Ford sold me out, switching to Toyota

[TigerWoodsG5]

Long story short version. Bought my 2019 Ford ranger brand new put a small leveling kit on it with some decent tire size tires. Specifics are in my profile. Babied this truck. Maintenance followed routinely. I’m 46 years old little to no where in tear I actually drive like a grandpa. Fast forward to one month ago. Driving on the highway started having hesitation took it straight to Ford in the computer said it was misfiring. Very next day it was determined that my spark plugs were rusted and one of them was seized in the engine. My buddy who is one of the service managers called me and asked me if I had some submerged my truck or off roaded. Neither nor. Told me it would be $600 to replace the plugs. Two days later he called me and told me they couldn’t get one of the plugs out. Now it was gonna be $1300 to replace the plug and the coil. Three days later, they still can’t get the plug out Five days later the plug still won’t come out now they need to replace not only the coil but the head and it was going to take 22 hours of labor. It is now $2300. They were telling me worst-case scenario might be $3200. Turns out on this forum It was determined that is an engineering flaw. Ford is telling me that the reason my spark plugs are rusted because I’ve over washed my truck. They refuse to cover any sort of work. I have 61,000 miles on my truck and I’ve called the customer service line where they were complete, jerks and again refused to cover any of the work, there is a TSB bulletin that tells Ford to put an engine cover on trucks, such as mine to prevent water vapors from getting into the spark plugs. Ford knows there is an issue I now haven’t had my truck for over three weeks. Luckily, my friend who owns the dealership is willing to buy it from me. Still uncertain of the total cost or afford will cover anything. We are in a scenario where we are challenging the decision. Bottom line I just got a Tacoma today

if there’s anybody who’s experiencing the same sort of dilemma, or issue with rusted spark plugs, please message me I’m curious. As of now, I will never buy another Ford or recommend another Ford to any human being on this earth that I encounter. Otherwise, I absolutely loved my ranger and I’m sad this has happened.

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[Chris M]

Dang!

 

[Rinn69]

TSB 23-2011

https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/23-2011

 

[TigerWoodsG5]

Yes, this is the TSB!​

 

[SDXLT]

I don’t even understand how washing your car results in this situation. How does one verify if they have an issue? As long as I’m not hiding down my engine am I ok here? If $175 engine cover saves me having to rebuild the top of the engine for a rusty plug I might just have to spend that.

 

[Wytchdctr]

Holy hell man that sucks. I have heard of that issue and looked after a hand wash, hard rain, and car wash. So far - no water is making it to my coverless engine. It has stayed dry so far and I plan to change the plugs early (the rust and tune combined.. they are not gonna stay per the book). All that said; the fact they said you washed your truck too much and caused it to need a new head at 60k miles - what in the hell?! It being just over warranty I am not sure if it is worth getting a lawyer in the middle of that fight.. but I don't blame you for trying to get away from it vs fixing it.

If it was me... I would call around to see if a local shop would be willing to give it a shot for a reasonable price. Limp it there and let some ole country crazy mechanic who has ripped 3 too many monsters for that time of day get the tent pole out on a breaker bar or the biggest impact on earth to try and break it without ripping the head into three pieces.

 

[RedlandRanger]

Luckily, my friend who owns the dealership is willing to buy it from me.

Are you sure your friend who owns the dealership isn't just trying to get a cheap used truck? Because this sounds 100% like that TSB and should be covered, IMO, even though you are 1,000 miles over the 60k drivetrain warranty. That is just nuts....

 

[Frenchy]

Something tells me the dealer did not soak the particular plug or plugs in penetrating oil. This is a trick I used on the Triton Engines to help prevent the plugs from separating and taking the head with it. Also I would not allow them to charge extra because of this issue.

