Marauder rant

[wickedmerc]

Commence rant......

My A/C stopped working abruptly last June (ironically on THE DAY I brought home my new toy...jealous Christine?). Checked this, checked that...blend door's not working. Great. Brought to local mechanic. He replaced blend door motor...$700+ and it still didn't work! The kid who replaced it acted odd claiming he wasn't happy with the aftermarket part used, he wanted time to get correct part, yada, yada. (Just found out today why he was acting that way).
He left, winter sets in; don't need A/C. Spring's coming, looking into A/C again. Oh wait, wacky wipers...there goes another several hundred $'s for new motor (2 to be exact but that's ANOTHER story), sensor and control stalk. OK, back to focusing on A/C...nope...loud noise from rear. Yep, new axles and axle seals...another grand. Local mechanic is giving up on my A/C. I swapped EATC, nope!
Sweating it out through this summer, can't take it any more...call Ford. Quoted about $680 to replace blend door in my "Grand Marquis". Part about $200 + labor. UGH! OK, OK, mercy....do it!
"Sir, for your Grand Marquis...."
"You're making me nuts with that, man...it's a Marauder!"
"Oh sorry....we found that, while we can't prove anything, it seems likely that whoever installed your aftermarket actuator over-tightened it and cracked your blend door box. You need new box, door and motor."
Out goes $680, just limped the car home after 4 days in Ford dealer to the tune of $1,471.18. :(
My Ford experiment is proving almost as costly as my boat experience! I'm well-over $20k into this car...and I'm done. :depress:

Rant complete, thank you. I DO feel a little better.

[Motorhead350]

Ranting and listing your car for sale are not a good combo.

[Blackened300a]

At the end of the day, are all the issues solved? LoL

[Krytin]

You need to find a better Mechanic.
Don't feel too bad - I have the same problems when I try to let "mechanics" fix things by themselves!!

[RF Overlord]

My Ford experiment is proving almost as costly as my boat experience! I'm well-over $20k into this car...and I'm done. :depress:I wouldn't necessarily blame Ford for all this...sounds to me like the first "mechanic" was crap.

Also, the dealer is ALWAYS going to be way more expensive than anywhere else, regardless of brand.

[SC Cheesehead]

I wouldn't necessarily blame Ford for all this...sounds to me like the first "mechanic" was crap.

Also, the dealer is ALWAYS going to be way more expensive than anywhere else, regardless of brand.



^^^^^^ What he said.

[tbone]

You fixed most of the common problems. Don't walk away now....you're almost done.

[wickedmerc]

Ranting and listing your car for sale are not a good combo.

I see what you're saying but the "For Sale" in my sig has been there for over a year. Every time I seemed to push the sale, something else would break. Besides, I think an astute reader will realize that I've now paid thousands of $$ to fix "common", major issues with the car....so they wouldn't have to. ;)


At the end of the day, are all the issues solved? LoL

All current issues are resolved, less the driver's door that won't lock with remote and the rear window will not raise using the driver's control pad. I might as well contact FastBlackMerc and request the LCM that's probably gonna fail any day now :D


I wouldn't necessarily blame Ford for all this...sounds to me like the first "mechanic" was crap.

Also, the dealer is ALWAYS going to be way more expensive than anywhere else, regardless of brand.

It was a small stretch but I wasn't actually blaming Ford. My wife's GMC Acadia has probably been in the shop more often for larger problems (but it was warranty work). I've never owned a Ford in my life before the MM, therefore this car was my chance to wander into the world of Ford. My experience has been costly, which would sour me towards future purchases.
I know dealers are far more expensive, which is why I tried a local route 1st. Turned-out to be the wrong choice. I should've paid Ford the big $$ first...but hind-sight is always 20/20, isn't it?

[Ms. Denmark]

So sorry for all your troubles with the car! We had a Crown Vic that was CONSTANTLY in the shop and drove us nuts. So I was pretty leery about ordering a Marauder but it has been fairly free of any serious problems over the years and prolly the best car I have ever owned in that regard.

[boatmangc]

+1000 on a new mechanic!!

[dj_pizm]

Sale it!!!!!!! I'm right behind u after this wedding of mine... I was fortunate to have ext warranty but I'm sure in my 66 months of ownership at least $20k in repairs at dealer

[VMARAUDER]

The reason I got my Marauder was because I have owned several of the Panthers
1990 Town Car 1998 GM and 2001 Town Car and now the 04 Marauder. I am not as well versed in auto mechanics as some of you but I am always ready to get my hands dirty...lol I use gloves. Been unable to do things after 2 shoulder surgeries and can't wait to get back to normal me. Shops are too expensive but I have a couple of good ones that are trust worthy

[8UWITH6]

Find yourself a new mechanic. You should have gone back to the mechanic/repair facility that cracked your case and asked them how they where going to help you out. It never hurts to ask.

At my shop if we break something my techs come get me and tell me so I can take care of the customer. That is chicken **** that the 1st repair place did that you. Own up to your mistake.

Oh, and dont sell your car IMO, repairs are almost always cheaper than a car payment/insurance on a new one. And the new one will be in the shop too, LOL trust me.

[wickedmerc]

Find yourself a new mechanic. You should have gone back to the mechanic/repair facility that cracked your case and asked them how they where going to help you out. It never hurts to ask.

At my shop if we break something my techs come get me and tell me so I can take care of the customer. That is chicken **** that the 1st repair place did that you. Own up to your mistake.

Oh, and dont sell your car IMO, repairs are almost always cheaper than a car payment/insurance on a new one. And the new one will be in the shop too, LOL trust me.

