2009 Ford Flex Limited: Dealer FAIL

SUre, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. And gloves can impede feel. I only use them if something is hot or sharp.

Looks like that cast iron cover if thats what it is is broke where it said's FoMoCo on it towards top of pic some one dropped it

I think it's merely machined away. I'll look at some of the other photos I shot and address that in the walkaround post.

o ok i just thought bc it actully take some of the "o" away

Nice save Dan!
I agree on DIY!! Especially easy to do maint like brake pads, fluids & inspections.
There really isn't too much difficult work on a car unless a computer is needed.

DIY service with a good service manual so you can make sure you're doing things right, which is particularly important in torque settings. Also, VW loves to use stretch bolts in lots of places on my car and it reccomends they get replaced everytime they're loosened, which I'm willing to bet the dealer doesn't bother with.

"Are you telling me that if all 4 tires come off in the course of a service you're still not going to rotate them because we didn't specifically ask or pay? Really?"

I've had my Mazda6 in for routine maintenance six times, at three different dealers. Tire rotation is explicitly listed as part of the scheduled maintenance. I presume it takes time and they charge me for that labor time, when they do it--but four times they haven't. One time they did, and one time I asked them not to because I had just purchased new tires. They always give you the spiel about informing them of any problems if you can't give them all 10s on Mazda's survey and giving them a chance to correct them--but the time I complained about the tires not being rotated they never called me back like they promised to do (one reason I keep trying new dealers).

I don't remember what my earlier Mazda ('83 and '90) were like, but I had similar problems with my '95 Ford. I told them I take the car to a dealer for scheduled maintenance during the warranty period because I presume they have the appropriate maintenance schedules--I shouldn't have to reproduce them verbatim from the owner's manual, I should just be able to say I want a nx1000 mi service on the "severe" schedule.

Fortunately, the tires I bought came with free lifetime rotation, but that's a additional appointment to schedule unless it's in conjunction with annual safety inspection or some other service.

I used to do some of my own maintenance, but it's a hassle to change the oil on a Mazda6 because of the plastic aerodynamic fairing under the engine compartment, and I'm not as young as I used to be crawling under the car and switching between two pairs of eyeglasses depending on what I need to do.

VW is weird like that. I still to this day have a friend torque head bolts for me because the of the sickening feeling I got from the stretch head bolts in my old VW Rabbit race car: Torque to X lb-ft, then go a half-turn more (or a quarter - I forget now) and try to ignore that it feels like it's going to break. No thanks.

Thankfully, none of my other cars has ever used such bolts.

Dan, could you (or Mike) please make a separate blog entry about the Flex's rear brake job and more details about that visit? I'm curious as to how much the brake job was.

after several failed attempts at getting even a oil change right, I have forgone going to the shop for anything that I can do myself... oil changes, brakes, and stuff like so. Even 100K tune-ups like sparkplugs and wires fall into my DIY category. If it can be done with hand tools (most things can) or only needs a couple specialty tools that I can either rent or borrow (I have a mechanic friend), then up on jack stands the car goes and I go to work...

Sometimes it takes a little longer (a day to soak and loosen the supremely tight caliper bolts on my Astro) than I would like, but I learn in the process and then the next time I know better how to do it. (plus Chilton's are a must and a plus)

I'm a DIY guy also, but I'm very fortunate in that I also have a great BMW dealer and a great Mazda dealer I can use when I'm too busy or I have a job I don't want to mess with. I also have a good indie BMW shop and a neighborhood shop to fall back on as well. I get really good service(and free use of one of their lifts when things are slow) at the hometown shop because I'm their go-to guy when the occasional BMW shows up.

The one time I got lazy in the last few years and had a shop change the oil in my wife's car, they failed to screw down the oil filler cap. I checked it on a whim, so no harm done. But still...sheesh!

@sodaguy. I'm already on it. I'm waiting for a tidbit of information before I move forward, though.

Dan, I feel your pain. I wonder if in their race to the bottom, the dealers employ mechanics at all?

Do they still have car repair classes in technical schools?

No, but you can sign up for gun repair or video game design.

Take it back. Seriously. Ford looks at the return rate on service visits and penalizes the dealer.

Assuming it's a union shop, too many returns is a conversation that the tech and the union do not want to have with the service manager.

Good dealers try and minimize returns. If the vehicle doesn't come back, they don't know they have a problem.

Or there can be another fail/scam. It is highly likely that they didn't inspect the front brakes, they could have glance at it thru the wheels without taking the wheels off, or they didn't look at it at all. I always think that the dealer don't perform any of those inspection that they charge customer for. There is no penalty if the mechanic don't do the inspection, so why do it? In my opinion, 70% of dealer's service are scams.

Dealer service is the worst. They charge extra and no one takes pride in their work or customer service.
Dealer service is for soccer moms and retirees.

Did you all have to pay for the tire rotation, Dan?

Sounds like Dan didn't ask or pay for a tire rotation, he was pissed that they couldn't rotate the tires while they were all off the car anyways.

I wasn't the one who took in it for the service, but it was a regularly-scheduled visit, coupled with a "the brakes are making a noise" complaint. Whether the rotation was to be part of that regular visit or not, I look at it like this: if this were MY shop, the only way I wouldn't have rotated the tires in an all-wheels-off situation is if the customer specifically asked me not to.

Dan, my feeling is most mechanics at the dealer are so lazy, they only do what they are specifically asked to do. If tire rotation wasn't on the list of things to do, they would not even think about checking the tread of the tires to see if they need to be rotated while all 4 wheels were off the car. They would just finish what they were asked to do as fast as possible and get it over with. Rotating the tires while they are at it didn't even cross their mind.