My fiancee has a 2005 F150 with just under 36k miles. The truck has had a vibration from the rear end since about 5k miles. It has been to two different Ford dealerships. This current dealership has "fixed" it twice. So she just picked it up again and again the vibration is still there. I am going with her this time to bitch at the guys. So I have been doing some research but am not finding anything concrete. What are our, her, options here? From what I have read the lemon law requires the dealer to replace the truck if the same problem has been "fixed" four or more times. Anyone have any good info or recommendations for us?

Demand someone from Ford's warranty division to come to the dealership and hear your complaint, and raise 10 kinds of hella until you get results. I had a problem with a Ford Ranger 5-sp tranny, kept locking up when shifting 2nd to 3rd with only 20K miles on it. After the second overhaul, I got two engineers from Ford to come and inspect the tranny; either solve the problem or replace the dang thing. Once they inspected repaired it, I immediately went to the GM dealer down the street and traded it in on a new Blazer. Still chaps my hide to this day that Ford's warranty service ain't what it should be. The dealership will do nothing and could care less once they sell you the vehicle. JSM84

I went throught this before. you have to go through arbitration. if they do not fix the problem with 4 attempts you can get your money back. I got my money back on a 2001 RT durango.

Demand someone from Ford's warranty division to come to the dealership and hear your complaint, and raise 10 kinds of hella until you get results.

Good luck. My dad's Expy has had nothing but problems with the front brakes. It warps front rotors non stop. They eventually told my dad they would no longer cover it under warranty.

Needless to say my dad rose tons of hell about it and Ford's final response was basically, tough shit.

My dad swears he will never buy another Ford because of it. Mind you there are 4 Ford's sitting in his driveway. At one time there were over 6. He has always been a big Ford lover. He and my mom just bought a Toyota....

link to colorado lemon law. pretty straightforward read.

http://www.carlemon.com/lemon/CO_law.html

if you go back through all your paperwork you got with the truck the arbitration info is in there. you can google it too. lots of info there
more here http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee94b92/1590

Cool. Thanks guys. I figured it would come to arbitration. I am just wondering if it's worth it for a rear driveline vibration. She just pulled into the driveway and it's awful. It is way worse than it was before. Almolst sounds like there is no oil in the rear end. Back to Ford it goes tomorrow.

now that i work at a dealership i see that few people have actual problems like these, and that im the warranty clerk for the dealership i see all the repairs and maintenance. i think if ive seen any kind of problem, the dealership has offered to buy the vehicle back, through corporate of course.


I wouldnt bother with the service or general manager much anymore. Id walk into one of their offices and sit down, and tell them to dial the number of the president of operations, the area market manager, or owner, lastly.

those are the few people that actually care about the brands reputation, the table jockeys care, but any of those three i listed see things on the grand scale, and seem to care more for the actual repair or vehicle.

tell them to replace the driveshaft and rearend with new units. and be done with it.

now that i work at a dealership i see that few people have actual problems like these, and that im the warranty clerk for the dealership i see all the repairs and maintenance. i think if ive seen any kind of problem, the dealership has offered to buy the vehicle back, through corporate of course.


I wouldnt bother with the service or general manager much anymore. Id walk into one of their offices and sit down, and tell them to dial the number of the president of operations, the area market manager, or owner, lastly.

those are the few people that actually care about the brands reputation, the table jockeys care, but any of those three i listed see things on the grand scale, and seem to care more for the actual repair or vehicle.

tell them to replace the driveshaft and rearend with new units. and be done with it.
Thanks for the advise Matt. Right now it is not at the dealer we bought it from. Think that matters? First we took it to a dealer here in Boulder, but they suck so much that they closed. So we are now at a dealer in Longmont which is about a 20 minute drive. We have been back and forth to that dealer now three times for this issue. It really sucks. The dealer we bought it from is a 30 minute drive.

