Die, Ford Motor Company, Die!

The BBQ Pit
1

Okay, today I’m on my way to work when the defroster and air vents start spewing white “smoke” into the car. Accompanied by the divine smell of burning antifreeze. (A smell you never forget. Right up there with rancid skunk.)

It turns out that the thermostat housing had developed some hairline cracks and had chosen that moment – while I’m tooling along on the freeway doing 65 – to pop wide open and spew coolant all over the damn place. Lucky me, I was only a mile from the nearest Wal-Mart. I got the car there and spent the next few hours tooling around with kwik cement and silicone gasket goo trying to jury-rig a fix. (No, I don’t have AAA.)

When I got home I hit Google to see if this was a common problem. Much to my lack of surprise, it was. In fact FoMoCo issued recall “TSB 01M02” on just this problem.

And here’s where it all goes to Hell: The bastards issued a partial recall! Limited to ONLY police pursuit vehicles!! Even though they are 100% aware of the problem* they won’t fix it!* :mad: :mad:

The dealer cost for the part is $600 and with p&l I’m looking at a minimum $1000 repair. Who do I have to kill to get my car fixed? Do I call a lawyer? Is there such a thing as a class action suit for problems like this?

Those bastards at Ford should be driven to Hell in a gutted '73 Pinto.

2

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention the car itself. I drive a '97 Grand Marquis LS.

3

Oh Christ, my parents had a Pinto. It belched out exhaust which smelled of pickled egg farts. Good call on sending the Ford fuckers to hell in one of those.

4

Oh Christ, my parents had a Pinto. It belched out exhaust which smelled of pickled egg farts. Good call on sending the Ford fuckers to hell in one of those.

And sorry about your car problems. Sucks, dude.

5

Yeah but it’ll break down and they’ll only end up in the second level of purgatory to sit and think about their bad behavior for a bit.

6

Howdy.

Fellow Grand Marquis owner here.

Here’s a copy of the recall from, hang on there, a police interceptor fan site. There’s more offical ways to get a copy of this from Ford on the web, I think, I just googled this quickly. The important part is the table of included parts:

1996 - 1997 Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Town Car - All F8AZ-9424-BC* F8AZ-9424-AAA
As I’m reading it, at least, it seems to me you ought to be covered. My suggestion is to contact other Ford dealerships in your area, to see if any will look into it and cover it for you. If you’ve already had the work done, those same dealerships might help you get a refund from Ford (a good dealership will do this kind of thing to earn your business).
Hope this helps.

InkBlot
:eek:

7

Nah. It’ll get hit from behind by a Pacer and explode. :wink:

8

Look in your owner’s manual an get the number for Fomoco’s customer relations. Call them and explain your problem, and they should be able to look up if it has been recalled(you will need your VIN for this). If so, let them handle the dealership…they will get farther than you. If it hasn’t been recalled let them know how loyal a Ford customer you have been(lol) and see if there is anything they can do, especially considering that this seems to be a widespread problem. If anything maybe they will at least eat the cost of the part so that you are only out the labor costs…

I know this seems a little far fetched…but I have seen stranger things happen in the automotive industry.

9

With my '94 taurus, I kind of make a game out of what part will shit out next. Luckily for me, it seems the '93 and '94 models seems to have extra expensive parts when compared to the other years!

10

I think it should be Das Ford Motor Company.

11

i heartily agree with the sentiment in the OP…

my first “car” was an '88 ford crapscort, it was arguably the worst piece of Ebola-ridden monkey excrement on the planet and it has soured me on fords for the rest of my life, i’ll never trust another ford product as long as i live…

at around 10,000 the main computer controlling the idle died, i could drive the top speed in every gear without touching the gas, if i pushed in the clutch, the engine would over-rev and bounce off the rev limiter

20,000 miles the drivers side front tie-rod was on the verge of failure because ford decided to save .25¢ by using a brass bushing as opposed to a stainless steel ball bearing

30,000 miles, passenger side tie-rod

40,000 miles, the ignition system crapped out, needed new plugs, wires, rotor, distributor cap…

50,000 miles, the drivers side window shattered spontaneously while i was paying for gas, got it fixed, 9 days later it happened again, while i was driving

55,000 miles the gas tank developed a slow leak, couldn’t keep more than a half tank of gas in it

60,000 miles, throttle body fuel injector burned out, stranding me at work until i could bum a ride off my folks

65,000 miles, got fed up with this piece of dren, traded it in for a '92 Dodge Shadow that gave me 120,000 miles of worry-free driving

throughout this whole time, the crapscort had a major appetite for tires, 70,000 mile tires would get 25,000 if i was lucky, and yes, the alignments were performed regularly

die fomoco (fonogo)

ford (backwards) Driver Returns On Foot

12

Guess I’m just a lucky guy-the Catmobile is a 1985 Ford, soon to turn 392K miles.

