'14 fails state inspection

[sschnath]

Purchased my '14 Fusion Hybrid used with 16,000 miles on it just over a year ago from a Ford dealer. It now has 51,000 mostly highway miles and it's been a pretty good vehicle until this morning. Went for my first state inspection this morning after the initial purchase and it failed! Driver's side lower control arm (ball joint) won't pass.

 

Then he showed me how the left front brake is not working correctly and that it also won't pass (the others look similar but the left front is the worst).

 

Then they pointed out that the transmission is leaking. While not an inspection item it still has me concerned about the long term quality of the vehicle. I'm assuming the leak is still covered under the powertrain warranty but I won't know for sure until I have a Ford dealer look at it. And will it happen again after the warranty expires?

 

Considering that most of my driving is highway (and good quality roads) I'm just astounded that the control arm has failed. In my 30+ years of driving I've never had a vehicle fail an inspection. That's not to say I've never had to replace a ball joint or had a leak but I certainly wasn't expecting major issues like these so early in the car's life. I was thinking that it might be a good car for my daughter when she gets her license in a few years but now I'm questioning whether it will be wise to keep it that long.

 

I don't know why I was expecting a higher level of quality from what Ford considers a world class car. Has anyone else had a transmission leak or a lower control arm/ball joint issue or did I just happen to get a bad one?

Edited January 26, 2016 by sschnath

[FernMTL]

Had the same cntrol arm replaced. Maybe they're was a bad lot.

[sschnath]

Had the same cntrol arm replaced. Maybe they're was a bad lot.

 

I'd like to hope that's it was just a bad problem and that maybe Ford will replace it under warranty at the same time they take care of the transmission leak. The lower right control arm is solid - no issues.

[Waldo]

There's an extensive thread about the transmission leak:

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/8267-2013-fusion-hybrid-transmission-leaking/?hl=%20trans%20%20leak

 

It's a known problem with a confirmed fix, so no reason to think it will ever happen again once repaired.

[FernMTL]

 

I'd like to hope that's it was just a bad problem and that maybe Ford will replace it under warranty at the same time they take care of the transmission leak. The lower right control arm is solid - no issues.

I guess this repair goes under the BTB 36 00 miles warranty. The aluminum control arm price was 220$ canadian. Hope you can get fixed at no charge.

[hybridbear]

Then they pointed out that the transmission is leaking. While not an inspection item it still has me concerned about the long term quality of the vehicle. I'm assuming the leak is still covered under the powertrain warranty but I won't know for sure until I have a Ford dealer look at it. And will it happen again after the warranty expires?

The eCVT leak should be covered under the 8/100 (or 10/150 in select states) hybrid vehicle components warranty. One owner had 98k miles on his C-Max when he had to have his transmission replaced under warranty.

[sschnath]

There's an extensive thread about the transmission leak:

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/8267-2013-fusion-hybrid-transmission-leaking/?hl=%20trans%20%20leak

 

It's a known problem with a confirmed fix, so no reason to think it will ever happen again once repaired.

 

Thanks for this. I should have searched first. I did search for the control arm problem and didn't find anything so jumped right into a new thread.

 

That it's a known problem is encouraging - should make it easier to get it resolved. Still concerned about the long term reliability of the car but time will tell. Put brand new tires on it last week so I don't want to give it up just yet but also don't want to be in the shop for non-routine maintenance 3-4 times a year either. I could have kept my 396K mile Passat for that!

[sschnath]

An update. Dealer confirmed trans leak will be fixed under warranty and bad left lower control arm. Brakes turned out to be a non-issue. They immediately took the car off the road and provided a loaner (and I didn't even buy the car there) so very happy at least with the level of service so far.

 

Bad news is the left lower control arm is on backorder. Don't know if I should infer anything from that. I'm lucky that I have a state inspection that caught it. If your state doesn't require vehicle inspections, it would be worth having it checked at your next oil change - sooner if you're hearing a nasty noise from the front end when you turn the steering wheel.

Edited January 29, 2016 by sschnath

[sschnath]

Got the car back and it's so much nicer than the loaner Sentra the gave me - it's true, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone! :shift:

 

They replaced the lower driver's side control arm out of warranty and resealed the transmission under warranty per TSB 15-0174 which states that the transmission be removed to reseal the case halves and replace the axle seals. The paperwork they gave me clearly states that they performed the work per the TSB (removed the transmission, etc) and charged Ford for 8.5 hours worth of labor and that amount of labor implies to me that the transmission did in fact come out.

 

It was my belief that, in order to remove the transmission, the lower driver's side control arm needs to be removed? Can anyone here confirm that? I was trying to avoid being charged for labor for the control arm. I assumed that the labor would be part of the warranty work.

 

When I asked the service advisor about it, he told me specifically that they did NOT remove the transmission. But the paperwork says that they did so this leads me to one of two conclusions:

1. They didn't remove the transmission, did a substandard job on the repair and are billing Ford as if they did the repair correctly. I've dealt with this shop before and I don't believe they would do a substandard job so that leads me to the other conclusion
2. They did remove the transmission and the service advisor was misinformed.

I guess the third option is he was flat out lying to me but I don't think so since it was in the paperwork. Another person ended up closing out the visit. He wasn't familiar with the case and I was in a hurry and didn't go through the paperwork in detail until a couple of days later so I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

However, I do not want to pay for labor if they're already being paid for it via the warranty claim. If someone here can confirm the control arm has to come out to properly perform TSB 15-0174 I will contact the service manager and then Ford if necessary.

[hybridbear]

However, I do not want to pay for labor if they're already being paid for it via the warranty claim. If someone here can confirm the control arm has to come out to properly perform TSB 15-0174 I will contact the service manager and then Ford if necessary.

You can view the complete TSB here. I reviewed the steps in the workshop manual as referenced in the TSB. Unfortunately, they only provide pictures, no words. Are any of the parts shown below the control arm? I'm not sure where/what the control arm is.