How do you honestly feel about ford.

[JohnnyO]

I had 260000 on my 2005 sport trac and never had a problem. Guess I was lucky. Only thing I ever had to do to that thing was a thermostat housing around 200000. Transmission and motor on that thing was still going strong. Took it to a local trans shop to get it serviced once and guy looked at me and said if it's not having problems not to touch it. He said the fluid from the factory would last 500000 miles if untouched. So that being said I never once changed the trans fluid or filter. Now oil was changed every 5000 miles. Damn good truck

I used to lease a new truck every three years when I owned my own business so I never had them long enough for expensive things to break. A set of tires and front brakes was about all I'd have to get. With my '08 Trac circumstances conspired such that I kept it for 13 years and 212,000 miles. Trans crapped out at 132k but like I said, on the Sport Trac boards almost everyone has to get their trans rebuilt between 100k and 150k whether they change the fluid or not. I put on two thermostat housings and three alternators, a water pump which I regard as normal. Nine front wheel bearings, most of which were replaced on warranty or extended warranty by the dealer. Discussion on the ST boards we kinda traced the wheel bearings to improper installation by the dealer using an impact wrench on the hub instead of properly torqueing them. The last pair I had done at a Ford dealer in Florida who must have done them right because they were fine the last 60,000 miles I owned it. I changed the oil every 5000 also, with synthetic, and had none of the timing chain issues that people complain about because it's an expensive fix. Until it blew a head gasket it ran like new and didn't use any oil. Did have some HVAC problems that I attribute to quality, plenum door arm, blend door actuator, and blower motor resistor. Blend door actuators are something that gets brought up a lot on the ST boards. It's not terribly hard to change as long as you're flexible. Everyone is having the same things wear out on their Tracs about the same time now, like the blend door actuators and carrier bearing on the rear driveshaft. For whatever reason on a 2wd you can replace the bearing but on a 4wd you have to replace the whole driveshaft. $1300 from Ford, $950 at NAPA, $300 at Rock Auto so you know which one I got and changed it myself. Can't complain about something made of rubber wearing out at 180,000 miles but you wonder about the design in the first place.

 

[19Walt93]

A big issue with many automatic trans mission is they are designed to shift smoothly for comfort. That is hard on a transmission and hears up the fluid. Stiff or firm shifts are more efficient and there is less wear and tear and the clutches and components. Like all the electronic crap loaded in vehicles now, blame the average consumer for demanding it.

It used to be true that an automatic that shifted smoothly didn't last as long as one with a firm shift- compare a 70's GM transmission to one from Ford or Mopar for example. Now the shifts are controlled electronically so they can pulsate the solenoid and get a soft shift and then open it fully and get a firm grip. GM fluid used to contain a ton of paraffin to make it slippery, B&M sold Trick Shift fluid to make them shift firmer- it was type F. When the put the Vulcan 3.0 into Probes they programmed the PCM to shut of the injectors when they shifted so it wouldn't shred up the little Mazda transmission.

 

[19Walt93]

We're going to have to agree to disagree. I say many Ford transmissions are garbage and seen enough evidence to back it up. You're entitled to your opinion. I have mine and there is nothing that will change my mind. Ford automatic transmissions are garbage. Period.
BTW, I forgot to mention my 84 T-Bird with a C5 that crapped out while it was still on the original 3/36 warranty. At least rebuilding it didn't cost me a dime. Two years later it started slipping again but it was no longer on warranty so I traded it in.
Remember too, you only see the people who come to the dealership. Most people who are off warranty go to independent trans shops so you may only be seeing a small portion of trans failures. Nothing runs forever, I get that. But on Sport Tracs and Explorers there seems to be a time bomb inside that goes off at right about 100,000 miles.

Our shop did a lot of high mileage retail work, we actively solicited fleets that brought us even more high mileage vehicles. Independent transmission shops try to fix every brand without the kind of access to training and information a dealer has, I'd be as likely to use one as I would to let Jiffy Lube touch my vehicle. We have a local transmission "expert", when he rebuilds something and it fails again he tells the customer the product is no good.
I'll continue telling the truth, you can decide to accept it or not. There's a lot of information on the internet, some is actually true. My opinions were developed after 42 years in a Ford Service department that had an excellent reputation. Our Ford rep often called me and had us fix vehicles that other dealers didn't/couldn't/ wouldn't fix to avoid them turning into lemon law cases. Two salesmen from our nearest competing Ford dealer brought there cars to us and their service manager brought cars over to get my opinion when one of his flat rate techs said the noise was normal, I'd tell him what he was hearing and he'd bring it back and make them fix it. We weren't heroes, we (including me and the advisors) were hourly so we could concentrate on fixing it right and satisfying the customer.

 

[19Walt93]

I used to lease a new truck every three years when I owned my own business so I never had them long enough for expensive things to break. A set of tires and front brakes was about all I'd have to get. With my '08 Trac circumstances conspired such that I kept it for 13 years and 212,000 miles. Trans crapped out at 132k but like I said, on the Sport Trac boards almost everyone has to get their trans rebuilt between 100k and 150k whether they change the fluid or not. I put on two thermostat housings and three alternators, a water pump which I regard as normal. Nine front wheel bearings, most of which were replaced on warranty or extended warranty by the dealer. Discussion on the ST boards we kinda traced the wheel bearings to improper installation by the dealer using an impact wrench on the hub instead of properly torqueing them. The last pair I had done at a Ford dealer in Florida who must have done them right because they were fine the last 60,000 miles I owned it. I changed the oil every 5000 also, with synthetic, and had none of the timing chain issues that people complain about because it's an expensive fix. Until it blew a head gasket it ran like new and didn't use any oil. Did have some HVAC problems that I attribute to quality, plenum door arm, blend door actuator, and blower motor resistor. Blend door actuators are something that gets brought up a lot on the ST boards. It's not terribly hard to change as long as you're flexible. Everyone is having the same things wear out on their Tracs about the same time now, like the blend door actuators and carrier bearing on the rear driveshaft. For whatever reason on a 2wd you can replace the bearing but on a 4wd you have to replace the whole driveshaft. $1300 from Ford, $950 at NAPA, $300 at Rock Auto so you know which one I got and changed it myself. Can't complain about something made of rubber wearing out at 180,000 miles but you wonder about the design in the first place.

Every driveshaft center bearing is suspended in rubber to absorb potential vibration. On retail jobs we'd press the bearing off and match one up at Napa if it was serviced as an assembly and if the customer agreed to let us. If you had 9 wheel bearing failures either they were non Ford parts or somebody screwed up, I'd sooner expect a hammer was involved, an impact wrench used by an experienced tech wouldn't be a problem.

 

[HenryMac]

Ford's been doing some cheapskate things

How do you guys honestly feel about Ford motor company.

I'm getting to the point im about to walk away from them. I made the mistake of buying a triton f150. As you well know. Turned out to be the worst Ford truck I ever owned. I miss the old in block cam engines. I don't like overhead cam engines at all.

GM proved that they are inferior. Well the Ford ones anyway. Simple proof is the LS swap the world guys. I haven't seen anyone dig out junkyard 5.4s for their hot rods.

So tell me what you see/think/feel. I honestly value the opinion of the people on this forum.

I've got a 2019 Ranger, bought it new in 2019. No complaints with our truck, just over 18,000 miles and we got over 32 mpg during a road trip we just did.

That being said, what bothers me is the cheapskate stuff they've been doing lately. Installing (4) bed tie downs instead of (6), not applying seam sealer on some door panels, not plugging holes in rocker panels that were plugged previously and quite a few folks are having fuel dillution of motor oil. It seems like they are back sliding when it comes to quality, fit and finish, not getting better.

I don't think I'd buy another new Ford at this point, well at least not without going over it with a magnifying glass before buying it. But if they are allowing the things I previously discussed to be omitted at the factory... what did they do internally that you can't see?

 

[Shran]

I have mixed feelings on all of this. I think Ford makes some excellent vehicles - Super Duty pickups in particular. I think the newer EcoBoost era F150s (5.0 included) are also pretty good, their other cars and SUVs seem to hold up fairly well..... my personal rule is to avoid most Ford products made between around 2004-2010 with certain exceptions.

I've had pretty good luck with all my Ford vehicles. Exceptions were my old 99 Tracer, an 01 Crown Victoria, couple others that were pretty bad too. At work we have a fairly large fleet of Big 3 vehicles, mine have been GM vans and trucks, other offices have had a lot of Big 3 sedans and GM/Chrysler minivans. Our maintenance is probably far above what most people typically do, and done by a shop that I feel is pretty competent. Doesn't seem like any of them last past 200k very well... I used to get the surplus vehicle reports and it was always full of cars with failed head gaskets or bad transmissions or other random issues that were too expensive to fix. It actually seemed like the very small number of import vehicles we had far outlasted Big 3 vehicles.

My current work truck is a 2010 Silverado 1500 that I got with 24000 miles on it. It was a lightly used ex government truck (DOT is who I think had it.) I don't really mind it but there are a lot of little things that annoy me, like weather stripping constantly falling off, TPMS sensors that fail repeatedly, a lifter tick that comes and goes and some other stuff. Just kinda shoddy build quality. But now it's got 104k on it and is going in for transmission service this week... the fluid is pretty burnt and it's not shifting right. Has been changed several times. Very frustrating, but I don't expect much out of GM.

 

[JohnnyO]

Every driveshaft center bearing is suspended in rubber to absorb potential vibration. On retail jobs we'd press the bearing off and match one up at Napa if it was serviced as an assembly and if the customer agreed to let us. If you had 9 wheel bearing failures either they were non Ford parts or somebody screwed up, I'd sooner expect a hammer was involved, an impact wrench used by an experienced tech wouldn't be a problem.

All of the front hub and bearing assemblies were replaced at the dealer where I purchased the truck except the last two at a Ford dealer in Florida. Had one go out and I didn’t want to drive 1300 miles home that way and take a chance on the other one so I had both done. The ones installed by the dealer in Florida were the only ones that lasted any length of time.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

I live my 2020 and would buy another. My wife has a 14 focus which she still loves. We will buy Fords as long as they are still making cars. My whole Family has been in Fords for years. My step dad got a 3500 dually Silverado when they bought their first 5th wheel. That thing is in the shop every 6 months or so. He got my mom a minivan. I think is a town and country or something. That thing has been an electrical nightmare. She says all the time she wished she had her town car back. He wants an F350 dually but says he cant find one at a reasonable price around. Should have stuck with Ford haha. My real dad gets in his 98 explorer 4x4 or his 05 Lincoln LS and drives everywhere. I did have to go put new front hubs on the explorer last year but the 33 inch tires with the huge offset caused that no question haha.

 

[Mightyfordranger]

I guess Im just one of those people who don't like change. I see all the "improvements" they make, and I really don't think that what u gain power and tech wise. Isnt really worth the extra complicated garbage that comes with it.

 

[19Walt93]

I'm most comfortable working on stuff from the late 50's to early/mid 80's but I have no illusions that cars were better in the past. I lost count of the number of valve jobs I did on 30,000 mile 302s and 351s- the worn valve guides would show up when adjusting the fast idle during the 30k tune up. Structural frame rust was a concern on 5 year old cars- I bought a 30,000 mile 66 Chevy with a rotten frame for the $35 wrecker bill. I towed in a 3 year old 30,000 mile Chevy with a no start, replace the timing chain so it would run, then tore it down and replaced the bent valves. Old cars would rust out in less time than the paint begins to fade on a modern car. Older cars were easier to work on but they needed a lot more work.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

Ford family here. We love our vehicles

 

[sgtsandman]

Your nipple rings are showing. FREAK!

 

[Dirtman]

*perk*

Nipple rings?!?

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

Your nipple rings are showing. FREAK!

Hey hey. These days freaks are the cool kids haha

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Hey hey. These days freaks are the cool kids haha