Way to go Ford! Simply F@CKING genious!!

[mini274]

wat common sense would tell you to crack open the radiator cap and push the hose over but do you have common sense or are you just that crazy??

 

[exbass94]

The reason transmissions are "sealed" is because they're supposed to be lifetime fill and never need service, which is absolute BULL****!! There is no such thing as a "lifetime" fluid. Who's lifetime are we talking about? Mine? The car's? The trans's? Sure the fluid will stay in the trans always, and when the trans breaks from lack of maintenance, they can say, "yep the fluid lasted the life of the trans. " I don't care what Ford or any other automaker says. ALL of my auto trans get a fluid change every 30k miles.


Now, the reason they make them service-free? It's mostly to keep cost of ownership down. When people start researching and looking for a vehicle to buy, they look at cost of ownership. Lots of magazines like Consumer Reports and such look at the maintenance schedule and estimate how much it will cost to maintain the car over the years. If there is no trans service on that schedule, BAM ownership cost just went down a few hundred bucks.

But in the end, I think what it is, is that any little thing you have go wrong with your vehicle, you hafta take it to the dealership to get serviced. That way the money stays in-house. Just my opinion. But think of how much cars have become more complicated to work on in the last few years. Just saying. It's how the rich stay rich, and the rest of us take it in the ass. LOL

This I totally disagree with. When someone brings a car into the dealer for service, the dealer makes money. The DEALER makes money, NOT Ford. So what is Ford's motivation for making something hard to service?

 

[ozziemo27]

So what is Ford's motivation for making something hard to service?

Ford being in bed with the dealers, doing things to help their lovers, also known as the dealers.

 

[Frank The Tank]

This I totally disagree with. When someone brings a car into the dealer for service, the dealer makes money. The DEALER makes money, NOT Ford. So what is Ford's motivation for making something hard to service?

If the vehicles break down.... trans gets ragged because somebody didn't take it to the dealership, bam Ford just sold another one. All the brands are banking on brand loyalty that will keep them selling throw away cars to the next generation.

It's not that vehicles aren't made like they used to be, it's that the modern car is more like a camel single engined plane. It's a one way trip and then you replace it with more crap thrown together.

If you look at a smart-car....... do you really think people will be restoring one in 2035 going man I remember the days when dad used to drive me to the ice-cream shop, and we'd go fishing and just laugh and laugh. hell no.

Frank

 

[mini274]

and if I could actually find a manual someplace I may have considered it. I drive one at least 200 miles a day. The Tacoma has a 6 speed.

oh snap a 6 speed every yota truck out now has a damn 6 speed nothin to brag about sorry but your not special

 

[exbass94]

If the vehicles break down.... trans gets ragged because somebody didn't take it to the dealership, bam Ford just sold another one. All the brands are banking on brand loyalty that will keep them selling throw away cars to the next generation.

It's not that vehicles aren't made like they used to be, it's that the modern car is more like a camel single engined plane. It's a one way trip and then you replace it with more crap thrown together.

If you look at a smart-car....... do you really think people will be restoring one in 2035 going man I remember the days when dad used to drive me to the ice-cream shop, and we'd go fishing and just laugh and laugh. hell no.

Frank

Once again, disagree. Automakers are not building crap and banking on brand loyalty. Take Toyota for example. (I don't like Toyota btw) BUT the general public perception of them is (or WAS, before the gas pedal fiasco) that they build super-reliable vehicles that last pretty much forever. Once again, thats not what I believe, but its the general perception in this country.

And what happened? Toyota became the biggest automaker in the world. Meanwhile GM was building unreliable crap and lost millions of sales, forcing them into bailouts and bankruptcy.

If YOU bought an unreliable piece of crap from an automaker, are YOU going to keep replacing it every 3 years and keep going back to that same automaker? Or are you going to say "screw this, I'm never buying another car from that maker again!" and switch to a different company?

It's not about getting the same person to buy your vehicle every few years, it's about taking sales away from other makers. Sure, every one of your customers may only buy a vehicle once every 20 years, but when EVERYONE is buying your vehicle, you're still selling a ton of cars. Ford and GM realize this and they're really doing a fantastic job of stepping up their game.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The reason they quit putting dipsticks in for the tranmission?

Because nobody checks them until it is too late anyway, and most people do a tranny flush rather than a drain and filter change.

If you want to check it, it is the same as checking the fluid in the differentials with a check/fill plug.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

It's all about letting the bean counters run the company. This policy is what very nearly ran Ford and GM into the ground. Thankfully, based on the recent products coming out of Ford, they seem to have learned their lesson and are [for the most part] letting engineers make technical decisions instead of bean counters. GM I'm not so sure about, some of their new products seem to reflect a genuine change of corporate mentality, but they are also still building a lot of the same old GM crap, some of which are brand new models. Toyota on the other hand seems to have been taking pages from old GM's history books the last few years and started doing most of the stuff that brought GM down. Basically their attitude for the last 3-5 years has been "We're the best and everyone knows it. We're going to be number 1 and nothing's going to stop us, including quality control." I know a lot of people with new Toyotas that aren't living up their golden reputation, and it's not just problems with gas pedals. In my opinion, Toyota quality peaked earlier this decade. Then they got greedy and are now on their way down. We'll see if this gas pedal fiasco really wakes them up or if they go back to their sinful ways of the past few years. If they're like old GM, they won't learn from it.

 

[footee]

Ford being in bed with the dealers, doing things to help their lovers, also known as the dealers.

