Warranty Day for the Marauder

[sconut1]

Well, it's off to the dealership tomorrow to find out just how good my Ford ESP Extra care warranty is. Here's the whine list:

Front tires loose air quickly (of course, won't be covered)

Driver's door power window sounds like nails on a chalkboard when I raise it up.

Suspension squeek; I can hear it if I shake the care or sometimes even close a car door. It's really noticible when I drive. I think it's a stabalizer link, but not sure. I've seen this on a Taurus before.

Steering squeek at very low speeds and hard braking. Sounds like pulling a bolt thorough a hole in a peice of sheet metal.

Oil change

Very infrequent blue smoke on startup. I know there's been threads on this; this is a cover my a$$ excersize.

Cat converter heat shield inspection. This is a CVPI TSB, but I'm having it done anyway. I like my car fast, and not crispy :)

Any thoughts? This all should be covered but the inspection, oil change and tires right?

Btw, anyone remember the TSB # for defective cat converter shields on CVPI cars? Apparently they were falling apart and cars were catching fire?

Also, it seems to me I say a post here that said there was a problem with the mouting bolts on the power steering rack where they'd get loose? That sounds like it could be my low speed steering noise?

If you've got any thoughts... please give 'er!!

[sconut1]

Found the Cat Converter info.... it's not a TSB, but a recall: 05s32. Still need help with the power steering possiblity tho...

[BlueMarauder]

Likely cause for suspension squeak is hood latch. Open the hood fully and then shake car. Also, open and close door with hood open. If noise goes away, it is hood latch. You can grease hood latch or raise the little rubber posts on sides of hood.

[Black_Noise]

best of luck

[sconut1]

Well, jury's in.....

Power Window - Needs a new window run. Not covered by ESP. The regulator is (horizontal) but the channels (vertical are not) :confused:. Retarded. Either warranty the window guts, or dont. New runs are $368.43

Squeek #1 - Was indeed the hood latch. Not covered, but no biggie.

Squeek #2 - Was a combonation of the left lower control arm (covered...thank god... $401.60 plus 3h labor at 124.00 /hr). But.... the insulator on the top of the strut is making nose too. $184.09 and 2hrs labour...not covered. Even though the the ESP guide says struts and bushings are covered. Because this rubber insulator is called an insulator and not a bushing, it's not covered.:mad2:

Tires... couldn't find anything wrong. So how come they loose 10 psi in two weeks?

Oil change was good...lol

Cat converter heat sheilds and insulators were good

Periodic blue smoke:

Vertaim from the work order:

"Compaint: Diagnose and advise for infrequent quite a bit of blue smoke on startup.

Correction: Could not verify customer complaint. Blue smoke on startup is normal after sitting for periods of time."

I expected nothing less, and am not worried about this after reading the posts here. I did want it on the record though that I complained about it.

So that's the story. I'm somewhat twisted about the window... I'm choked about the strut insulator. How can you say you warranty the struts, and not warranty the assembly. Hmm.... on an engine job, are the compression rings warrented but not the oil control rings?

Am I just being unreasonable? I'm not mad at the dealer, they just type into the computer the part number and it tells them if it's on ESP or not. I'm pretty choked with Ford's Extended warranty however. Those clowns need to tell people that the parts covered are specific and not asssemblies.

For S&G's I got a price on the insulator from tituswillfordparts.com. I wasn't happy to see that regulator available from them for $85.00 either, but I already did my Canadian parts pricing rant awhile ago, so I won't got there again. Did I mention I checked the window runs too...$111.00 in the USA...only.

[BlueMarauder]

Tire pressure loss can be caused by bad valve stems. There has been a national recall for some Chinese stems. Have a tire shop check stems. The best way is to immerse into tub of water and see if there are any air bubbles. Can also try run a wet soapy sponge across tire valve. See if there are any air causing bubbles in soap.

[BLACKMARAUDER04]

I purchased a policy that was not Ford's. It probably would of covered
that strut piece and window problem, but it didn't cover airbag problems which I had. (2 sensor units whent bad)

[babbage]

Should have had them check the axles. Those might go bad. Change the oil in the rear diff too.

[Vortex]

I just think any "warranty" or "insurance" program offered outside a factory warranty period is a pretty big gamble. I see these ones on tv now for some company that sells them and I think if your car has a three year warranty and nothing happens its probably going to be ok for that long. After three years a car's value depreciates so fast its not worth it to warranty certain systems (like the a/c) and not others (like all that interior stuff that breaks and is the reason you trade for a new one). Just my dos centavos.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I cancelled my ESP a month after I got it. I had taken my car in for rear end whine and they held my car for over a week waiting for the ESP adjuster to come look at it. I got tagged for a huge bill for them to tear it down and put it back together after they found out it wasn't covered. The tech adjusted the gears to boot and made them 1000X worse and I ended up having to replace the gears on my own at my own cost, in addition to the several hundred $ that it cost to have torn down, not have my car for a week, and then have it put back together worse than I started.

No thanks on the warranty. ESP is not a factory warranty like they want it to sound like. Some of the blame lay w/ how the local dealer handled everything (Sheehy Ford in Springfield, VA -- the few experiences I had with them were not good) but when I found out the ESP was handled more like an aftermarket warranty than anything else I just gave up on it and got a refund.

[NOMARQUIS]

I'm starting to think I should have wipped my butt with the money I sent on my ESP. So far, it's equaled me spending my money of diagnosis just to find the Ford adjuster denies the claim. Don't feel like the lone ranger, mine smokes. Hundreds of dollars later I have a denied claim and a car that still smokes at start up. I figure I'd be better off to cash the policy in and use the money to repair the car myself. I do have to say I had an ESP on my Mark VIII and it paid for itsself 3 times over. I think the ecomomy stinks so we as consumers pay the price. If this were 3 years eariler, We'd both have repaired cars. My 2 cents.

[ctrlraven]

I had an issue with not my stock wheel but a 16" steelie, I just kept loosing air every 4-5 days. I had the valve stem replaced, the tire bead re sealed still nothing worked. I put the same tire on a new steel wheel and it was find. If they take the tire off and dunk it nothing would happen because their is no weight like it has when it's on the car is when it leaks. Have the valve stem replaced and the bead re-sealed. If it still does it very well could be the wheel.

[carfixer]

Ford ESP policies cover struts. Our cars have coil over shocks, that is why they are not covered.

[sconut1]

That's interesting, and I didn't know that. I assumed it had struts. Gonna grab my service manual and take a look at that insulator to see exactly how it fits. Going to say though that ESP says it covers "linkage and bushings" in the front suspension section. What's the difference between and insulator and a bushing.