Love my 2014 FFH SEL. Wish I could get it back.

[Spiff542]

Just got to vent a little, and see if anyone else is having a similar experience.

 

I am lucky enough that my company provides me with a leased car. In Early March I got a 2014 I got a brand new FFH that came pretty loaded. It was also my first hybrid. I have to be honest. I love(d) driving it. I had gotten to the point where I was getting above 47 MPG almost every day and had the AVG MPG displaying 44. I really have gotten to like this car also. Behind the wheel in this car is a really nice place to be. :)

 

On April 24th it threw a code while I was out of town visiting a client. No problem it ran just fine.

 

The following Saturday I read the code with a simple OBDII reader. It came up P0302, which is "Misfire Detected: Cylinder 2". I cleared it out and it stayed gone until Monday Morning. I called the local Ford dealership and made an appointment to bring it in first thing on Tuesday April 29, which is exactly what I did.

 

 

Now it is May 13, AND THEY'VE STILL GOT MY CAR. It took them the entire first week to diagnose "low compression on cylinders one and two". That somehow has lead to an engine change out, which seems excessive to me.

 

Keep in mind I handed over a car with less than 7,900 miles that ran great and got the advertised fuel economy. The only problem it had from my observation was an annoying yellow light on the dash.

 

 

The real problem is that I am really questioning what the dealership is doing here. I am worried that they are soaking the factory for an expensive warranty repair that *may* not be appropriate.

 

Specifically,the things feeding my concerns are:

 

1. It shouldn't take four days to diagnose low compression. Especially since I saw my car in the bay getting worked on every business day that first week. IMHO that shouldv'e happened in about half a day.
2. i work in an engineering field, and though I'm no expert when it comes to cars, especially hybrids, i can understand one when I talk to them. They refuse to go there. They refuse answer questions that go deeper into the issues, such as, "why is the entire engine being replaced instead of valves and seats?" They will give no explanation.They will just repeat the fact that I'm getting a new engine.
3. I'm really questioning if there really was much wrong with my car in the first place.

Can any of y'all talk me off this ledge here? I'm in week three and my patience with the dealership is wearing awfully thin.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

[murphy]

It should not take longer than an hour for someone that knows what they are doing to round up the tools and test the compression on a 4 cylinder engine. Granted this is not a standard engine and may require a special procedure to do it.

 

Have you considered that the secrecy is because they inadvertently destroyed the engine while trying to test it?

[corncobs]

This should be one interesting problem for Ashley (FordService) to take a look at.

 

Send her a PM with the basic car data (VIN, mileage etc) and dealer info.

 

I'm with Murphy and you this sound very odd.

[Easy Rider]

Why do people worry SO MUCH about things that they have no control over.......and in the end, doesn't make any difference anyway ????

 

While the time involved is kind of long, your only concern should be getting back a car that is in proper working order.

I assume you are driving a loaner while all of this is going on ??

 

Low compression in an engine that new means some kind of major failure.

Valves may be bent or pistons cracked.

 

Dealer's service departments typically do NOT tear down and fix engines.......except maybe for head gaskets.

The "mechanics" that work there typically do not have the skills necessary to do that.

 

Ford should be calling the shots here and maybe they want the engine back to study......before the dealers grease monkeys take it apart.

[inco]

It sounds like the service people were not up to speed with the FFH and were having a problem sorting it out. The delay is a pain but the good news is that you are getting a new engine. :happy feet:

 

That to me is far better than having people poke around trying to fix something they may not be fully trained to do and have it go wrong again. A new engine is the best outcome that could have happened. I hope they have provided you with another vehicle while all of this is being done? Hang in there. ;)

[Waldo]

This doesn't sound all that ridiculous to me. While it doesn't take long to run a compression test, a compression test is not the first thing you would do based on a misfire code. But a week is a bit much.

 

Once bad compression is found, replacing the entire engine would be the normal procedure. First of all it's easier for the mechanics (less labor cost), secondly it ensure better quality down the road for you (fewer difficult things for a mechanic to screw up) and thirdly it lets Ford have a better chance to inspect your engine and figure out what went wrong, so as to prevent the problem in the future.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Waldo

[Spiff542]

They just extended me out till Thursday... So that's five full working days for an engine swap after the new engine arrived at the shop. Something about the way this whole service process has been unfolding seems to be wrong. The lack of transparency by the dealer really bothers me. I just called the fleet leasing company, and they also share my concerns. They seem to be as puzzled and annoyed about this as I am. I'm letting them handle it at the moment.

[hybridbear]

They just extended me out till Thursday... So that's five full working days for an engine swap after the new engine arrived at the shop. Something about the way this whole service process has been unfolding seems to be wrong. The lack of transparency by the dealer really bothers me. I just called the fleet leasing company, and they also share my concerns. They seem to be as puzzled and annoyed about this as I am. I'm letting them handle it at the moment.

You need to follow Corncobs advice & get Ashley involved. She can help. Send her a PM with your VIN, mileage, dealer info, full name & contact info. She's worked wonders in the past to get problems resolved for ppl.

[mwr]

I'm pretty new here, so who is Ashley and what is her relationship to this forum?

