Screwed by FORD Philippines
6 hrs ·
A lot of people have contacted me complaining of transmission issues that have been blamed on them by their respective Ford stealerships, the majority of these cases involve rust found internally when the casa opened them, naturally the most common blame is that they have been flooded... well thats not always the case, this seems to be a common problem, here is a detailed case by 1 unfortunate Powershift owner, again FGP have failed their customers
"I bought the car in April 2014 from a Ford dealership in Metro Manila (let's call it Dealership A).
RUSTED GEARBOX
On the 24th of August of 2015, as I was just driving off from my workplace, I immediately felt a problem with the car. With the car at D (drive), it wouldn't move forward with a light touch on the throttle. It moved only, with a sharp jerk at that, when you pushed on the pedal harder.
As I drove on, the car wasn't shifting properly, moving jerkily as it accelerated and decelerated during braking. The drive didn't easily disengage whenever I braked, so the car shuddered irregularly when I braked. You'd have to shift quickly to neutral once you put your foot on the brake pedal. The engine malfunction warning light came on. I did a systems check through the car's computer menu, and it said with "All systems normal". I tried to put it in Sport/Manual mode but that didn't work. The car felt unsafe to drive so I immediately decided to bring it slowly to the nearest dealership, another Ford dealership (which we will call Dealership B.
The service adviser told me that the car's computer needed reprogramming. After a day, they told me reprogramming didn’t solve the problem, so they needed to open the transmission itself. I agreed.
Upon its disassembly, they discovered that the PowerShift gearbox was RUSTED. (I took pictures.) They submitted a report to the Ford plant and requested for repairs under warranty. Initially, the people from the Ford plant said the warranty didn’t cover rust damage, saying it was due to environmental exposure. I argued that the interior of the gearbox should not get exposed to the environment in the first place. They finally agreed to have it repaired under warranty. However, parts weren’t readily available and they had to order those from Thailand. Repairs began on the first week of October 2015 (I brought the car in August).
TRANSMISSION MALFUNCTION AGAIN
February 2016. I was driving out from my home when the engine warning light illuminated as the car behaved strangely again. I slowly drove it to Dealership B, where they discovered a malfunction in the clutch actuator for 1st, 3rd, 5th, and reverse gears. They replaced the defective part under warranty within one week.
TRANSMISSION MALFUNCTION YET AGAIN
July 2016. I was driving one afternoon from Makati to Manila when the same problem reappeared. I figured it was easier to drive to Dealership A. Upon evaluation, they saw that the same clutch actuator that was replaced five months earlier, was malfunctioning as well. They replaced that part again, under warranty.
TRANSMISSION AND STARTING ISSUES
September 2016. Every so often, I began hearing a short and faint grinding sound when I turned off the engine. The car is running well so I thought it wasn’t a big issue. But on September 21, the car didn’t start that easily. The grinding sound came out even during starting, when I turn the key to ON. After two attempts the engine started. As I was driving my daughter to school, I felt the jerky movements again that I previously experienced over the past year. I knew it was a transmission problem again. I called Dealership B and asked if a weak battery could cause such symptoms. They said it might. So I had the battery replaced. After the replacement, the car ran properly. For that day only.
The grinding sound reappeared the day after the battery replacement. But the gears engaged well, so I merely observed it and reported it to the Dealership B service advisor.
However, on September 30, the transmission problem became evident again. I knew I lost 2nd, 4th, and 6th gears, and Sport Mode, so I figured it was the other clutch actuator that was malfunctioning. I brought that car to Makati Ford that day. They reprogrammed the computer and I got the car back on October 3. It ran properly, but the grinding sound was still there during engine starting and shutoff. Three days later, the gear shifting symptoms were back. All the jerking and sudden lunges. I brought the car back to Dealership B on October 8, 2016.
They tried reprogramming it, but the problem remained. I said of course, why would it succeed now when it failed last week? He said then that upon discussion with the warranty office, they shall proceed with opening up the gearbox again. AGAIN.
They found RUST DAMAGE again inside the gearbox. They also discovered that the starter motor was broken.
Incidentally, they also saw that one engine support was already worn down.
I got the car back in November 2016, gearbox repaired and engine support and starter motor replaced under warranty. At that point I insisted on an extension of their three-year warranty because I felt that visit to the shop wouldn't be my last. They instead granted me a one-year extended warranty on transmission repairs alone, due to expire on April 2018.
RUST AGAIN
Which was fortuitous, because last June 21, 2017, seven months after I got the car back, the PowerShift transmission broke down again. Exactly the same symptoms as the first incident. Dealership B opened the gearbox again, and they found RUST again inside. It took a month to order, repair, and perform quality testing.
So there you have it-- a three-year-and-three-month old Ecosport, whose PowerShift gearbox had rusted three times. One clutch actuator was replaced twice, the other clutch actuator replaced once."
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