Yeah, me and my mechanic still need to talk. The issue there is that the guy who did the initial work is no longer there

Of course, as you kinda eluded to, I'm now in that spot where I've spent a lot of $$ on my car and my better half is none-too-pleased. However...the car is now "fixed" and (God willing!) it should be OK for a while, which makes me want to hold onto it and not trade it for something else that will likely come with payments. Keeping it is gonna be a tough sell.

[RF Overlord]

Look at it this way: you've already spent the money, now you're going to sell it and never recoup any of it? Also a 10 year-old car is going to cost way less in excise tax and insurance, not to mention sales tax on the new car.

[wickedmerc]

Look at it this way: you've already spent the money, now you're going to sell it and never recoup any of it? Also a 10 year-old car is going to cost way less in excise tax and insurance, not to mention sales tax on the new car.

I hear you man and I tend to agree, but here's the crux of my problem:
my Marauder is supposed to be our family "back-up" car. If my wife's Acadia goes down, the MM gets the call. The last 2 times that happened, the car failed (1st- rain/snow out and wipers stopped working while she was driving; 2nd- brutally hot outside, no A/C). That tossed the car firmly into my wife's dog house and, from experience, that ain't a good place to be :rolleyes:

If I sound a bit of a wuss, quick back story: I made a deal last June that if I get my '70 442, it would be my 1 and only toy. The Marauder and my '72 Olds would both go. It was agreed. Well, the 442 is sitting outside my house, the Marauder kept breaking so I wasn't able to sell it and, well, I still have my '72 also. If you're keeping score, that's 4 vehicles with a 1-car garage and a 1-car driveway. Patience surrounding "my cars" is at a premium, ya dig? :beatnik:

[L.Mark]

Feel your pain. Before I bought the Marauder I had three cars, one for back up. Twice, they all went down on the same day after being fine the day before. The norm was if I did something to one, that was just an improvement, the other would go down. Get the other up and another one would go down. I understand you planning on selling the car, just be glad what is going wrong is being diagnosed, and not a ghost in the wind problem...ask me how I know...:D...feels good to vent though don't it????

[wickedmerc]

Feel your pain. Before I bought the Marauder I had three cars, one for back up. Twice, they all went down on the same day after being fine the day before. The norm was if I did something to one, that was just an improvement, the other would go down. Get the other up and another one would go down. I understand you planning on selling the car, just be glad what is going wrong is being diagnosed, and not a ghost in the wind problem...ask me how I know...:D...feels good to vent though don't it????

Yeah, I was feeling pretty frustrated the other night. This site is very cool...very informative but also a place to vent some steam when our cars are not cooperating and have others fully understand where we're coming from. I appreciate it.

Technically my MM is for sale but the only place that's known is in my sig and on a faded, crumpled sign on my passenger floor :D We'll see......

[TP Derrick D]

I got A/C problems on my MM also but no way is it going bye-bye because of that or any other "small" repairs needed. cars break now & then, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury all way to one of the 2 Lexus my wife got. She thought when she bought it, a GS 300 new in 2000 that "foreign cars don't break down"...yeah 13 years and 190,000 miles later she see that even if car still runs like new its the small stuff that's breaking, no engine problems, no tranny problems but she finally understand they all break down and need maintenance . She only learned that from me since we been married the past almost 18 years. When we were dating she was in the mind set she had to get a new car every 3 years. That idea is long gone after I convinced her she only losing money doing that and the dealer is no way going to give her what she think her car is worth. She saw that back in 2010 when she wanted to trade the GS 300 in on a new 2010 LS 460 and they offered her $4000 for it.... she still got it as her DD.

[wickedmerc]

I got A/C problems on my MM also but no way is it going bye-bye because of that or any other "small" repairs needed. cars break now & then, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury all way to one of the 2 Lexus my wife got.

Yea, we'll see what happens. I'm trying to figure a way to make it more family-friendly...working A/C is a good start :rolleyes:

Nice truck!

[eennte]

Does your AC work now or not?

[wickedmerc]

Does your AC work now or not?
A/C works... great in fact. My wife might even drive it tomorrow as she's now having trouble with her Acadia...

...wait for it....

Yep! Her A/C!! :shake:

[ChiTownMaraud3r]

My MM's stupidass blend door has been acting up for over a year. There is a trick to get it to work.

You have to run the self diagnostics and cancel half way between by pressing the cold blue button. Turn the AC on and jack it up to 90*. The clicking in the door will stop and you can slowly creep back down to the 70s range without the clicking. I have been doing this the last couple of times driving the car in the heat..I am not looking forward to taking the dash apart to get to the blend door.:mad2:

I don't know what's worse, knowing I have to replace it, or knowing that it might happen again for no reason..I mean I barely drive the damn thing.

[wickedmerc]

My MM's stupidass blend door has been acting up for over a year. There is a trick to get it to work.

You have to run the self diagnostics and cancel half way between by pressing the cold blue button. Turn the AC on and jack it up to 90*. The clicking in the door will stop and you can slowly creep back down to the 70s range without the clicking. I have been doing this the last couple of times driving the car in the heat..I am not looking forward to taking the dash apart to get to the blend door.:mad2:

I don't know what's worse, knowing I have to replace it, or knowing that it might happen again for no reason..I mean I barely drive the damn thing.

My issue was a little deeper. When local mechanic installed aftermarket blend door actuator (which appears to have been the original cause for A/C to stop working), he likely over-tightened it, stripping out the actuator mounts. When motor went to move the blend door, IT moved instead of the door. So Ford had to replace door with box AND another new actuator (Ford part, of course), since they wouldn't reinstall the aftermarket part.

It is said that you can get to the actuator without removing dash. But if actual door is the problem, whole dash has to come out. It's a very large project but if you have the time, space and tools, go for it!! I wish you luck with it!