My flawless mechanical luck ran out

[Aquineas]

~7500 miles of trouble-free miles have come to a somewhat disappointing end. My wife came home last Friday complaining about a squeaking noise in the car. The noise was only present when the car was moving (as opposed to just idling), and didn't seem to be related to the brakes at all. When pulling into the dealer, I also noticed a bit of a "crunching" noise when pulling up to the service bay. My spider senses at this point have now gone from concern to worry.

 

I dropped the car to the generally courteous staff of Gullo Ford on Saturday. The first piece of troubling news is that when I called on Monday to get a diagnosis, they had several Fusion Hybrids that were in line front of mine that were in need of repair from the week before (!) and their Hybrid technician was swamped. They couldn't look at my car until Wednesday of this week. I waited for a callback today that didn't come, so I called late afternoon today to find out the status. Apparently there's some kind of problem in the inverter with the Hybrid drive, and they had a call into Ford to see if it could be repaired or had to be replaced. Honestly I'd prefer replacement over repair, especially if they haven't done that type of repair before.

 

At this point I'm waiting to hear the verdict tomorrow, and at this point I have no idea how long the car will be out of commission. I hope this turns out well, but in light of my wife and I's previous discussion about trading in the car and getting something bigger, this repair will definitely factor in, as I don't know that I feel comfortable with holding onto this car for a long time. It could be trouble-free from here on out, or it could be an ongoing headache.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Aquineas

[GrySql]

Get Ashley on the job, quick!

[Aquineas]

Well folks, my car had two problems, one caused by Ford, the other caused by another driver in my household whom I choose not to name as she has access to my private parts while I'm sleeping. The squeaking was caused by a "Port Valve Spring Sticking", whatever that means. The service tech seemed a tad evasive when I pressed him for details; he said it was a manufacturing defect that affected "about 300 cars" that they "fixed." I'm a little dubious, but after going over the finances with the wife, to insure savings levels continue to grow at a desirable rate, we've got to hold onto this car at least one more year. Let's hope there are no more problems with it.

 

The other problem was caused by getting stuck in deep mud in a wet driveway of one of my wife's an anonymous unnamed driver's clients. The mud somehow worked itself into the regenerative braking system and basically had to be cleaned out. Once that was done, the crunching was done.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Aquineas

[inco]

We have heard the line "happy wife, happy life".Now let's try out this one - 'careful wife means happy hubby'.

[acdii]

For me its, the dingbat did what? I guess I consider myself lucky to have a wife who knows that no matter what I say, she knows that I love her deeply. When she does something dumb like that, I may get a bit peeved, but its just a car. Com'ere you big dummy and I give her a hug.

[Aquineas]

I traded this in last night folks. We really needed something bigger. I'll miss the community and the mileage! Oh, and in case you were wondering, Season IV of Game of Thrones airs in a little over 3 weeks!

Edited March 19, 2014 by Aquineas

[acdii]

:(

[keybman]

I traded this in last night folks. We really needed something bigger. I'll miss the community and the mileage! Oh, and in case you were wondering, Season IV of Game of Thrones airs in a little over 3 weeks!

 

Regarding this forum, I can find the "Like This" button, but I can't find the "Don't Like This" button. If there were one, I would click it for this post.

 

Aquineas, I will miss looking for you along BW-8 & 249. Every time I pass Compaq campus, I look around to see if I can spot the Bordeaux FFH. Can I ask what you chose to replace?

[Aquineas]

 

Regarding this forum, I can find the "Like This" button, but I can't find the "Don't Like This" button. If there were one, I would click it for this post.

 

Aquineas, I will miss looking for you along BW-8 & 249. Every time I pass Compaq campus, I look around to see if I can spot the Bordeaux FFH. Can I ask what you chose to replace?

 

Thank you keybman! I was looking forward to the next Houston meet (since I missed the last one). I traded it in for a GMC Acadia. I really, *really* wanted to buy the Explorer Sport (it was my number one option, until the test drive), but I thought the Acadia handled better.

[Ted Swing]

Sorry we're losing you, Aquineas. I can see how needs change over time, though.

[corncobs]

That's too bad. They should make more hybrids in any class.

[acdii]

Too bad you didn't look into an EB Flex, handles better than the Acadia and will put your teeth into the third row. Oh well, Good luck anyway with your *sniff* non Ford. :)

[djminfll]

Sorry to see you go, Aquineas, but I wish you best of luck.

