need some advice on non warranted item

[skeeter316]

Hey all, need some advice. Clutch went out in my car, Ford says that unless they find something faulty, they will not cover it under warranty. Any advice?

Thanks,
Skeeter

[Black92LX]

not exatcly understanding what you are saying. The clutch went out therefore it is faulty, correct??

[Timido]

How many miles on the car? Check your Pm's

[facemelter71]

Im assuming its the 08 you have in your sig.
Should be covered under warranty. We have all kinds of warranty claims for the stupidist stuff.Your clutch shouldnt be a problem,and it doesnt matter what Ford wants,they dont pay for it anyway,they make a claim with Ford them selves and get the money back on the part.Tell them to fix it,or head to a different dealer.

[cobrajoe]

Probably gonna find out that they will tell you the clutch is a wearable part thus not covered by the warranty. Good luck with it though. Hopefully your hydraulic release is acting up and that caused a premature clutch failure.:confused:

[facemelter71]

Dont let them tell you its a wear item.We replace brake pads and wiper blades under warranty.I see it all day long.I still have rotors,pads and blades on my warranty shelf.But they will probly tell you that its not covered since its a wear item.I would nudge them a little and see how they act.
All the parts that leave my counter are covered under 12-12.

[Timido]

Wear items are covered. Last I checked it was 12 months 12000 miles. For brake pads, clutchs, and tires.

[skeeter316]

Basically what they are telling me is that in their opinion, they think the clutch failed due to abuse. Because there is excessive wear on the rear tires. They say that they won't be able to decide whether it is covered until they tear apart the clutch. Then they can see if there is a defective / malfunctioning part. I talked with the salesman who sold me that and another car, he told me who to talk to, maybe that will help.

Anymore ideas, let me know. I will keep you all posted. Thanks,

Skeeter

[Black Horse]

Tim is right - 1 year, 12,00 miles. Just ask to see the unit AS IT COMES OUT OF THE VEHICLE. Take your camera. Ask to keep the parts (your right). Ford will cover it under full vehicle warranty if there is an issue. I had a clutch failure on my old '89 Escort after 15,000 miles- when they pulled the plate we found three teeth busted off of the pressure plate. As best as we could tell the throwout bearing was installed backwards causing the damage. (I had to pay the bill as fight for a rebate - which was fully refunded to me).
If you can find leakage, other physical/non wear related damage or some misadjustment, you may have a case. If not, you are out of luck.
Just be nice to the mechanic and Dealer reps. The more you just want to find the facts, the more they will let you. If you are a dick, they will not let you anywhere near the service bay.

[skeeter316]

different route, but great idea, thanks. Kill em' with kindness.

[sean]

Talk to the guy with your salesperson. make sure they are aware that you have bought more than just that car. I was in the buisness for 11 or 12 years and me as the sales person had a lot to do with you getting your car fixed. If you talk to the boss with the sales person with you they tend to fix it and get in the sales persons ass for not seperating themselves from the problem once they handed you off. Be very very nice about all of it, admit nothing to doing burnouts, and you have a great chance getting it taken care of. If It just doesnt work out be a dick later. You know things will be going your way when they offer to pay for half. Nudge them nicley after that and you will have them. Its all a game from the front where the sales and financing happens all the way to service and customer satisfaction. But being a dick will only get the door showed to you. Good luck and if all else fails pit 1 dealer against another. They will fight for your buisness.

[beefcake]

how many miles??

the other thing is, have you been doing burnouts, etc...

i took my gt500 to the track, dumped it at 5200rpms and bent an axle

i put another axle in myself, they said they could try to warranty it, but with the different control arms, this that, i'd probably run into the whole "voided warranty" issue

wasn't a big deal to me, i know the cars not made to dump at 5200 rpms with an extra 100hp on full slicks

[TARDY]

He had 14000 miles on it and the dealership is not warranty it.it has never been to the track.I think its bullshit, hes a good guy and not hard on the car at all.
I know i will never buy a new car from ford again just for this very reason.But i
have felt this way for a long time

All is well though ...I guess, I sent him to MD for a clutch,aluminum flywheel and so on.They gave him a good price and he is having it towed there today.

