Let's cross our fingers

[TripleTransAm]

Well, this is it: finally got some time to bring the Marauder (#2) in to another dealer (not going to risk going to the other 2 I've visited in the past 2 years) to address the suspension looseness. One member of this board has already confirmed leakage of one of my rear shocks based on a digital photo, and the front end is pretty loose as well.

As for the front squeaks: while the rattles might be something else, I did confirm last night that the high pitched squeak is indeed the hood latch! My Marauder #1's hood latch noise was more of a rusty-spring groan, while this one is a high pitched squeak. What started my reasoning on this was the fact that it became more noticeable after a fair amount of driving, and mostly when outside temps were warmer! Last night I confirmed the noise by rocking the car with the hood closed and with it opened.

I'm crossing my fingers about the rest of the stuff because as I was asking the service rep to cross out the squeak from my list of complaints (2 years of complaining about this to the other dealerships didn't result in a fix, I'm not holding my breath with this car), he didn't seem too open-minded about what I had to say. I tried really hard not to give the impression of a know-it-all customer regardless of the months of investigations I put into each complaint in order to help them do a good job on a limited edition vehicle. So we'll see where this leads us.

Example: he said they'd probably have to do an alignment on the car. I said no problem, as long as they called me so I could confirm the settings. He seemed offended, and pronounced I would be responsible for any side effect on my tires, regardless of the fact I was clear that I wanted to remain within Ford specs but on the least aggressive side of the camber range. What a tool.

So I'm not holding my breath, but I'm nonetheless hopeful. This is the last chance to turn this experience around for me.
I'll know by the end of the day.



Side note: otherwise great customer service at this place. The young hottie receptionist gave me a ride home, and I swear she was hitting on me (I was my usual very polite self when around ladies). Unfortunately the conversation cooled greatly when she asked me if I was married. :lol:

[RoyLPita]

Keep us posted.

[Hotrauder]

Steve, good luck partner. You need a break today. You know, it has been so long I have forgotten the feeling. Lately the conversation cools from the start.:D I think they are overwhelmed by my great good looks and charming manner. Either that or I remind them of their grandfather.:rolleyes: . No sweat, its all fun. Dennis

[TripleTransAm]

Keep us posted.


Concerning the car repairs or the hottie? :)

(Kidding... no way I'd ever think of doing something to risk my most excellent family situation.)

[Warpath]

...Unfortunately the conversation cooled greatly when she asked me if I was married. :lol:

That's when you say, "Yes, but my friends are not." Then show her my picture below. I'll need a full body shot in return.

http://tinypic.com/ff8y09.jpg

[TripleTransAm]

So I just got a call from the dealership, the mechanic working on the car wanted to discuss my front end concerns.

Apparently, I shouldn't have any. (!) No noises heard up front. Okay. Wonder what kind of road test they did. But they did confirm both rear shocks needed replacement. Okay, we'll see what that does to the car's handling.

He also wanted to know about my special alignment specs. No special alignment specs, I just wanted to keep things on the 'conservative' side of Ford's specs. He then proceeded to give me ***** about whether I saw the way the insides of my tires were worn... at this point I was beginning to get impatient and had to practically cut him off to tell him it was because of Ford's alignment specs to begin with that I had those problems. And since they weren't touching the front end to begin with, why the hell were they aligning the vehicle anyway?

"well, look at your front tires!"

I had the damned thing aligned 3 months ago at the other dealership, that's why! *sigh*


So tomorrow morning I get new rear shocks. In the meantime, I'm going to pay VERY close attention to the front end noises (I'll probably grease up the front latch now that I know that's where the squeak is coming from, to eliminate that noise from the cacophony of front end rattles and creaks).

If these techs actually get trained by Ford, what kind of training is this anyway? And can I get a discount on my service visits if I pass on the "attitude" option? Sheesh...

[snowbird]

Keep us posted.
About the girl, of course

[TripleTransAm]

Didn't get to see the girl again... maybe tomorrow when they finish up the job.

Since MM#2 has the baby seats in it, I needed to have the use of it for this evening. So I took MM#1 to the dealer to pick up MM#2 before going to pick up my wife and kids, and then re-swap so tomorrow morning they can start on MM#2 right away.

Every time I drive MM#1, I am amazed at how nice that suspension has held up. If it wasn't for the history and the annoying blue smoke / ticking head, I'd be SO tempted to keep this one instead of #2. I'm going to show up bright and early tomorrow morning and take the Mr. Mechanic on a little 'ride' around the neighborhood so he can understand how a Marauder is supposed to ride, even at 70000 km.

I think this is a testimony to how I am able to keep a car looking and behaving new even after many years of normal use. As I said before, it's such a shame all the effort went to waste...

[TripleTransAm]

Rear shocks changed, I'll be picking up the car in a few minutes. Mechanic is adamant that this is all the car needs to be back to A-1 shape. I'm skeptical, but at this point I have no energy left to fight it out.

Side note: those of you suggesting I bring MM#1 to a dealer mechanic to compare how things are supposed to be, hoo boy lemme tell you that does not work at all with the old closed-minded coots. First of all, the guy would NOT even come near my MM#1, wouldn't have any of it at all. Secondly, it was fairly clear to me how different the cars bounced during the front end bounce test (it really IS cool to compare two identical cars sitting side by side!!), but again he'd have none of it.

Came close to a shouting match... he tried everything, from the fact the cars had different tires on (yes, the 18s are on my MM#1, while my MM#2 still has the winter package on it, but barely 4 months ago the winter package was on MM#1 as it was the whole previous winter!) to even pulling the build date card (I loved his expression when I rattled off the build dates, barely 2 months between them).

Serves me right for thinking I could set up a healthy dialog with the mechanics by being polite, of all the silly concepts ever dreamt up.

Anyway, I've had it, the decision is made. I think we've put up with enough.

[grzellmer]

Keep us posted.

Keep us posted on the Hottie!

[rayjay]

Well the tire wear should have been a clue to them. The master tech that did my alignment last December asked me if the factory thought we were using our cars for autoX. He shook his head and said there was no reason for the alignment to be that aggressive. Asked if the OEM tires were chewed up on the inside? Yep, but still usable.