[corncobs]

I'm pretty new here, so who is Ashley and what is her relationship to this forum?

Ashley or FordService is the forums Ford customer service representative and she has been awesome in helping FFH owners with their weird issue and dealers.

 

She also takes ideas we have and moves them forward to the right people inside Ford. We like to think that certain changes for MY2015 had their origin here at this forum.

 

Thanks Ashley!

[mwr]

Thanks for the info. A few more questions...

 

- Does Ashley monitor this forum and make her own choice of what to help with, or do forum members send their troubles directly to her? Or possibly both.

 

- Is Ford associated with this forum in any way, or not and Ford just decided to have one of their reps hang out here?

[Spiff542]

Ashley or FordService is the forums Ford customer service representative and she has been awesome in helping FFH owners with their weird issue and dealers.

She also takes ideas we have and moves them forward to the right people inside Ford. We like to think that certain changes for MY2015 had their origin here at this forum.

Thanks Ashley!

That is awesome! I think I should give them till Thursday though. If it's not right by then, then I'll try to escalate out of the dealership by contacting Ashley. I think it's great she's on here. I know of other companies in other industries that do the same sort of thing by having regular representatives on relavent message boards. It seems to be a win/win for everyone.

[corncobs]

Thanks for the info. A few more questions...

 

- Does Ashley monitor this forum and make her own choice of what to help with, or do forum members send their troubles directly to her? Or possibly both.

 

- Is Ford associated with this forum in any way, or not and Ford just decided to have one of their reps hang out here?

She usually does read all the topic and picks up things where she thinks she can help things along. Because this thread and problem sounds odd I made the suggestion to get Ashley involved.

 

As far as I know there is no direct association between Ford and this forum. However since this a very active forum and members like myself have been asking for some Ford representation they finally assigned two people (Ashley & Kim) about 1/2 year ago.

[acdii]

Thanks for the info. A few more questions...

 

- Does Ashley monitor this forum and make her own choice of what to help with, or do forum members send their troubles directly to her? Or possibly both.

 

- Is Ford associated with this forum in any way, or not and Ford just decided to have one of their reps hang out here?

Here is the thread that introduced her. http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/8045-official-ford-service-rep/

[corncobs]

Here is the thread that introduced her. http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/8045-official-ford-service-rep/

Funny I made a good guess with 1/2 year but it's exactly 1/2 year today :)

[inco]

And Ashley has super powers. :love_shower: I found that out before getting my car. She found it hidden under 200 feet of snow in a Michigan rail yard and expedited getting it out to me and likely upset a few people along the way. She told me on the day that car was to arrive at the dealer and sure enough an hour later the dealer sent me it's birthing picture. :camera: Awesome.

[Spiff542]

Just an update:

 

I went by the dealership this morning. My car is still up on the lift, with everything open and no front wheels. I couldnt get closer to see anymore than that.

 

I'm guessing either they are either very inexperienced at this type of repair or they are short handed and whovere is assigned to work on it is getting pulled off to do other stuff on a regular basis. They've had the new motor on premises since May 9, and I was originally told the install would take two days.

 

The service adviser told me it should be ready today. This the same guy who has always told me this car is "almost ready" for three weeks straight. I was wrong about the date i brought it to the dealership. It was April 28, and not April 29.

 

I have little confidence it will be ready today, but I asked the service adviser to have the service department manager call me if it was not going to be finished this afternoon.

 

I've been dragging my feet in PM'ing Ashley thinking I was on the verge of being done with this misadventure.... That was a mistake.

 

I'll do it now, and hope she can help get this resolved.

[Eddie Sessum]

Sounds like you went to a crappy dealer to me that dont know what there doing (or they keep breaking things and having to order and fix as they go along).

 

I have a lincoln and I only goto lincoln, but even if I had the ford I would bring it to the lincoln dealership. Just dont have no trust of the ford dealerships here. Its all about money and speed not quality. And they usually break just as much as they fix.

[Sleddog]

I think the they may not have the expertise to do the job quickly. I can't see that many dealer have changed an engine on one of these hybrids. The other part is dealership workload. Or perhaps they want to dedicate the hybrid expert to this project and the have been other jobs for him to do.

 

For me, I would rather have it right, then have it don't quickly. I had some dealership work done quickly that required a return trip.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Sleddog

[Ram]

I don't know what experiance the dearship has or not. But I'm here to tell you I've changed out engines and when I look under the hood of my FFH SE, I see nothing but total confusion, stuff piled on top of stuff. I would expect an experianced FFH engine changer is not very common and those at the dealership may also be going though a bit of culture shock from a standard engine based vechicle to changing a hybrid based vechicle engine. It is not an easy task and being a hybrid is not going to help matters for the less experianced engine changer.

 

I would think that if this is the case that the engine needs changing. That the motor complany require it come back to the factory to have that done. After reading about all the systems, and interactions for the ICE in the hybrid, that I would be supprised they can pull it off at the dealership and they will need all the time that they can muster just to get every thing done right.

 

Best of luck with it, and I'd be patient as long as your not fitting the bill for it.