Ford Recall Field Service Alert 18N03 | Door Latch Freezing Concerns

[sfckelley]

Last week, my rear passenger door (where my 6 year old sits) would not latch due to freezing conditions. I made the service appointment for today to fix it and the carpet recall. After sitting in the dealership for 3 hours, the service advisor came out to tell me it was ready. I asked if they did all 4 doors and he said they cleaned and lubed the passenger rear and if it happened again to come back in. Nope! That is not going to cut it! Demanded they fix all of them, which he agreed to and gave me a loaner for the remaining 3-4 hours it was going to take. Why they wanted me to come back if it happened again I have no idea, especially since I am in Cleveland, Ohio!!


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[MtopRaptor]

Judging by the username I see might be close to me. I’m NEPA also. What dealer do you have the appointment with?

Barber Ford

 

[Onemoosehorn]

Barber Ford

Same place I take mine. In Exeter. Service manager is great. Fellow raptor owner.

 

[MtopRaptor]

I go to the Hazleton site. Still great people

 

[lifeline]

Wanted share my experience with the door latch freezing issue. Both front doors on my supecab froze in the unlatched position one morning. I park outdoors overnight but inside a heated garage during the day. This parking arrangement is ideal for the formation of condensation in the doors and then the water freezes overnight. Instead of going to the dealer to have my doors torn apart and a bunch of parts and silicon thrown at them, I took the door apart myself to discover what the problem is and I think I understand. When you pull the door handle, you are pulling the cable free from the frozen condensation inside the cable housing but when you release the door handle, the spring that would pull the cable back into the closed position is not strong enough to pull the cable back through the ice. I took the inside door panel off and then removed the outside door handle. I took a syringe with needle (I'm not a junkie, work in the medical field) and injected wd40 into the cable housing with the handle elevated as much as possible where the wd40 would slide down the inside of the cable housing. I then blasted compressed air into the housing to force the wd40 all the way through to the other side. I then took some caliper slide grease and applied it to the cable where it enters the housing to create a moisture barrier. So far everything has been working perfectly. Temps have been in the single digits overnight and I continue to park in a heated garage during the day.

 

[IHAVETWO]

BUILD 5/17.SCAB.IM IN NY AND HAVE HAD IT FREEZE MANY TIMES.WAITING FOR MY 2/21 APP.TO GET FIXED.

 

[Zev]

Wanted share my experience with the door latch freezing issue. Both front doors on my supecab froze in the unlatched position one morning. I park outdoors overnight but inside a heated garage during the day. This parking arrangement is ideal for the formation of condensation in the doors and then the water freezes overnight. Instead of going to the dealer to have my doors torn apart and a bunch of parts and silicon thrown at them, I took the door apart myself to discover what the problem is and I think I understand. When you pull the door handle, you are pulling the cable free from the frozen condensation inside the cable housing but when you release the door handle, the spring that would pull the cable back into the closed position is not strong enough to pull the cable back through the ice. I took the inside door panel off and then removed the outside door handle. I took a syringe with needle (I'm not a junkie, work in the medical field) and injected wd40 into the cable housing with the handle elevated as much as possible where the wd40 would slide down the inside of the cable housing. I then blasted compressed air into the housing to force the wd40 all the way through to the other side. I then took some caliper slide grease and applied it to the cable where it enters the housing to create a moisture barrier. So far everything has been working perfectly. Temps have been in the single digits overnight and I continue to park in a heated garage during the day.

Nice fix!! That's probably all that's needed, and Ford engineers write a 60pg TSB to fix the problem, go figure...

 

[lifeline]

Nice fix!! That's probably all that's needed, and Ford engineers write a 60pg TSB to fix the problem, go figure...

The TSB is almost entirely created to waterproof the door. At the tail end of the TSB, they have the tech spray lubricant down the cable housing from the inside end even though the straw on the lubricant can won't get anything in the housing as it is too large. Then they want the tech to source a syringe with needle and inject methanol into the cable housing from the outside door handle. This the best, the methanol will get rid of the water but it will also evaporate in short order and leave the cable housing open to freezing again. This is why I injected the wd40 into the cable housing from the outside door handle. Hopefully the fix will last a long time but ultimately, the problem is in the design of the door which has way too many easy entires for moisture and no good way to dry out.

 

[riderjwc]

I was just notified via the FordPass app that there's a new recall from Ford, shown below.

Recall Field Service Alert
Ford Service Action # 18N03
Desciption: Door Latch Freezing Concerns

I called the dealer and they said it wasn't mandatory or a safety concern. Something to do with this only affecting Raptors in the north, in cold weather that drive through water. They said they put a foam seal in the door. The service writer also said it wasn't a recall, although, in the FordPass app it says it is. Hmmm....

Anyone have any more info?

Predator, thanks for the info. I'll take it back to the dealer to have a look. ". . . only affecting Raptors in the north" - that's funny. I wonder if our Raptors "know" whether they're in the north. Maybe they haven't been taught that North Carolina is actually in the south - yeah, probably a programming issue, lol.

 

[NE Raptor]

Mine is in today for the second time getting this fixed. Mine wont close on the passenger side and it wont open on the driver side - go figure lol

Either way i hope this is the last of this issue for me. They are claiming it was related to a faulty door handle on the passenger side issue so that is getting replaced. The driver side just started acting up so we will see what they say there.