I'm within a couple of months of the end of the 3yr 36k mile warranty on my '07 FEH, now with 25k miles on it. It's been trouble free except for the blend door problem fixed under warranty. The battery harness recall did not apply to me. There's a squeak from the liftgate and a rattle from the passenger side front window. No other known issues.

So is there anything I should do with regard to servicing before the warranty expires? Would the dealership do anything about the squeal and rattle? I'm not due for any scheduled service, but I thought I might take it in for the rattle and ask them to double check on any service bulletins while I'm there. Anything I'm missing? Thanks

 

I went to my dealer with TSBs printed in my hand and was told that they just don't do them unless they can verify the problem(s). I made a appointment on-line, got a different service writer, went for a short test drive to verify one problem and all three issues covered by the TSBs were addressed. Other's have had the same problems when mentioning TSBs. It gets me when they have to verify your complaint which really means try prove you wrong!!

 

Your dealership cannot file a warranty claim with Ford unless they can verify the concern. If they are audited, the warranty specialist will ask for the codes, the failed part, or verification of the condition before the work was done. The presence of a TSB does not indicate your vehicle has a problem that needs to be corrected.

Don't blame your dealer for wanting to comply with the Ford requirements. The penalties can be significant.

 

econoline, you should identify any concerns you have experienced and that you can demonstrate on a test drive. Ask your service advisor to run an OASIS report with the areas of concern coded into the request. That will return any information Ford has on the coded areas. It may also give you hints on how to duplicate the condition so the dealership can address it (for example, "the noise may occur when the vehicle is going over a speed bump", or "examine the part for fluid leakage", etc.)

Service advisors get plenty of instances where customers come in with a "Fishing list" of TSB's and messages from forums. They try to tactfully address ligitimate concerns, but some customers think they should fix things that are not broken. See my previous note.

 

None of the TSB concerns where of the type to generate any codes. Shifting issue with transmission, whine at 60MPH and "hooting" sound leaving a stop with 4WD. The "hooting" TSB has since been revised to cover "all" '09 FE as they now say it's coming from the drive chain in the transaxle.

The transmission issue and 4WD "hooting" were programming updates which take twenty minutes each. One owner was in/out in thirty minutes, no questions asked. Another took four hours as they had to test drive. Mine took about five hours and of course, I still have the none damaging "hoot" but shifts wonderful and the whine is gone.

 

Somehow I don't think that a dealer will test drive your vehicle just looking for things to repair under warranty. Isn't that a "Fishing list" too???