13

I’ve always thought Ford made very pretty cars. I just wish they could use all Honda parts, then I’d buy one.

If someone gave me a Ford, I’d sell it immediately and buy a Honda or Toyota.

–Driving a 15 yr old Honda I bought new, with 220k miles as of yesterday, she runs great.

14

Considering Henry’s political leanings, it would be apt in more ways than one.

As a former Ford owner* and current Mazda owner, I have to say this: I will never buy an American car again.

Never. Never Neever Neber Noover. Ain’t fucking happening, that’s my goddamn point. I’m over here, American cars are over there, and that’s how it’s gonna stay, a-fucking-men.

I think what did it for me was the sound I hear when I close the door of my RX-8. It’s this incredible “Whoomp” noise you only get when the parts are all manufactured and fitted just right. My Mustang never whoomped. It was more of a creak, followed by a sharp metallic grind where the clasp didn’t line up, and ending in a prolonged rattle from unidentifiable parts inside the door panel.

Sure, the RX-8 may not be as fast as a V8 Mustang, but it’s still fast. And it has decent brakes, without the need to buy a $1500 aftermarket set to replace the OEM shite. And it can go around a corner at speed without dropping another $2000 on a tricked up suspension. So I’m staying put. I’ll save my money for when HKS actually puts together a turbo kit, or if they release the RX-7 this side of the Pacific and I find someone to buy a kidney.

  • My beloved 5.0 Mustang had to be scrapped when the fuel pump, transmission, differential, master cylinder, and transmission control computer all started to crap out within a week of each other, resulting in a repair estimate that curiously synched to the down payment on my new car.
15

Mazdas are Fords. Kind of.

16

I have a 1994 Escort SW. It’s just a 323 in disguise.

IIRC, Ford owns 25%± of Mazda.

17

Inkblot, DWTom Thanks so much for your information! I’ll get right on it first thing in the morning.

Oh, yeah: One of my worst cars ever was a 1983 and a half Escort. Apparently they were assembled out of the worst parts of the 83 and 84 models. If the piece was expensive or inconvenient, my car had it.

Now I can hear J. E. Jones intoning “Stephen King’s ‘Das Fomoco!’ Coming to a theater near you!” snerk!

18

We have had excellent luck with Fords:

165K on a ford escort (pulled the plug and donated it.)

120k on a ford Festiva ( sold it.)

Another ford Escort that got the shit beat out of it and it kept going and going and going.

Ford Econoline 167K on it. ( crashed it. and that was it’s 5th really big crash. The first by me. the other four by my FIL, the former owner. it took a woman to crash it properly! :slight_smile:

Ford Econoline 120K . Still have it. Up for sale.

Ford Focus. Hubby’s car. Well made except for the stupid cup holders.

I drive a Suburban. 10 years old. 70k. It’s vunderbar. I mean, Vunderbar. Never thought I’d drive anything but an Econoline. But, I’ve switched sides. I’m such a ho.
Oh, we had one Chrysler that we smited over the years, but it turns out it wasn’t Chrysler’s problem, it was a mouse problem in our garage. :eek: Fooking mice.

We had a Dodge Ram Pick up for 20 years ( ok, my FIL had it most of that time) that had 250k put on it before the tranny and brakes had a suicide pact.

Overall, we are very, very lucky.

I would love to own a rice burner car, but this is Detroit, man. I would be mocked or possibly stoned for driving some jap car. However, it is ok to drive a German car, which I have always found velly interesting.

19

Actually, Mazda’s Ford’s bitch, and has been for quite some time. Frankly, after having owned 3 Fords, I fully intend to cold cock any Ford engineer I meet.

20

Ford makes a pretty decent used car. My problem was in buying my second (and last) Ford new.

In 1981 I bought my last “American” made car, which happened to be assembled not in the US. I strongly believe assembly began on Friday at 3:59PM and resumed at 8:00AM on Monday. Her name was Christine. Most of her mileage was on the back of a towtruck. This was not a Ford product, BTW.

Since then I’ve bought “Japanese” cars, all of which have been assembled in the US. Go figure.

I’m likely unwelcome in Detroit, but TN will be happy to see me.

Good luck with your Ford! At least you’ve got some good advice here. :slight_smile: