Local Ford dealer

[Chuck Smith]

Now some of you may know how much I hate car/truck dealers even trying to work on plows. They end up here (and I am sure at Arc's, CGSI's, garagekeepers, and Jerres) eventually. Had a call from a Ford dealer about 30 miles from here. Had a customer with a Meyer Xpress plow with the old wireless controller, and wanted to know if an update/upgrade install was covered under warranty. Go figure, IT IS. As long as it is the ORIGINAL OWNER that wants the update. Did one last week that was originally installed in 11/04. Just finished one this morning (from the Ford dealer) that was also originally installed in 11/04. List on the parts is just over $1200. Kudos to Meyer for offering this update. The one last week went to another Meyer dealer who strung him along for 2 weeks. I got the parts in the next day.

Anyway, this 05 F-350 was at the Ford dealer for intermittent operation of the plow. They checked it over, and called me. Here are some pics of what I found when I opened the hood. Keep in mind, this truck has never been anywhere for repairs except the stealer. I found the headlight changeover module disconnected. Customer said he had a light problem, and the stealer tried to fix it once before. Apparently, disconnecting the modules fixed the problem, except the customer then had no plow lights. They didn't tell him they unplugged the module.

Pic one... my GOD.:eek: This is the driver's side battery. No plow connections here, but this truck is in for service religously.

Pic two, this is the passenger side battery. The yellow arrow is pointing to the the power and ground connections for the plow.

Pic three, the installer screwed this up, but I guess the stealer did not see a problem with the melted wires feeding the plow controller. Ran them across the firewall over the turbo.

JUST SAY NO to a car/truck dealer fixing your plow!

~Chuck

[Woodsman]

That's funny, but I'll do you one better. I went to the Chevy dealer in Spokane last year to look at a used truck. Didn't see anything I liked on the lot but they had a demo in the service department getting a service before it went on the lot for sale.

Decided to take it for a spin, going down I-90 with the salesman when warning lights started blinking and the oil pressure gauge went to zero. Started fighting my way over 4 lanes of traffic to the breakdown lane, motor is knocking and smoking. Shut her down and see a trail of oil. The tech was in a rush to get me the truck and put the oil filter on finger tight.

Best part was waiting for the wrecker, the salesman was trying like hell to sell me the truck with a brand new motor for more than the price on the windshield!

[BWhite]

Its not just plow installation , its everything . Its hard to imagine anyone ignoring the condition of those battery terminals . They are begging to be cleaned .

[Plow Dak]

Its not just plow installation , its everything . Its hard to imagine anyone ignoring the condition of those battery terminals . They are begging to be cleaned .

Not hard when we show them and they say no.

Just an O+F is all i need.

Some are real good and do all the required stuff.

History on some cars is only free oil and filter changes.

Had a woman come in during the fall and i made a list on the things she needed.
Car was not maintained well and had issues.

Came in this winter and i got it again.
On some cars i get a funny feeling and i kept the list i had made.

Gave it to her again and was declined.

Came in a month later on the hook. ( you know where this is going right)

Well she talked to the owner and said the service department stunk and the guy working on the car didn't know what he was doing.

So i pulled the last 6 months records all my notes.

One note i put in said this car is coming in on a hook if they don't do something.

So sick of having to CYA myself.

I agree Chuck there are lots of places that do that type of work.
It's just wrong.

That's why i make notes.


I totally agree with you on plow repairs. It's not the same working conditions or experience.

Like how do i get paid for fixing these things ?

We're not a dealer. But we install them. Warr ???? Maint ??? Don't have tec support.

My install would take longer then they allow.

As far as woodsman's story. I can see that happening real easy. 3 people on your back saying hurry hurry i got someone waiting to drive this thing. I'll tell you it's no joke trying to do good work. I see it all the time. Been bit myself hurrying.

"Just get it back together enough to drive it" is another good one.

So who pays me to put the old brakes back on and take them off again to where i am now?

They have cust. looking at the car while I'm working on it and i don't even have the use car check done and they're asking when they can drive it..
LIKE :( :eek: ..
Give me a break.

The best advise i can give you is if your shopping for a used vehicle and it's in the shop DON'T GO LOOK AT IT. Tell your sales person that after it's through the shop and done give me a call and I'll come in to look at it. Because once you say you want to drive it the tech is in for trouble and he isn't going home on time. And he sure as heck don't want to be there any longer than he has to be and the quality of the work goes down the dumper.

[Chuck Smith]

Mike, my point was he took it to the dealer to have them fix the plow. They didn't even do the basics. He just asked to have the plow fixed, so no approval was needed.

Amen on the warranty work. Both of these upgrades took me over 6 hours and I got paid for 4. Actually the Ford above took me 8, but it needed additional work due to a poor install and the Ford dealer possibly cutting wires. The book time for replacing a vehicle side wiring harness is .4 hours. I'd like to meet the guy that can do it that fast! Half the time just to R/R the grille and headlights is more than .4 hrs.

~Chuck

[wyldman]

See this stuff all the time.They don't think the battery is part of the plow system,or just don't care.

On a Ford, the area above the turbo is NOT the place to run plow wiring.Either tuck it up under the cowl,or go the long way around.

[Plow Dak]

Mike, my point was he took it to the dealer to have them fix the plow. They didn't even do the basics. He just asked to have the plow fixed, so no approval was needed.
~Chuck

Yea i hear ya...

Just can't fix stupid..........

[John DiMartino]

Around here,I'd call that a typical dealership "repair" job. My favorite is "cannot duplicate problem".:D

[Woodsman]

Around here,I'd call that a typical dealership "repair" job. My favorite is "cannot duplicate problem".:D

My favorite as well. My Freightliner would build a lot of heat climbing the Lewiston grade then all of a sudden it would get cold. All while under the same load. Took it in for warranty work at the dealer in Spokane. Well it's flatter up there and tooling down the interstate it wouldn't do it. Finally paid a local truck mechanic to drive it up the grade and found the problem. The thermostat would stick under heavy load and then pop free. If the Freightliner shop had strapped the truck to a chassis dyno wouldn't that have simulated the conditions? They've been great with everything else though. Only had one other warranty issue so far, bad high beam switch. When I schedule an oil change the bay is ready and waiting when I pull in. Very fast and professional service.

What bums me out is the way some dealers treat their techs. The Ford shop was the worst, my old truck was an F-650 and I'm glad I don't have to visit the Ford service dealer anymore. On a hot day I would always bring a big cooler of Gatorades and hand them out to the techs since the shop wasn't air conditioned. Cold days I brought Starbucks vanilla lattes. The manager was always giving the guys dirty looks for taking the time to accept a drink from me. Since the F-650 was a pain for a small Ford shop to work on and the tech had to work outside (not enough space in the shop) I'd always tip the tech $50. Well one day as I was leaving I noticed the manager come running out of his office with his hand out making a "gimme" motion and took the techs tip and put it in his pocket. I later found out that the tech wasn't allowed to keep his tips. If he did the manager would give him crap jobs and starve him. What a place to work. I don't know how they put up with it.

The Freightliner place is totally different. They know my name, my truck, the techs are allowed to get some Gatorade or coffee and they keep the tips I pay. If only Freightliner made 3/4 or 1 ton trucks. Plus the waiting area is nicer and a guy could spend his life savings in the chrome shop.

Believe it or not some customers do notice the guys in the shop and are grateful to them for keeping us on the road making money with our equipment.