 

[9zero1790]

Long story short version. Bought my 2019 Ford ranger brand new put a small leveling kit on it with some decent tire size tires. Specifics are in my profile. Babied this truck. Maintenance followed routinely. I’m 46 years old little to no where in tear I actually drive like a grandpa. Fast forward to one month ago. Driving on the highway started having hesitation took it straight to Ford in the computer said it was misfiring. Very next day it was determined that my spark plugs were rusted and one of them was seized in the engine. My buddy who is one of the service managers called me and asked me if I had some submerged my truck or off roaded. Neither nor. Told me it would be $600 to replace the plugs. Two days later he called me and told me they couldn’t get one of the plugs out. Now it was gonna be $1300 to replace the plug and the coil. Three days later, they still can’t get the plug out Five days later the plug still won’t come out now they need to replace not only the coil but the head and it was going to take 22 hours of labor. It is now $2300. They were telling me worst-case scenario might be $3200. Turns out on this forum It was determined that is an engineering flaw. Ford is telling me that the reason my spark plugs are rusted because I’ve over washed my truck. They refuse to cover any sort of work. I have 61,000 miles on my truck and I’ve called the customer service line where they were complete, jerks and again refused to cover any of the work, there is a TSB bulletin that tells Ford to put an engine cover on trucks, such as mine to prevent water vapors from getting into the spark plugs. Ford knows there is an issue I now haven’t had my truck for over three weeks. Luckily, my friend who owns the dealership is willing to buy it from me. Still uncertain of the total cost or afford will cover anything. We are in a scenario where we are challenging the decision. Bottom line I just got a Tacoma today

if there’s anybody who’s experiencing the same sort of dilemma, or issue with rusted spark plugs, please message me I’m curious. As of now, I will never buy another Ford or recommend another Ford to any human being on this earth that I encounter. Otherwise, I absolutely loved my ranger and I’m sad this has happened.

sounds about par for ford. i will never buy another new ford either. the dealers in general are worse than lawyers. the ford warranty is almost useless. Ford knows very well that they stopped engine covers on many of the 5g trucks. We have seen more than a couple members here with similar issue... I hope you enjoy your tacoma.

 

[PltFX4]

This situation sucks! You can't trust Ford or its warranty.

My takeaway is:
1. After every washes, shop vac the sparkplug "bores".
2. With every oil change, remove the coils AND the plugs (using the shop vac just before removing the plugs). Vac again before putting them back in.
3. If you don't have a cover, GET ONE.

A PITA, but only way to protect yourself. Know what I'm doing this weekend.

 

[9zero1790]

This situation sucks! You can't trust Ford or its warranty.

My takeaway is:
1. After every washes, shop vac the sparkplug "bores".
2. With every oil change, remove the coils AND the plugs (using the shop vac just before removing the plugs). Vac again before putting them back in.
3. If you don't have a cover, GET ONE.

A PITA, but only way to protect yourself. Know what I'm doing this weekend.

sad we even have to think of this stuff. thanks for dry humping us again ford!

 

[JimG_AZ]

...Ford is telling me that the reason my spark plugs are rusted because I’ve over washed my truck. ...

What do you mean by over washing your truck? Where you hosing down the motor? Or, was the car wash spraying the undercarriage and water was hitting the bottom of the hood and landing on the top of the motor? I guess next time my Ranger goes through the car wash, I'll check if the top of the motor is getting wet.

 

[9zero1790]

unless one has the engine cover, water runs down into the spark plug area, with the hood closed, normal rain etc. thread around here some place about it.

 

[airline tech]

Kroil and or mouse milk - soak - run engine to temp or heat it up - not glowing red - and a breaker bar - it will come out

 

[rydfree]

I don’t even understand how washing your car results in this situation. How does one verify if they have an issue? As long as I’m not hiding down my engine am I ok here? If $175 engine cover saves me having to rebuild the top of the engine for a rusty plug I might just have to spend that.

Putting a engine cover on your truck that did not originally come with one would probably just give them an excuse to not cover something else under warranty.

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