I'll believe it when I see it - Ford Dealer

[samill2]

I have a light oil leak in the rearend and, since I have an extended warranty and limited time, I took my car to the local (non-svt) Auffenberg dealer here in O'Fallon.

The guy calls me and says it's a simple rear differential gasket leak - no big deal - I had also asked him about The Vibe just out of some hope he might be able to do something. He says there's a "special service bulletin" or something from Ford and that he wants to swap out the whole rear diff. assy.!? Since it's over his cost cap, he has to get prior approval from Ford and they're sending an inspector out today. He says the chances he'll approve it are pretty good. I couldn't believe it. I went through this crap in MD and after swapping out the driveshaft they basically threw their hands in the air and said "live with it, buddy." :mj:

The idea of getting a new rearend at 57kmi makes me happy but I wouldn't care if it was a $10 fix as long as they could fix that vibration. I'm really excited, but trying to keep cool and keep my fingers crossed until the inspector approves/declines.

Please, please, Ford, fix this problem!!

 

[smetz]

It's a TSB so they shouldn't have any problems having it replaced. Many others on this board have had it replaced a few times. Good luck to you though, keep us posted.

Click here for TSB

 

[BLK04]

Good luck..

 

[samill2]

It's a TSB so they shouldn't have any problems having it replaced. Many others on this board have had it replaced a few times. Good luck to you though, keep us posted.

Click here for TSB

I actually asked him about this TSB and he said "no, it's not a TSB, it's a blah, blah, service message blah" I don't remember...don't care as long as they fix it. lease:

 

[Top_Fuel]

...he has to get prior approval from Ford and they're sending an inspector out today.

Uh oh...the FSE (field service engineer) is on the way! :uh oh:

Please tell us you don't have any obvious, serious mods. A sharp FSE can spot a pulley and drag radials a mile away.

If you only have the mods in your sig, and you cleaned the shoe polish numbers off your side windows, you should be OK... :lol1:

 

[CobraBob]

I wish you the best of luck with this issue. I hope that you get it fixed without a hassle.

 

[samill2]

Approved!

Got the approval :rockon:

Parts on order. Guy's gonna call me Monday.

Only mods are the Intake and tune and I detuned it before I took it in.

I hope this vibe gets fixed.

 

[CobraBob]

That's great news. I was hoping that they'd stay focused on the issue and not get sidetracked by your mods. ;-)

 

[samill2]

That's great news. I was hoping that they'd stay focused on the issue and not get sidetracked by your mods. ;-)

I forgot to mention the groovy Cobrabob stangshiftergasket mod I have (which happens to have an MGW attached to it). I don't think they care too much about that

 

[RDJ]

I forgot to mention the groovy Cobrabob stangshiftergasket mod I have (which happens to have an MGW attached to it). I don't think they care too much about that

GENERALLY speaking .. dealers don't care about things like suspension mods, gearshift mods, or even gear mods when it comes to warranty issues. the things they GENERALLY look for are custom chips, pulleys, swapped heads or other enginge parts (k&n doesn't affect warranty) NOS, or a super charger where there shouldn't be one.

I have the basic suspension stuff on my 95 with gears and shifter and never had any issues with warranty when it was under warranty. I don't expect to have any on my 04 when I get it since engine mods are not on the list for a good long time, if ever.

just DON'T do ANYTHING that will piss off the service manager ... cause if you piss him off they will go over it with a fine tooth comb and screw you on the warranty totally LOL there is a thread on this I think on this board somewhere ... *heh*

 

[CobraBob]

I forgot to mention the groovy Cobrabob stangshiftergasket mod I have (which happens to have an MGW attached to it). I don't think they care too much about that

:lol1: :lol1:

 

[samill2]

Got the rearend diff in today and began the swap. I stopped by to see the transplant in progress. Dealer says it should be ready tomorrow. IF it stops the vibe, I'll try to find the most "official" Vibe thread (which should be stickied IMHO) and post the results.

 

[I8URZ28]

GENERALLY speaking .. dealers don't care about things like suspension mods, gearshift mods, or even gear mods when it comes to warranty issues. the things they GENERALLY look for are custom chips, pulleys, swapped heads or other enginge parts (k&n doesn't affect warranty) NOS, or a super charger where there shouldn't be one.

I have the basic suspension stuff on my 95 with gears and shifter and never had any issues with warranty when it was under warranty. I don't expect to have any on my 04 when I get it since engine mods are not on the list for a good long time, if ever.

just DON'T do ANYTHING that will piss off the service manager ... cause if you piss him off they will go over it with a fine tooth comb and screw you on the warranty totally LOL there is a thread on this I think on this board somewhere ... *heh*

That is true--reason being if you read in the manual for our cars I believe it says something like "adding an aftermarket pulley/aftermarket chip voids the powertrain warrenty"

 

[ShelbyGuy]

looks like you still have goodyear eagle f1 tires on the car. thats half your vibe right there. oem tires are throw-away tires.

 

[samill2]

looks like you still have goodyear eagle f1 tires on the car. thats half your vibe right there. oem tires are throw-away tires.

Actually the dealer swapped out the rears for some Falkens when I bought the car and after going through a coupla high-speed balancings, alignments, etc. we swapped the Falkens to the front and did it again. Now I have some CRAP all-weather Avons on the car that bump until warmed up so it's hard to tell.

 

[tv's 03]

In my experience (3 IRS cobras, including the 99 which was the worse for the vibe), most vibes are the tires. But hey, a new DS and differential are nice too!

 

[blownstang01]

looks like you still have goodyear eagle f1 tires on the car. thats half your vibe right there. oem tires are throw-away tires.

Dude, read the post, he says he has 57,000 on the car and you think his tires are factory???

 

[samill2]

Got the car back today. From what I can tell, The Vibe is 95% gone - I'm happy. Of course, now there's a new grinding noise coming from the pass/rear wheel so I'll have to investigate that. Other than that it drives nice.

 

[ShelbyGuy]

some people put the oem tires back on.

Dude, read the post, he says he has 57,000 on the car and you think his tires are factory???

 

[blownstang01]

some people put the oem tires back on.

OK, I get it, You where reffering to Replacement F1's not Original Equiptment.


Samill2.....glad you got it fixed epper: You might want to check the disc brake shield for your new noise, they are real easy to bend up next to the rotor. Good Luck