No, but I do work in the auto industry and interact with several OE manufacturers (foreign and domestic), and am very familiar with many of their manufacturing and repair procedures.

 

I "trashed" my mileage myself, just by pulling the hybrid in and out of the garage two weekends ago. I pulled it out to wash it, and pulled it back in when it got overcast. I pulled it out to install the front end cover, and then pulled it back in. I pulled it out to install the hitch, and then pulled it back in.

By Monday morning, I had lost almost 2 mpg.

 

According to my service advisor.....Checking the front axle is a two step operation. First they remove the clamp that holds the boot and look for a date number. (Apparently a 3 and a 5) If the numbers OK thats the end of the inspection. If the number is not OK, than they have to get to the joint and that means taking it apart. Soooooo if you pass the first inspection nothing is really disturbed and no wheel alignment is needed.

 

According to the inspection procedures in the recall the clamps and boot do not have to be removed. The label with the date code will normally be clearly visible simply by raising the vehicle on a lift. The reference to "a 3 and a 5" is incorrect as well.

Personally, I wouldn't try to second guess the recall or try to read too much into it. Simply let your dealer handle it. After reading the complete procedure in the recall I see it's incredibly simple. There sure seems to be a lot of misinformation flying around here on the subject.

 

Yeap! Could be misinformation. After all, it's only what the Ford dealer noted on my work order after he did the recall inspection.

 

I think the key to the misinformation here was taking the word of the service advisor. They are in the BS part of the dealership business to make money and tell you what you don't want to hear. If they had any techical skills, they would be in the service area turning wrenches. I like to bypass the advisor and talk to the techs when I get the chance. Once the tech meets you with a vehicle like the FEH, they ask you questions about the vehicle also.

GaryG

 

Huh??? Lets see now....

- Unlike techs, SA's have to be "people persons" since they're interacting directly with customers

- They have to be reasonably knowledgeable on most every vehicle line that their franchise manufacturer has built over the the past 10+ years, usually without the luxury of referring to a shop manual as a technician can. But realistically, they can't be expected to know everything (including the technical details of every recall on every vehicle)

- They have to have strong sales skills

- They have to deal with people who come in to have their tires rotated...then come in two days later blaming the dealer because their transmission is slipping

- They have to know how to walk the fine line between determining what's covered by warranty and what's actually customer responsibility - all while trying to be fair to both while trying to keep a customer

- And most importantly...they have to know how to deal with customers that seem to think they know more about their vehicles than the engineers that designed them or the technicians that have to fix them. (But of course there aren't any of those types on this web site!!)


Sorry Gary, but I just don't see the service advisors as being the evil demons you seem to envision them as.

 

Especially when it turns out that the customer is indeed smarter and more knowledgeable !

 

Thank you for proving my point.

 

First off, are you an SA? Secondly, I didn't say the SA's were evil demons, or that I know more than the engineers or the Techs. Many times I have good experiences with the SA's and have been to the same Ford dearlership for 38 years. I personally have known parts, SA,s salesman and managers, some I went to high school with. Many have come and gone since I started working on and rebuilding Fords when I was 15 yrs old.

When a SA that does not know me starts trying to BS me or rip me off, I'm very professional to them and tell them most of the time, I can fix that myself and just have them take care of the warranty issues. With non warranty issues, many times I have the techs locate a problem, and then decide if I'm going to repair it myself or not. Most of the problems with the SA is that I find when I go to replace the part myself, the old part was not bad. Most recently saved about $300 on my 02 Explorer with a vaccume hose that came lose. The Tech put the hose back on and reset the code, but the SA (dealership) wanted an addition $300 for parts and labor for the job.

There are too many other situations I've had that have been good and bad with SA's to talk about. If it's a warranty issue, I don't argue, but I go up the chain of command if I can't get it resolved at the SA level. Many of the problems are dealer policy trying to squeeze the customer for $, and not the SA.

GaryG