word here because a customer's lack of it can lead to a lack of integrity in the diagnosis and repair of the truck. It's not my fault the customer lied. Personally, I would have brought this one up to MY manager who usually backs my recommendations and this one, smells a lot like a duck. Ed brings up a good point. CAN we flag a truck or deny a warranty repair? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif

I know we have refused to repair one customer's truck... who then removed his tuner and exhaust and intake... then went to another dealer two weeks later and had his head gaskets replaced under warranty... then traded the truck in for a new one.

Another guy had rust and water in his fuel system, (there are pics of that one here on the site) paid us for the diagnosis, an new fuel pump and removal/cleaning of the tank which got the truck running... he drove it out and right to another dealer who replaced the 8 injectors he declined to have us replace on his dime. Now, I recall replacing 8 injectors in the past and having the claim declined. 8 injectors do not just fail on their own at the same time UNLESS there is contamination, which is not a warranty-able repair.

... and they call us "Stealers?"

Alex Bruene · January 4, 2007

Well, the vehicle in question is a first time customer at our dealer (go figure), has had all previous work done at another dealer, up untill a week prior.

I take it kind of personally that this guy is trying to play me for a fool. If he just would admit to whatever is going on, I'd have no problem fixing him up. For now, I'm just gonna let his truck rot out in the lot for a few days, since he calls about 4 times a day to see if his truck is ready.

Oh, and on further inspection, I found a pyrometer in the left exhaust manifold, disconnected and the wiring neatly coiled up and tucked away near the motor-mount... why do that and leave the guage in the truck is beyond me...

ErickBaker · January 5, 2007

Ahhhhh, its times like these when I don't miss the dealership one bit. All this kind of bs and slow traffic through the shop (Most techs didn't average 40 hours a week last year) finally became unbearable. I do miss working on the 6.0L everyday though. Does that make me weird?

Alex Bruene · January 6, 2007

Well, here's to hoping the 6.4 electronics may give us a fighting chance against those that cause their own problems.

CERTIFIEDFORDTEC · January 7, 2007

Speaking the 6.4l and mods...anyone hear of any computer inhancements that will provide any extra clues to a pcm that has been chipped and then removed prior to bringing it in? I did the new model stuff on fmcdealer and there was not any mention of that, though i did see something about a new protocol.

Keith Browning · January 7, 2007

I think my FSE mentioned something to that effect was coming but as usual, no details. I might suspect that that sort of thing COULD be kept quiet and reserved for "corporate" use but I would love to know when an engine has been tampered with. Especially now with so much at stake and the complexity of performing repairs now.

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif Might be a good question for us all to ask when we go for our classroom instruction. wink wink! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif