Long Ford Truck Rant

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
5,248
I've got a 2002 Ford Ranger, FX4. Its a nice truck. 45,000 miles on it. So the day before Xmas, the clutch goes, I can't get it in gear. I've got the extended powertrain warranty so no worries, right?

Wrong, the "slave cylinder" isn't covered by the powertrain warranty. Now, I could see if it was the clutch plate or something that by its very nature would wear out, but its a hydraulic cylinder. Basically, the dealer tells me, why would you think that the clutch, part of the transmission, is covered by a powertrain warranty! So, to make matters better, the cylinder is inside of all this stuff, so it costs 500 bucks just in labor. $700.00 dollars later, I drive out of there thursday night.

Friday morning, 12 HOURS after I get the thing back, its shaking and juddering all over the place. I take it back in. Oh no Mr. Bertrand, its not anything we did, the rear brakes are bad. (these guys just inspected the truck too by the way). So another $150.00 later, my truck is back on the road.

If I ever buy anything but a Honda or Toyota again, please come to Vermont and put me out of my stupidity.
 
Guys, don't matter what kind of truck you've got, don't take it to a dealership for non-warranty repairs, they'll take you to the cleaners every time.

I'm on my second Ford Ranger, put 135K on the first one before I traded up from a four-banger to a V-6 (more oomph to pull canoe trailers). Of all the various vehicles I've ever owned in the past 30 years, that little black Ranger was the most rock solid reliable thing I've ever seen. List of things I had to replace in seven trouble free years of driving: Spark plugs, filters, fan belt, battery, brakes, tires, and oh yeah, wiper blades. ;)

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
Guys, don't matter what kind of truck you've got, don't take it to a dealership for non-warranty repairs, they'll take you to the cleaners every time.

I'm on my second Ford Ranger, put 135K on the first one before I traded up from a four-banger to a V-6 (more oomph to pull canoe trailers). Of all the various vehicles I've ever owned in the past 30 years, that little black Ranger was the most rock solid reliable thing I've ever seen. List of things I had to replace in seven trouble free years of driving: Spark plugs, filters, fan belt, battery, brakes, tires, and oh yeah, wiper blades. ;)

Sarge
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So you''re the ONE. You know, "Ford quality is job (for) one". You were the one lucky bastid that got a Ford that was quality.

(Well, it sounded funny when I thought of it, but it doesn't sound that great when I just reread it):p

P.S. I still like my truck a lot, I'm just mad about shelling out 1,000 bucks on repairs at less than 50K:grumpy:
 
There seem to be a lot of small problems with newer vehicles these days. Is it a result of cost cutting gone too far, poor design, or simply too much complication?

We VW owners greet each other like this: "Hey, long time no see. So, have any of your windows fallen down yet?" I've only had one go haywire on me so far...at 12,000 miles. :rolleyes:

What Sarge said about going to the stealership for repairs. They make their money on parts and service, not vehicle sales. If the vehicle isn't warrantied there's no sense in going there. That being said, I prefer to go to the stealership while I'm under warranty even if it's nonwarrantied work; this way, I have a paper trail to cover myself should they have any questions about work performed - "Hey, you guys did that, not me."
 
Dave Rishar said:
There seem to be a lot of small problems with newer vehicles these days. Is it a result of cost cutting gone too far, poor design, or simply too much complication?

We VW owners greet each other like this: "Hey, long time no see. So, have any of your windows fallen down yet?" I've only had one go haywire on me so far...at 12,000 miles. :rolleyes:

What Sarge said about going to the stealership for repairs. They make their money on parts and service, not vehicle sales. If the vehicle isn't warrantied there's no sense in going there. That being said, I prefer to go to the stealership while I'm under warranty even if it's nonwarrantied work; this way, I have a paper trail to cover myself should they have any questions about work performed - "Hey, you guys did that, not me."
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Yeah, I see your point. Of course, here, I thought it was under the extended powertrain warranty
 
This thread could go on forever. I've got enough stories to make it to page two all by myself.

Once you found out it wasnt covered- go elsewhere than to the Dealer.

munk
 
The salesman told me...Ford is the most popular...based on sales...on the road...what that means is they can sell cheaper...hence more units...

