Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting A dealer experience, part 2

My dash kit install experience.

If you didn't see my first post about my dash recall experience this is what happened the 1st time I brought in my car: I made an appoint to have my dash fixed because it was warping. I brought my car in to have it serviced. I called the dealer back later in the day only to have the service writer tell me that cannot perform the recall on my car because they don't have the parts!

This is what happened this time: I make appoint once I get the post car in the mail which says they now have the part. I drop off my car. I pick up my car later in the day and start to drive it off. I notice the dash is blowing nothing but hot air no matter what the climate control settings are set to. I back up and tell them something is wrong. A guy comes out and says sorry I forgot to connect something and connects some wires in the dash that he accesses from opening the glove box all the way up. It fixes the problem and I leave.

Later that week: I notice the steering wheel is bounching when I go over bumps (it didn't do this before the dash warpage kit was instaled on my car). I can jiggle the steering wheel up by two inches! So I brought it back to the dealer today and asked them if someone could look at the steering wheel. They look at it, tightened some bolts under the dash, said sorry, and sent me on my way.

Now I'm just HOPING this didn't forget to thighten up whatever else they untightened before. Who knows what things they forgot to do and I don't know about cause I can't see into my dash?!

At least they said sorry. Your 2 steps ahead of some of us.

LOvely. My car is spending the weekend in the garage because the
dealer's only 'dashboard' guy called in sick on Friday.
So when I pick it up late MOnday, that will be 3
whole days at the dealership. We should take bets
on how many km's they will rack up in it.

At least you only had to have the dash installed once...I had two different ones installed on three different occasions. What? Okay, the first one was replaced under warranty (3/36000). This one was replaced under the recall and boy did I have trouble getting it. IIRC, they had to order three different dashes. One was ordered in the wrong color, one of them had a gash in it, and the last one (after a month and a half) was finally correct.

I think I got all that right...Oh well, it's in there now and it has held together so far...

I just got my postcard from the dealer saying my
part is in - after they ordered the new dash, only to tell me when I went down there because they wouldnt' return my calls of inquiry, that yes the dash had been ordered, but they weren't authorized to replace it - don't know when they planned on telling me this, good thing I went down there! They said they could order the Kit which was all they were authorized to do as a first step at attempting to fix the problem. Ok,
order the Kit. Funny thing is, now that they returned the card telling me my part is in, I see that something has been added -- when I filled it out, it listed the part number under parts number, and DP under "description" -- someone has scrawled "stairs" under description in large letters. Hmmmmmmmm, wonder if I should be worried ? My car doesn't have any stairs now, I wonder if they are installing some ? Well, tomorrow I will call and find out. Think I should be WARY of this dealership ? Last time I was there for a recall on the Windstar, they couldn't find it. Then once he DID find it he said it was
"all set" and I said I would have my son come down to get it. Two hours later a mechanic called to tell me that my Windstar was done and they would be getting it down off the lift shortly....
arrrrggghhhh!

I just took my car in for the dask recall today. Brought it in at 7:30am...finished at 2:30pm. They seem to have done a good job on it, but the plastic piece doesn't really match anything in the car (greyish and bumpy). Other than the color of the dash kit, I'm happy with what they did...and I only had to drive the rental Cavalier for a few hours.

Sorry to hear about your loose steering wheel...mine feels as solid as it did before I brought it in...but you never know...it could fall off tomorrow.

It's not the number of KM/Miles they put on it, but how they hard they drive it. Mine was taken if for dash recall, and I ended up with a new long block out of the deal.... (They footed the bill)

They were nice enough to leave most of the bolts lose that hold down stuff like the passenger airbag that rattled like a tommygun, yet they tried to tell me the rattle was normal... :rolleyes:

Word to the wise: Take fresh photos with dates of OD, and as many areas of the car as possible prior to leaving it at destructo-Ford-dealership. They come in handy for disputing damage that they do to your car when/if you get a goodnews/badnews call from them.

VG

They didn't have to remove any wheels, did they?

Karl

I got the kit yesterday. Black kit on a tan dash looks awfully funny. Plus, the blower motor only works one speed now. I'll check the connections behind the glove box at lunchtime, otherwise - back she goes. They gouged the A-pillar cover too, so will have to bark about that.

You do not have to remove the glovebox. Stick you head under the dash directly where a passengers left foot would go. Pull back the cover hiding the underneath part of the dash and you will see a white rectangal with a connector plugged into it. This is probably loose. Just make sure it is plugged all the way in and that will solve your problem. If you need help... I can show you at the meet this weekend.