This is what I was talking about. And while you're at the dealer getting your car worked on, what do you do? You peruse the lot looking at new stuff. That's what I do at least, look at how much those stickers are going up. I don't have a problem with dealers, I have greasemonkey friends in dealerships. But everything is outrageous in price there. Like the $1500 quoted brake job on the in-laws Suzuki that cost me $150 and about 3 hours time to do.

 

[footee]

It's all about letting the bean counters run the company. This policy is what very nearly ran Ford and GM into the ground. Thankfully, based on the recent products coming out of Ford, they seem to have learned their lesson and are [for the most part] letting engineers make technical decisions instead of bean counters. GM I'm not so sure about, some of their new products seem to reflect a genuine change of corporate mentality, but they are also still building a lot of the same old GM crap, some of which are brand new models. Toyota on the other hand seems to have been taking pages from old GM's history books the last few years and started doing most of the stuff that brought GM down. Basically their attitude for the last 3-5 years has been "We're the best and everyone knows it. We're going to be number 1 and nothing's going to stop us, including quality control." I know a lot of people with new Toyotas that aren't living up their golden reputation, and it's not just problems with gas pedals. In my opinion, Toyota quality peaked earlier this decade. Then they got greedy and are now on their way down. We'll see if this gas pedal fiasco really wakes them up or if they go back to their sinful ways of the past few years. If they're like old GM, they won't learn from it.

I'm sorry to say it, but look when Toyota started having problems. About the time they started buiding them here in the States. The Japanese workers tend to take more pride in their work making the quality what it was for so long. Then they decided to save exporting expenses and start building in the US and quality started going downhill.

I see it every day in my own plant. Idiots that don't take pride in what they do, take advantage of the excellent pay and benefits and do shoddy work. It drives me insane cause I do take pride in my work. And to make matters worse, all the factorys getting shut down, those people get relocated to other plants. So basically, they're product couldn't sell for whatever reason, now they're shipping them to other plants to continue their shoddy work. Some are good but most are worthless and are going to end up costing me my job. Sorry for the rambling...

 

[exbass94]

Ford being in bed with the dealers, doing things to help their lovers, also known as the dealers.

After seeing the way GM and Chrysler treated their dealers during the bankruptcy, I have a REALLY hard time believing the automakers give 2 shits about their dealers.
"Thanks for being in business with us for 60 years. We're not re-newing your franchise anymore and you have 2 weeks to clear out your inventory. Good luck to ya!"

Maybe Ford cares more....

 

[ozziemo27]

Maybe Ford cares more....

i hope so.....

 

[mini274]

I'm sorry to say it, but look when Toyota started having problems. About the time they started buiding them here in the States. The Japanese workers tend to take more pride in their work making the quality what it was for so long. Then they decided to save exporting expenses and start building in the US and quality started going downhill.

I see it every day in my own plant. Idiots that don't take pride in what they do, take advantage of the excellent pay and benefits and do shoddy work. It drives me insane cause I do take pride in my work. And to make matters worse, all the factorys getting shut down, those people get relocated to other plants. So basically, they're product couldn't sell for whatever reason, now they're shipping them to other plants to continue their shoddy work. Some are good but most are worthless and are going to end up costing me my job. Sorry for the rambling...

understand completely 75 percent of americans take advantage of their jobs... none of them are greatfull for having a job... they just think they should have better pay and benefits.. its for this very reason that this country is going down hill and will continue to do so cause of all these people who think that they're better than every one else.. im happy to have a job i make 9 dollars an hour barley get my bills paid but i dont mind cause i have a job.. gets me everything i need and still have a little spending money (for the ranger) but its not gonna get any better cause the higher up people think they need more money and the little people like me and you get shafted like always sorry for the rant but its true

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

From what I understand, the new Fords, and probably others, are sealed with no dipstick because there's no maintenance on them.

WRONG. The autos in the newer fords still have the same maintenance schedule as the older ones (with dipsticks) did. 50,000km's is a trans flush and 100,000km's is a flush and filter change.

The reason transmissions are "sealed" is because they're supposed to be lifetime fill and never need service, which is absolute BULL****!! There is no such thing as a "lifetime" fluid. Who's lifetime are we talking about? Mine? The car's? The trans's? Sure the fluid will stay in the trans always, and when the trans breaks from lack of maintenance, they can say, "yep the fluid lasted the life of the trans. " I don't care what Ford or any other automaker says. ALL of my auto trans get a fluid change every 30k miles.

Again, wrong. They still have a maintenance schedule as I posted above. Your warranty will be void if you do not follow their maintenance schedule.

The reason they quit putting dipsticks in for the tranmission?

Because nobody checks them until it is too late anyway, and most people do a tranny flush rather than a drain and filter change.

If you want to check it, it is the same as checking the fluid in the differentials with a check/fill plug.

That is closer to being right, they wanted to stop owners from tampering with the fluid levels. They are similar to checking the level on as a diff, but not quite. The transmission pan has a stand pipe in it with a plug in the center of it. You have to have the trans up to a certain temperature (monitored with Fords scan tool) then remove the plug, you should have not a drip and not a stream but a dribble of fluid coming out of the stand pipe.

You can also fill the transmission through the stand pipe with a special tool. You fill a canister with trans fluid, attach the hose to the stand pipe and use air pressure to push the fluid into the pan.


Hope that helps to answer some of the questions about the not having a dip stick issue.

 

[Jason]

I've never had to remove the hose to pull the dipstick on the auto rangers I've driven....... maybe you just got a defective truck. You should return it under the lemon-law. That is rather odd.... can't you just push on the hose to yank it?

Frank

It won't move far enough. If the stick was just a hair further to one side or the other I'd be golden.