Now understand I am a third gen Ford man....and I am driving a GMC....

We went through the "every hundred miles something falls off" bit...beginning at 3ooo miles on a 1999 F150...

We traded it off...

Nissan has the best service in our part of the country...and I beleive the best product...

My wife drives a Dodge Quad with a Hemi...the interior started falling apart at about a hundred miles...we will see about longevity....honestly the GMC Quad is twice the truck the Dodge is...even without the hemi...

I would give a lot to have my Old 1973 Ford 3/4 ton, 4X4....in the condition I had it in while in HS.

No bells and whisltes...but all knids of "git up".

Shane

Next time I will but Nissan and that is a crying damn shame....
 
I've heard so many horror tales about Nissan and Dodge. Haven't heard anything about the Nissan Titan yet though. From the Nissan Frontier to the Dodge Ram, I've heard about problems from the interior to the engine going up after 50k. Lots of people, lured by the Hemi motor, have gotten screwed over by their Dodges. I personally like the design of the older Dodges and the get up and go, and have driven several models with friends permission. No problems, except for a long trip, where I didn't know if I was getting home or not in the truck. Haven't driven their Dakota model, but I liked the late 90's early 00's design. The new design of the Dakota and Ram looks terrible and the RD guys should have been fired.

I'm primarily a Toyota and General Motors guy. Have an old rustbucket 2wd Toyota pickup that has almost 300k on it, and it still runs like a scalded dog. Have a Chevrolet Blazer that, even though it needed a new motor after I bought it, runs great today, fingers crossed, it's about 240k. My next purchase will either be a Toyota Tundra or a Chevrolet Silverado.
 
We've got an old '86 Ford F150 Extended Cab Lariat with over 185,000 on it with the 5.0 V-8 and except for not showing any oil pressure when it gets warmed up is still running strong.
We drive it less than 3,500 miles a year though because it's our hauling truck and Barb's off to the Cherokee Casino truck where she wins our monthly allotment playing the slots.:cool: ;)
Barb has to drive the truck so as to keep the stale cigarette smell outta the one year old Camry that still has a little less than 10K on it and that's with a trip to Phoenix last April. If we hadn't of done that it would have about 3K less on it or a little less than 7K.:rolleyes: :D
I don't know how Barb stands the smoke in the Casino. I sure wouldn't be able to but I do want to make one of the restaurants one of these days, the Wild Potato.
We'll drive the Camry over as you don't have to go through the smoke to get to the restaurants.:thumbup: :D
The Casino is just a tad over a mile away, long trip ainnit.:rolleyes: ;)
 
I've got to go with SilentHunter on the toyotas, they outlast most trucks I've driven. Take my opinion with a grain of salt however, I'm not old enough to have driven anything relativly new into to a pile of scrap. Where I work during the summer we have an old toyota, the first car the boss bought on her own, the thing is a peice of junk, the clutch shoots, the lights dont work but the think has got to be 30 years old and sees service on some truely terrible roads driven often my truely terrible drivers. My only with for toyota would be (along with most japanese manufacturers) to stop keeping their north american prices artificaily high as a favor to stuggeling competition. I also wish subaru made trucks, I have never been disappointed with a Subaru
 
I drive an old '86 Chevy Scottsdale that is kinda-sorta fixed up. Actually, it's been the most trouble free vehicle I have ever owned. Most of this has to do with it being plain and simple. No computers, no crazy stability control, no nothin. Just an auto tranny, a lil 305, and a racing carb:D. It has its days. the carb needs adjusting so it does the herky jerky shuffle sometimes when i shut it off and sounds like Speedbuggy from that old cartoon. Other than that it's been pretty good:) There is something about a Japanese truck that just doesn't sit with me. I KNOW they are good and run forever, but I just like the idea of a Chevy or a Ford pick up.
Now cars? Oh you better believe that i'm sticking with a honda or a toyota for that. My wife and I bought a civic for her to drive to and from work and not a glitch. Before that she had a Celica that was used when she bought it, and she dang near drove it into the ground. late or missed oil changes, never wached it, etc. She drove it all over hell's half-acre and over several Christmas' through what we call the Triangle of Doom (Bowling Green, KY, Louisville, KY, and Evansville, IN). 120,000 miles and 4 years later she sells it to a guy that drives it without a problem straight out to california. Then she was given her parents' old audi. That lasted about 2 or 3 years with expensive fix after expensive fix. Once her folks stopped footing the bills (and I started paying them), we bought the Civic. I couldn't be happier.