Thanks for the advise Matt. Right now it is not at the dealer we bought it from. Think that matters? First we took it to a dealer here in Boulder, but they suck so much that they closed. So we are now at a dealer in Longmont which is about a 20 minute drive. We have been back and forth to that dealer now three times for this issue. It really sucks. The dealer we bought it from is a 30 minute drive.

ummm i think it matters to go to the dealership you bought it from, it shows loyalty to the dealer itself, which can never hurt you. but none the less, this may come down to you not buying another product from either of these dealers, and you might feel free to express this as a last resort. because lets face it its crap man, tell them to fix there shit. i'd definately go through a market manager, the president of operations still writes off non warranty repairs within a dealership. a market manager writes them off through corporate ie: Ford Motor Company. they should have a goodwill budget which is primarily used to ensure client satisfaction. which is exactly what your shooting for.


i do however not work at a domestic dealership and everyone is different, but, they should have some kind of similar setup. the problem in your case is a repetitive complaint, and them consistently not being able to fix the vehicle. it doesnt look good on anyone. the dealership is already probably eating some of your repairs. corporate looks at it this way, 1 problem, 1 repair, not always the case, but 4 or 5 times and still not fixing it is a bad mark for the dealership. and the warranty for that dealership is already probably having trouble getting those last couple repairs payed for....

Small claims court is now 10,000 bucks. Go to your local judge that decides these issues with your facts and you will probably win because the dealership will not show up. It is a local judge issue, I know several friends that have got judgements on auto issues. Judges, they drive too. That is the rule in Texas, not sure about the rest of the country.

this hasent got anything to do with judges or atleast it doesnt yet.

this hasent got anything to do with judges or atleast it doesnt yet.

Not yet. But good to know none the less. Thanks trh. Well my fiancee drove around all day and now the noise is all but gone. I don't know that much about LS differentials. Does it take a bit of time for the clutches to seat or something? I will give it a good drive tomorrow and see what I can or can't hear.

Its a pita to get a vehicle bought back...usually the customer has to pay some out of pocket as well. something about depreciation or some crap. F150s have had vibrations problems. stupid question but have they looked at tires? are they the factory tires still or have you replaced them? this was a big issue. also are you sure its not just a dealers ability to not diag correctly? is the service management involved yet to try and help? or are they un willing?

Thing to remember the dealers are privatively owned and not owned byFOMOCO they need to conform to the rules of ford however and right now with ford loosing their ass in the market they are cracking down on warretny. the dealers are not able to do things like they should anymore. like having to rebuild an rear end opposed to replacing it for some odd vibration.

I suggest getting with management and telling them they need to get a field service rep(engineer) out there. and yes taking it back to the selling dealer is always best.

Its a pita to get a vehicle bought back...usually the customer has to pay some out of pocket as well. something about depreciation or some crap. F150s have had vibrations problems. stupid question but have they looked at tires? are they the factory tires still or have you replaced them? this was a big issue. also are you sure its not just a dealers ability to not diag correctly? is the service management involved yet to try and help? or are they un willing?

Thing to remember the dealers are privatively owned and not owned byFOMOCO they need to conform to the rules of ford however and right now with ford loosing their ass in the market they are cracking down on warretny. the dealers are not able to do things like they should anymore. like having to rebuild an rear end opposed to replacing it for some odd vibration.

I suggest getting with management and telling them they need to get a field service rep(engineer) out there. and yes taking it back to the selling dealer is always best.

The dealer buy back thing is an absolute last option. When this first started happening the tires were my first thought. They are those cheap Continental POS. I think the dealers so far have not been compitent. When we go back on Monday we will definatly be going to the manager. I will also suggest the tire thing. Do you know if it was a big enough issue for Ford to issue a TSB? Or do you know anywhere where there is info on the vibration/tire issue? I think for now we are going to stick where we have been taking it for the last three times. It's closer than the dealer from which we bought it and they now know the history, at leat they should. I wonder if we can get some new tires out of em'? Maybe some BFG's? I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys.

i would suggest that one of you take a test drive with the manager or a tech verifying the vibration. if you havent already. and maybe have the dealership swap the wheel/rim combination with another vehicle on the lot??? that would be the best stab at any tire/wheel issue right?


and i agree with dustin in getting a field/market engineer involved if the dealership hasent yet already called on the assistance of one.

That gives me some good ideas for tomorrow. Thanks guys. The only problem is that now the vibration/noise is just about gone.