Advice needed

[carguy]

I took my 2017 Ford Raptor pickup in for a routine oil service and tire rotation Wednesday to my local Ford dealer. The truck has 17,000 plus miles on it. It has performed flawlessly since new with no alarms or codes. It was in perfect condition when I dropped it off for service.


I picked it up Wednesday evening left their parking lot driving about 1000 feet when I heard a flutter like noise and the check engine light came on. I made a u-turn and took it back. They checked the codes and reset the module and said it was fine. I then headed to my office. I drove about 1 mile when I heard the flutter again. The check engine light came on again, oil pressure gauge went to zero, and low oil pressure warning came on. Made a u-turn again. They verified it was full of oil, checked codes, reset, and not sure what else was done. The service adviser told me the tech admitted turning the power on to check odometer while the oil was drained. I suspect it was started without oil. Again, they said it was fine.


I headed for home and did not get far before I heard the flutter, check engine light came on, oil pressure gauge went to zero, and low oil pressure message came on. It was 7:00 PM and the wife had already called me twice to get home for dinner so I drove it home. Yesterday same thing happened as I returned it back to the Ford store.


They are now telling me it needs new cam adjusters {no idea what this is) and began tearing the engine down to install the cam adjusters Monday. They said not to worry since the truck is still under warranty. It bothers me that their error is now considered a warranty problem. Secondly, I do not want the car fax to show it had a major engine problem. Thirdly, tearing the engine apart really bothers me. Lastly, I want the same trouble-free vehicle that I delivered to them Wednesday for oil service.

Any suggestions how I should handle this?

Thanks

 

[wheelman55]

So sorry...hope it works out.

 

[smurfslayer]

Any suggestions how I should handle this?

I’d ask the service manager what happened, what parts -specifically- are being ordered and why. They’re right - both Ford --and-- the dealer have a warranty on their products respectively. When the old F150 Lightnings began spitting spark plugs, some owners would have the spark plugs changed every year by their local stealership just to have coverage for a repair.

Like I suspect you think, I think the stealership did something neglectful to your truck. it would be an awfully strange coincidence for your truck to start misbehaving mechanically right after a routine service.

The thing about coincidences is, they usually take a lot of planning.

There is no avoiding the repair record at this point, but honestly that’s not much of a thing if it’s been a trouble free truck. I’m put off by 7 or 8 non-routine repair orders in a short period of time rather than a single repair.

The good news is that it’s a 3.5TT, of which there are something like a million in service so it should be a pretty well understood repair by now and should be doable in just over a day once parts are in. I know it’s a PITA but just ride it out and be thankful it got caught this way, rather than out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[MFNG]

Creating a problem to provide the solution?

Under warranty so they get the service hours and Ford foots the bill?

 

[TheRegMan]

Man another incompetent dealer story. I'll change my oil myself.

 

[hekster1]

Sorry to hear that, hope it works out for you. Hard to swallow that the mechanics are that incompetent

 

[Roc Nichols]

Sounds like they created this issue by running the engine without oil. who knows how many times they tried running it empty.

 

[Raptor911]

Carfax will not show any comments of warranty work.

And this is why I have done my own oil changes since I was 16.

 

[Dustan]

What do cam phasers have to do with oil pressure?

 

[Truckasaurus]

To me it's a bridge too far to think that a dealership did something to cause this. At the end of the day, cam phaser issues are a very well known and highly documented issue with the ecoboost engine. Yours just happened to start while in their possession.