Jake
 
When it got smashed to pieces my Ranger XLT (4.0L V6) had 165K miles. Still running strong, and I'd have driven it till I was 100 years old and still been happy.:( I am also from a 3 generation ford family. Oh well to hell with tradition. I bought the Titan. I just have begun to trust Japanese cars more than American ones. I'm sad and kinda ashamed about that, but my wife is driving a Honda Accord I got her last year. When I met her she had a Honda Civic and we drove the hell out of it. No problems.

My dad's company car for almost a decade was the Taurus. At 120K - 140K the transmition quit every time. Ford straight up told his company that this was how long it was designed and EXPECTED to last. I can't afford that attitude, and my family comes first. In Atlanta people routinely put 20K - 30K per year on their vehicles. My personal commute is 42 miles each way. I cannot afford to support the American car manufacturs if they can't design a vehicle that is designed to keep rolling after you PAY IT OFF!!!!!!:mad:
 
Man, that sucks about the extended warranty. The ones that I have had would pay for darn near everything ~ I guess you best read the small print!

I owned a brand new Chevy Astro that was in the shop 22 times in 2.5 years. Chevy would not take it back as a lemon, and I traded it in when it died when we were leaving to go camping. I have had my Suburban for 3 years with really no problems, put 40,000 on it so far. We'll see how it goes. Trying to get the US makers and dealers to help you out is impossible!

On the other hand, Honda sent out a bulletin saying that some of the Accords were having tranny issues, and extended the factory warranty on the tranny to 100,000 miles:eek: :D I drive my Accord hard, 36,000 a year. They put in a new tranny at 98,000 miles, free of charge. Never would have happened with a Ford, GM, or Dodge. They are not as interested as Honda and Toyota are with customer service or customers perception of quality.
 
I myself have owned two Rangers. A '99 and a '91. Both were extended cab 3.0 V6 manual trans. I wrecked my '99 5 times and eventually ended up with the '91. The '91 held up great. I used it for work delivering auto parts driving 150+ city miles a day for a year and a half and it never once broke down on me. It had 180,000 miles on it when I traded it in and the only problem it had was it would consume 1.5 quarts of oil for every 1000 miles driven. Dealership service departments are definately rip-offs. My parents called the BBB on a dealership in Clear Lake, TX and next thing we know we get freebie Ford items (folding directors chairs etc...) color matched to their vehicles interior. I drive a '00 Explorer now and their qc is going downhill. My next purchase may be Japanese.
 
Originally posted by Yvsa. "and except for not showing any oil pressure when it gets warmed up is still running strong."
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ROTFLMAO..
Damn vehicles..


5yrs no worrys - cambelt @ 98k



Biggest problem - 300ftlbs crankshaft nut!!

It's a lottery..

Edit..Water pump @ 120K - thats it:confused:
 
Over here they have a car program hosted by a guy named jeremy clarkson who does a lot of strange things like trebucheting datsuns & dropping ferrari's out of airplanes, once he killed a chevy stingray (r/c'd) from a helicopter with a 25mm chain gun.

he took a toyota pickup, rammed it into a tree at 30mph & drove it off after straigtening out a fender, he dropped a big boulder in the bed from about 50 feet, drove off after rolling out the bolder, drove it down to the sea, left it on the beach for the tide to come in, went back, needed a diver to find it again, pulled it ashore & after draining the fuel tank, oil sump & cylinders (& refilling them) drove it off. in a final fit, he set fire to the insides with a molotov - after it cooled, they drove it into the studio, declared it to be immortal & it now sits on a plinth in their museum.
 
Kronck... saw the program where they sat the Toyota on top of a skyscraper..then demolished the lot!!

Bloody thing still started!

Mind you, I'm thick.. still go LR!!!!:barf: :confused:
 
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