Ahford.net

I have a 2015 F150 which has less than 8,000 miles (used as a third vehicle). Back in February 2020, the heat on the truck started to have problems; it would take about 30 minutes of driving around 15 miles in traffic to reach a comfortable cabin temperature - first thought was a flaky thermostat. I took it to the Arlington Heights Ford Service Center (Illinois) to address this matter, a couple of recalls, and a few other issues the other day. The service advisor told me the temperature problem was due to a clogged heater core. This is really an incredible issue considering the low mileage on the vehicle. The service center quoted $2,153 to replace the heater core. I asked the service manager about first disconnecting the inlet and outlet hoses and back-flushing the core (common sense since there was no idea as to the cause of the restriction), but he refused to consider this option - Why? I am guessing that they are only in the business to rip customers off. This guy (Jerry) told me more than likely it was possibly due to corrosion. When pressed for how this could even happen; he responded with some moronic response about being on 140 airplanes and one has never crashed, but the next one possibly could (hopefully; if he was alone). He indicated that Ford would not and could not responsibly back the repair for this although it was unimaginable and unexplainable. There was also an issue with the sunroof shade which has been messed up since I first purchased the truck, but I never intended to waste my time and mess with the inconvenience for something I don't even use (opened once since being purchased), so I figured I would have it fixed with a true service call. The fabric was not properly applied to the substrate (sliding door), but for this too the manager pled "no contest" and refused to fix or replace it even as a matter of professional courtesy or out of customer loyalty my second F150, had two Explorers, and three Expeditions all since 1997 - time to switch to Chevy. His response was it's not Ford's problem, it's not his problem, but mine - however, I am not the one that couldn't properly manufacture the truck in the first place. For this repair they quoted $1,045. They refused to just retrim or re-glue the material, but instead wanted to replace the shade by completely ripping apart the headliner and the roof's sliding track (like the headliner could ever be restored in a shop back to the factory condition). Oh yeah, there's no money to be made taking the simplistic route. Then there was the primary problem for the service visit which was due to being vandalized by some jerk stuffing paper towels down the truck's gas inlet tube, which most was removed by me with a long hook. Somehow in the process of being vandalized, the spring closure mechanism for the tube's flapper door was compromised, so no surprise, this too needed replacement although it opens and closes just fine, but maybe at a lower force. This was supposedly inspected with a borescope, but they could not see any of the paper towel fragments (there's no way I could have removed it all myself since it shredded as I took out what I could). Repair cost to drop the tank to be able to access the inlet tube $845. But for this they could also inspect the tank for particulate and debris from the paper towels. A WORD OF ADVICE buy a locking gas cap for your open filler tube vehicles only about $50 thru the Ford website. I asked them if they could first drain the tank and inspect the removed gas for issues. No can do mister this doesn't make much sense one would think you would first drain a gas tank before dropping it, especially with over 22 gallons in 36-gallon tank which in total would probably weigh over 200 pounds. There must be a way to simply drain a tank, if not, then it's another pretty AFU design again by Ford. I refused to have any of this additional work done at these ridiculous prices and opted for the recall only. I intend to have these justifiably covered by Ford. Since I decided against these extra repairs, the dealer wanted $145 for "diagnostic" fees. They charge $145 per hour for labor so I asked this guy to explain to me how it took an hour to diagnose these simple issues; all well described when I dropped off the truck. He went on to elaborate how there was hidden overhead such as "rack" time. Not sure why the truck need to be put on a lift he said it was necessary to look at the filler tube must be a dealer policy against laying on your back like everyone else in the world does that works on vehicles. And, I guess there are no longer service manuals that detail exploded drawings that detail sections, parts or assemblies. Then he said there was the "drive time" required to bring the truck's temperature up to normal operating range to test the duct temperature; forget about letting the truck warm up out in the parking lot before starting the investigation. I guess they must have fired their car jockeys or there must be some mystery involved which needs to be experienced firsthand with bringing the antifreeze up to temp. This manager then went on to complain saying something about he only has to take so much in these days of COVID-19 like this was some type of threat of what they would consider working on or what effort would be applied to the repair; and/or what he was willing to deal with or how he needs to interact with customers. I asked him to elaborate on this, for which he tried to backpedal on his comments. He then went on to say how difficult it was for their technicians to work wearing a mask, which is doubtful anyways, as when I went to pick up the truck, it was driven out of the service bay area by someone (not a mechanic) who was not wearing a mask or gloves completely in violation of their supposed policies. These guys were so incredibly lazy they could not even wipe their grimy handprints (no gloves again) from the hood's plastic bug guard. Definitely stay away from Arlington Heights Ford since their customer "feedback" ratings must be out of whack to reality and really needs to be re-normalized.