Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Crummy Dealership experience

I went down to my local ford dealership to get my problem fixed.

(If I hit the gas I the whole car shakes back and forth and I get a loud slamming noise coming from up front[Feels like suspension or whole subframe is loose])

So I take it on Monday and I give them DETAILED instructions on how to reproduce the problem...well they couldn't get it to do it(even though its VERY easy to notice right CAP CEG?!)...so I had to go back and take a test drive with a technician(keep in mind its 30 minutes from my house)and started feeding me garbage about it being normal and I told theres no Fing way that loud slam is normal when I hit the gas(it does it always unless I FEATHER the gas on and off).
He said he would put it on a rack and take a look at the underside and it would be ready tomorrow. Next day the senior technician calls me because they can't reproduce the problem AGAIN!
So i drive BACK up there and do it for him and says yea theres a problem I'll look at it.

So the next day I get a call that it's ready so I drive down there to get it...before I get in it I see that my antennae has been bent so it doesn't retract all the way, my side marker lens is GONE, and I get in and my blower is no longer working!

I walk in the office and ask for the senior tech, so he comes out and I ask him what did he find out about my problem...he said it was a charachteristic of the car, he even "called the SVT hotline"(which I think is a load of ****) and they told him its because of the SVT specific flywheel that it does that...so I told him ok well can you tell me what that SLAMMING NOISE is in the engine compartment, couldn't give me an straight answer and went off saying its just a charachteristic of the car while avoiding eye contact with me.(which is BS because I've been others and they DONT DO IT).

So anyway I had to leave it there for ANOTHER day so they could fix my antennae and my blower motor.

Today I show up and it's all ready(but they still haven't given me a real answer on my orignal problem) and then they slapped me with an $85 dollar diagnosis bill.

My response: What the F*** did you do to my car for me to be owing YOU $85 dollars?
Tech : We took numerous test drives and looked at the underside.
Me: Well you ran my butt up 4 different times, I live 30 minutes away, If anything YOU owe me for driving up here because you can't reproduce the problem that I gave specific WRITTEN detailed instructions to produce. You've broken my side marker and my antennae and I've been without a car for 4 days now and I STILL don't have an answer from you...I'm not paying that.

So they zeroed out my bill and I walked out with nothing accomplished besides a now broken sidemarker and a lot of wasted time.

As for my problem, I'm still clueless. Anyone know a good SVT dealership near Rockville , MD?

I have that exact same problem man, with the car I mean. Even if I feather it though, the thing jerks and makes a loud knocking noise. So I really wanna get this fixed. Anybody got any ideas? I've already replaced the spark plugs, wires, and fuel filter, soon to replace all the o2 sensors, so I'll see if that helps. Whatdya think?

Where did you go? Don't take it to Crystal Ford in Silver Spring, my car still has damage from them. Plus they are worthless. I had to take my car there 3 times because my heater/AC fan didn't work (only worked on high). They said it worked fine and I was using the AC improperly (turning it on I guess). The head guy seemed to know what he was doing and got the problem fixed, but the rest of them are incompetant. Although they are a pretty big operation, so if you can get the head mechanic to take a look at it, he might be able to help. I've only gone to Century Ford in Rockville once, but I had a good experience there. Hope this helps.

I would guess that the "slamming noise" is either a broken motor mount or the exhaust system flexing (or both). If I punch the gas sometimes it sounds like the motor is hitting the firewall or something but I know I have a broken transmission mount under the airbox so I don't punch it very much. If you have a rough running engine that is causing the noise, I would think that some codes should have been generated.

Karl

damn more ford flashbacks.....damn i hate their service....i really wonder if they are the worst to deal with....

sounds to me like broken motor or tranny mount maybe...i dont know if roll restrictors wear out or clunk when the get old but my car had two tranny mounts replaced according to service assclown when my atx was replaced....of course i later ask here and find that theres only one tranny mount...the others are 1 motor mount and 2 roll restrictors one in front and one in back of the engine(back meaning near firewall)...at some point i may have to call them up to find what they really replaced if anything....my car feels worse than b4...

also they left engine grease on the seat door handle floor and visor on the drivers side and two nice scratches on the doors....the black cover between the hood and windshield is chipped at the edge and one of the little caps that go over the screw hole is missing...and the cap over the nut on the left wiper is gone too....ANNNND....they also popped slight off the car my side skirts right in front of the rear wheels

i didn't call ford at the time because i didn't feel that i could talk calmly enough to anyone to get anything done but after reading so many negative posts about their service lately i have decided thta i am going to contact them jsut to report my issues...i realize that nothing will be done but i will feel better having reported the poor service and the after care tactics of the service dork and the customer service ho on her followup with me

find another dealer or a mechanic that u can trust (and if u have a warranty that can be used at any type of repair shop)

most importantly though i would suggest getting in touch with ford customer care or whatever its called....someone here mentioned writing letter to dealership owner regional office if there is one and of course to fomoco

i ended up leaving the dealership b4 i ended up hitting the service guy in the mouth...terrible attitude whole time i dealt with him except when it was time to pay for my car

sorry for rambling but damnnnnnn do i hate ford service

Forget that they could not fix the car, it seems like a recurring theme that Ford dealers actually frig up our cars while in the shop. My local dealer gave me my car back with a HUGE chunk out of the drivers door, I was like, WTF???? They fixed it, but damn there is no consideration for people's cars at some dealers.

Sounds like a motor mount, for my $.02.

I have found that a calm approach works, and if it does not, a threat of litigation works wonders. Just don't give the old "I'll sue your ass!!" speech, just a calm reminder that I will contact my attorney because I am a very busy person and I do not have time to dicker with you folks so if ya can't fix someone will appoach will work, but you have to be diplomatic about it.

Forget that they could not fix the car, it seems like a recurring theme that Ford dealers actually frig up our cars while in the shop. My local dealer gave me my car back with a HUGE chunk out of the drivers door, I was like, WTF???? They fixed it, but damn there is no consideration for people's cars at some dealers.

Sounds like a motor mount, for my $.02.

I have found that a calm approach works, and if it does not, a threat of litigation works wonders. Just don't give the old "I'll sue your ass!!" speech, just a calm reminder that I will contact my attorney because I am a very busy person and I do not have time to dicker with you folks so if ya can't fix someone will appoach will work, but you have to be diplomatic about it.

FORD SERVICE SUCKS BALLS

here is a link to my post from yesterday about my crappy dealer experience. Seems to have gotten buried pretty quickly... My problem was that after the dealer put in my new dash, the mechanic never bothered to put the battery connector back on tightly. My car died while I was on the road and they're lucky nothing happened to me or else I would be taking them to court just because they need to know they can't get away with stuff like that.

I know this isn't a contour but, my dad's 94 bronco started having some problems like it wasn't going into gear a couple years ago. So he took it to the local ford dealer (crossroads ford) and they told him it was the transmission, made him by a whole new one, and the problem was still there. So I believe he took it back either to that same place or another dealership and they were like, "oh, its just the computer chip" So he just replaced that and it was fine, all of this AFTER he just bought a brand new transmission. They have also left his car with small dents and not rotated his tires but tried to make him pay for it on various accounts. Pretty ****ty place, I'm just going to go to a local mechanic who knows about fords from now on. As I do hear that some people have good experiences with small stuff, when it comes to the big stuff, this dealership really messes up.

I don't own an svt but i've seen this problem twice now...the bracket holding the cv shaft to the block had come loose causing the exact same problem that your having....Is that a carrier bearing of some sort cause the shaft is so long? hard to check i guess unless you can get it in the air