[beefcake]

He had 14000 miles on it and the dealership is not warranty it.it has never been to the track.I think its bullshit, hes a good guy and not hard on the car at all.
I know i will never buy a new car from ford again just for this very reason.But i
have felt this way for a long time

it's not just ford, it's every manufacturer out there, if you bring in a non warrantied item, most of the time they are not going to fix it

sometimes you can get some assistance from ford after it's out of warranty, but they scaled way back on that

i'll talk to my svc mgr and get his input

[beefcake]

tt my service manager,

the clutch warranty is 12, 12,000 thats it

he said he would have a shot at getting help with it if something came apart, like a spring broke, a finger, etc..

if it's just smoked, it won't happen

let me know if you want some help

also, if there is an inherent problem, they usually will fix stuff, my fathers merc had a recall on the brakes and they put new pads on the vehicle at 21k miles, there warranty is 12k, but there was a defect

right now there isn't a problem with defective mustang clutches

[beefcake]

Tim is right - 1 year, 12,00 miles. Just ask to see the unit AS IT COMES OUT OF THE VEHICLE. Take your camera. Ask to keep the parts (your right). Ford will cover it under full vehicle warranty if there is an issue. I had a clutch failure on my old '89 Escort after 15,000 miles- when they pulled the plate we found three teeth busted off of the pressure plate. As best as we could tell the throwout bearing was installed backwards causing the damage. (I had to pay the bill as fight for a rebate - which was fully refunded to me).
If you can find leakage, other physical/non wear related damage or some misadjustment, you may have a case. If not, you are out of luck.
Just be nice to the mechanic and Dealer reps. The more you just want to find the facts, the more they will let you. If you are a dick, they will not let you anywhere near the service bay.


right on there too

[Pitbull1052]

They also have a warranty claim guy there at the dealership, I worked in the business for about 10 years.. sales.. and if the Service writer keeps telling you that tell him you want to see the warranty claim guy....... they are the one's submit all the claims for approval and what not..... and going to another dealer won't help once it's submitted to Ford.

[skeeter316]

After talking with people at the dealership. I have no luck. They are not going to cover it. I talked with ford customer care, they don't seem to give two shits either. After I talked with customer care, I called them right back. I noticed that the last person I talked to was taking notes and putting them into their system. So when the lady answered the phone, I gave my vin, name, etc. All I told her was this. " I know that you can keep notes and you put them into your system there, so make sure you take this note down. I have bought 5 new Fords from the same two dealerships in the past 15 years, in the past 16 months I have spent $66,000 dollars on two new cars from the same dealership, since Ford can't help me here, I will not purchase another Ford product. End of story."

The part that really pisses me off, is that every new car I have ever bought has been a Ford. My grandfather retired from Ford, my wife's grandfather retired from Ford. I am sure that my grandfather is turning over in his grave as we speak.

Oh well, lesson learned. Thanks for all of the advice.

Skeeter

[beefcake]

After talking with people at the dealership. I have no luck. They are not going to cover it. I talked with ford customer care, they don't seem to give two shits either. After I talked with customer care, I called them right back. I noticed that the last person I talked to was taking notes and putting them into their system. So when the lady answered the phone, I gave my vin, name, etc. All I told her was this. " I know that you can keep notes and you put them into your system there, so make sure you take this note down. I have bought 5 new Fords from the same two dealerships in the past 15 years, in the past 16 months I have spent $66,000 dollars on two new cars from the same dealership, since Ford can't help me here, I will not purchase another Ford product. End of story."

The part that really pisses me off, is that every new car I have ever bought has been a Ford. My grandfather retired from Ford, my wife's grandfather retired from Ford. I am sure that my grandfather is turning over in his grave as we speak.

Oh well, lesson learned. Thanks for all of the advice.

Skeeter

so what is wrong with it is something broke or is it just smoked???

[IWRBB]

Wear items are covered. Last I checked it was 12 months 12000 miles. For brake pads, clutchs, and tires.

If you blew through a clutch in 14K with a stock-ish GT, you might want to rethink how you shift that mofo. How do you drive it? Do you downshift a lot, or do you put it in neutral and use the brakes? Do you match revs when you change gears? Do you use the clutch to hold the car on a hill? Do you rest your foot on the pedal? Do you do parallel park a lot?

My stock 03 Cobra clutch is holding up just fine with an extra 200 HP over stock and 15K miles.

[skeeter316]

usually use neutral and come to stop with brakes. try not to rest foot on clutch, but catch myself doing it sometimes. i do not use clutch to hold on hill.

I have driven a standard transmission vehicle since 96. I have never driven any standard transmission vehicle any different than this one. I have never went through a clutch before. Some cars were brand new, some had 160,000 miles. Never had to replace a clutch.

Results are, dealership says nothing malfunctioned, no broken parts, says that it failed as a result of excessive heat. It is smoked. Had a 98 mustang, never had issues, didn't even replace brakes on it. Clutch, tranny, engine, etc. no issues, and I drive this car no differently than I drove the 98.

Won't be buying anymore new Fords.

Skeeter

[IWRBB]

Sounds like you know what you are doing, I dunno man. Must have been some defective parts. You shouldn't be suprised Ford is fighting all warrantied items though, they are losing money hand over fist.

I know, your agruement is a $500 repair cost them a long term customer, blah blah, they don't care right now. They are trying to keep the company alive, and if that means alienating people like you, so be it. They are plenty of people they can win over from other brands to replace your sale on down the line. Just maybe, you might be back too.

If they don't cut the warranty costs though (among others), there will be no company, period.