I don't know if I could go from my FFH to a gas guzzler (and by guzzler, I mean anything less than 30mpg combined!). Of course, I have no need for a truck or SUV, but if the Acadia is a better choice for you, it makes sense for you to make the decision to trade in the FFH.

[Texasota]

 

I traded it in for a GMC Acadia. I really, *really* wanted to buy the Explorer Sport (it was my number one option, until the test drive), but I thought the Acadia handled better.

 

Consumer Reports agrees with you, Aquineas. They stated the following about the GMC Acadia:

 

 

If you need the interior room of a large SUV but want the comfortable ride and more responsive handling of a car-based design, you can't do better.

 

CR recommended the Acadia and gave it a top score (only the Hyundai Santa Fe scored higher).

 

CR also liked and recommended the Flex but it scored lower and they said it had "lackluster handling". They also said it is beginning to show its age in terms of handling and powertrain refinement.

[Aquineas]

Thanks for the thoughts folks. I went into this wanting and thinking I'd be an Explorer Sport owner by now. It's by far the best looking, and I figured I'd keep it in the Ford family. It's just after driving them both,I just felt the Acadia felt more nimble and car-like.

 

As far as gas mileage, believe me I'm not fooling myself here; there's no comparison in mileage; it's a gas-guzzler compared to the FFH. But I need to carry 6 passengers more frequently than I'd thought, and two of those passengers are 9 month and a 20 month olds in car seats. The 20 month old is in the 96th percentile for her height and her legs are already pushing off the back of the front passenger seat, both in the FFH as well as my Genesis. Believe me, I very begrudgingly went the SUV route (heck when I was a kid we somehow got by without SUVs, and darnit I was determined to forego the SUV route too!) Well I was wrong, and my stubbornness cost me a crapload of money.

 

In any case, I also test-drove the Santa Fe (and it's corporate cousin, the Kia Sorrento). They were fantastic vehicles, easily my favorite of all the CUVs I drove. But they weren't big enough :-(.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Aquineas

[hybridbear]

Thanks for the thoughts folks. I went into this wanting and thinking I'd be an Explorer Sport owner by now. It's by far the best looking, and I figured I'd keep it in the Ford family. It's just after driving them both,I just felt the Acadia felt more nimble and car-like.

 

As far as gas mileage, believe me I'm not fooling myself here; there's no comparison in mileage; it's a gas-guzzler compared to the FFH. But I need to carry 6 passengers more frequently than I'd thought, and two of those passengers are 9 month and a 20 month olds in car seats. The 20 month old is in the 96th percentile for her height and her legs are already pushing off the back of the front passenger seat, both in the FFH as well as my Genesis. Believe me, I very begrudgingly went the SUV route (heck when I was a kid we somehow got by without SUVs, and darnit I was determined to forego the SUV route too!) Well I was wrong, and my stubbornness cost me a crapload of money.

 

In any case, I also test-drove the Santa Fe (and it's corporate cousin, the Kia Sorrento). They were fantastic vehicles, easily my favorite of all the CUVs I drove. But they weren't big enough :-(.

Too bad you couldn't have sold the Genesis and kept the FFH and the Acadia. That way you could at least have been light on the gas budget when not needing to haul 6 ppl at once.

[acdii]

I dont know, the Genesis I wanted to buy was VERY nice, I dont think I could give one up for the Fusion either.

[Aquineas]

Too bad you couldn't have sold the Genesis and kept the FFH and the Acadia. That way you could at least have been light on the gas budget when not needing to haul 6 ppl at once.

You're right, and my wife said the same thing, but my Genesis is my mistress. I've never enjoyed driving a car as much as I enjoy that one. Mind you it doesn't handle as well as my old Acura TL (the TL, and heck, even the Fusion had much better steering feel), but that 5.0 V8 engine is like a drug. It hangs back unobtrusively with nary a snarl transmitted through the cabin until needed, and at that point it's like, "Whoa!! Where in the world did *THAT* come from?!!?" If at all possible, the only car replacing the Genesis will be an AWD 5.0 version, should they decided to bring those to the US (as of this moment, Hyundai has not publicly divulged plans to bring the V8 AWD version to the US, only the 3.8L V6 AWD version).

Edited March 25, 2014 by Aquineas

[acdii]

Thats how I feel about the Ecoboosted Flex/MKT. Smooth, quiet, then hit that throttle and hang on.

 

The very first time I demonstrated this to my wife she tried to grab something to hang on to, I LMAO that day. Now when I have them in the car and do it, I hear a WHOA, and WHEEEE, and Holy Sh**