Warranty denial- HEADS UP

[NJNMDoc]

I wanted to let everyone know what my dealership experience was like at my local Ford dealership.

At 5500k miles I noticed grease on my driver side LCA during an oil change.

I quickly realized it was CV boot grease. I brought the bronco into the dealership at that time. They confirmed that this was the case and they said that it was a known issue that occasionally the heat press process used to bind the rubber boot to the shaft can fail. The technician said he “he knew what it was as soon as he saw it”.

They take pics and send them to the person that makes these decisions because their service manager is not in that day. This other person looks at the pics, approves the CV replacement under warranty and away we go. Parts ordered and arrived. Repair day arrives.

I’m told after the fact that the service manager was annoyed because he would not have approved it if he wa at here because of my spacers and 37s.

Note- my CVs are have perfect geometry. This should have been a clearly warrantied repair.

For funsies, I go to pick it up and as I’m pulling away I here the steering linkage clunking. Nope. Back right up to the service bay and shut her down again.

It was the tie rod nut. Clearly it was not tightened or torqued correctly. The tech had match marked it like it was a wrap but the nut was loose by 4 THREADS on the bolt relative to the opposing side (visually easy to compare).

Nope tech insists he did his job and that this is because of a single use nut failure. I am now waiting for 4 more days while they fly in a nut from out of state.

Great.

So I came out on top but just be aware.

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[JeffL]

sounds about right i wouldn't think they would warranty it with 37s.

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Plenty of nuts in my State, no need to fly anymore in! Anyrate, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Donkeygyrl]

 

[jacknifetoaswan]

Plenty of nuts in my State, no need to fly anymore in! Anyrate, thanks for the heads up.

Isn't this the damn truth. SC feels like a bowl full of Planter's finest.

OP, sorry to hear about these troubles! It's pretty ridiculous that they can't source a castle nut for a tie rod end that doesn't take a week to get there.

It's funny that there's another thread going on right now about people's troubles with dealer service departments, and there are actually some folks in there yelling NOT ALL DEALERSHIPS ARE LIKE THIS IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE FROM ANY BRAND IT WAS NEVER LIKE THIS WHEN I WAS IN CHARGE!!!11!!111!

JR

 

[BigFootie]

You left off the part where it says "but no more warranty!"

 

[Baja Bronco]

No dealer is going to warranty a failed part due to an owner’s change. i.e 35s to 37s. Or a tune, or anything. Always been that way, can’t really blame them.

 

[snowcatxx87]

Manufacturer warranty is to warranty parts being operated within oem specifications - you went outside of those specifications.

While it sucks and I hope you feel better venting about it online, your service manager is actually right and this would be denied warranty.

 

[userdude]

Plenty of nuts in my State, no need to fly anymore in! Anyrate, thanks for the heads up.

Thought you were Florida Man... lol

 

[PrepVet]

sounds about right i wouldn't think they would warranty it with 37s.

Agreed. However...

No dealer is going to warranty a failed part due to an owner’s change. i.e 35s to 37s. Or a tune, or anything. Always been that way, can’t really blame them.

It does depend on the dealer. With my PW, they honored the warranty when I put on 35's and the TRE's failed. Granted this was more than a decade ago but still. Some dealers won't care, others will find any reason to deny a claim.

 

[kodiakisland]

I'm sure some dealerships would warranty a CV after a lift, but most won't and there shouldn't be an expectation that they would.
Should the CV be able to handle an inch or two of lift? Sure, it should. Doesn't mean Ford is going to cover it if it doesn't though.

 

[DefNotBuddyLee]

Next time take out 30lbs of air from your tires before dropping off...BAM - 35s again.

 

[Baja Bronco]

Agreed. However...


It does depend on the dealer. With my PW, they honored the warranty when I put on 35's and the TRE's failed. Granted this was more than a decade ago but still. Some dealers won't care, others will find any reason to deny a claim.

Well……..
IDK, definitely used to be that way. The way the world is now, not too many dealers / service managers that will go that extra mile for customers. Between supply chain issues, impossible to get parts, ungrateful customers ( yelling at a SM for not doing it) times have changed. But if you’ve got a great dealer, it certainly helps!

 

[hemiblas]

This is why I bought the SAS bronco. I dont want to give them any reason to deny covered. Agreed though, you should keep a set of stock tires to put back when it goes in for warranty work. Sad that we have to do this though especially when they tell you its ok to modify it.

 

[mike8675309]

sounds about right i wouldn't think they would warranty it with 37s.

They can not legally not honor their warranty just because of that. They must have evidence that the CV angle is outside of specifications. There are numerous ways to mount larger tires and maintain CV angles.

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