Backed into a telephone pole.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
melvimbe

melvimbe

FRF Addict
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Posts
4,878
Reaction score
6,436
Location
Houston, TX

smurfslayer

Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. We’re hunting sasquatch77
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Posts
17,595
Reaction score
27,110
I have a friend who is a 28+ year Ford mechanic. He had a report of - I think it was - Explorer won’t start. They tow it in, s/a assigns it to my friend who spends hours trying to figure out why this thing won’t start. Nothing makes sense, he gets Ford engineering on the line, they provide troubleshooting data, which gets no further.

He wants S/A to contact the customer to discuss, S/A makes up some excuse, so back to the grind. Finally, after several more pleas to reach the customer they finally acquiesce, at which point customer says “yeah, I explained to the service advisor, I accidentally tapped the bumper into the concrete, but it was just a tap, and was running fine. I pulled away from the concrete, shut down, went inside - I looked and everything was fine”

And it was fine on the outside. On the inside he severed a harness partially. My friend goes back and pulls some connectors for a network diagnostic and bam - there it is. Harness is not that expensive, and it’s not a warranty item, but it’s up to about 16 hours of troubleshooting now. Yikes.

So, I think it might be prudent to mention what happened, rather than try to warranty this. You may end up with odd blis behavior going forward or misleading readings... who knows.
 

Blockaderunner

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Posts
252
Reaction score
103
Location
Orlando
Don't be too hard on yourself stuff like this has happened to us all at one time or another. Long as no one was injured the rest can be fixed. Now on from that you may want to see if you can locate some junkyards that may have a Raptor for your parts. If you can find the parts you may be able to do the work yourself. If you can't at least you won't get the body shops markup for parts.
Its either that or you should get new (unused) parts at a body shop but like I mentioned theres likely to be a markup.
Get a few bids at body shops after you've reviewed a few of them and their work.
 
OP
OP
melvimbe

melvimbe

FRF Addict
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Posts
4,878
Reaction score
6,436
Location
Houston, TX
I'm probably making it sound like I'm more upset at myself than I am. I'm more upset/annoyed that I'm having to deal with it and potential pay a bit.

I'll try and snap some pics tonight, although I'm not sure anything will even be noticeable except the moisture in the light.
 

Raptor911

FRF Addict
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Posts
4,690
Reaction score
2,252
Location
Ashburn, VA
check ebay .. not sure what side you need BUT

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2016-2017-...391475&hash=item4443e1bc6c:g:5LsAAOSw-s5dXZ8S

Found the tail light on Tasca parts. $700

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-tail-lamp-assembly-hl3z13405a/?c=Zz1lbGVjdHJpY2FsJnM9dGFpbC1sYW1wcyZpPU1BMTI4MzQ1JnI9MSZhPWZvcmQmbz1mLTE1MCZ5PTIwMTcmdD1yYXB0b3ImZT0zLTVsLXY2LWdhcw==

That's the same price for aftermarket tail lights from what I can tell. I'd guess BLIS is driving the price up.

I have a service appt at the dealership this Friday afternoon (minor molding issue/recalls). I'll see if I can take it to a body shop before then and get their opinion. Come Friday, I'll mention noticing moisture in the light while at the dealership and see what they say. It's still under warranty so perhaps I'll get lucky.

I can look into tearing it open this weekend if the dealership is no help.
 
OP
OP
melvimbe

melvimbe

FRF Addict
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Posts
4,878
Reaction score
6,436
Location
Houston, TX
Got home and took the tail light off. There was a lot more water in there than I thought. It did rain this morning, so that could have been from that. Regardless, the BLIS module comes right off and I was able to drain most of it out, dry with a towel, and use a hair drier. There is still some water in there, but no where near as much.

Got some clear silicone to close up the crack, put the light back on. I'll put it off again in a few days to air it out some more. Will check for water again after the next rain.

Definitely would have been a problem if I hadn't addressed it. FYI, the crack is very hard to see, inside the channel between along the middle of the picture. 5f829a05e441f3c1da18377a91093d67.jpg1e1c3649fbdc1576c5cdb824fe7a3c53.jpg

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

Muchmore

FRF Addict
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
3,253
Location
Kansas City
Oh man this sounds like a no-brainer! Loosen the bumper bracket, see if it adjusts out at all, sometimes they are slotted. Put a little strip of superglue over the crack and be done with it. If it's not noticeable to the naked eye then don't worry about it. Run the light until it quits and worry about buying one then, no need to do it now.
 
Top