2013 f150 V8 90k miles.
Ive always let the dealer do the oil changes since they have the deal called “the works” where you get ford oil and filter and tire rotation for the price of DIY.
Also included is a multi point inspection. So I foolishly trusted that they were doing what they said.
800 miles after the last service I started hearing some noise in the left front wheel. I got my 1/2 inch impact out to speed up the removal, wouldn’t budge. Had to get a breaker bar and use my foot to loosen the lugs. The inner brake pad was gone. Metal starting to grind on metal.
Got the receipt and inspection report out and it said 6mm of pad on ALL brakes. Hmmm.
Went to talk to service dept. They started with that particular lube tech didn’t work there
anymore. I said it didn’t matter, he worked there when he “inspected” my brakes. They said sorry.
They said there have been several trucks if this
era that have been having problems. Brake lines coming apart and messing up the calipers.
So for about $1000 they could get it all fixed up.
(Turn rotors, new brake lines, new calipers, new pads, labor.) I pointed out that if the inspection had been done, we could have fixed it before it got to this point.
Service Mngr actually said "you don’t really think they do all that for that price do you?)
That’s when we got the general manager involved. We settled on a deal where they fixed all the problems for the price of a normal brake job. And I’d stop complaining.
So they fixed everything and I checked to see how many new parts were on it. All good.
So today 7 months and 4000 miles later I started to change the oil myself. Grabbed a ratchet and socket, put it on the drain bolt, took my hand off to get a different angle to pull better…and I swear to God, the weight of the 1/2 ratchet loosened the plug.
I will now do all my oil changes from now on.
I owned a 2013 f150 too for about 17k miles. I remember taking it in for the first free oil change and seeing that checksheet of items they supposedly inspected. I remember thinking there’s no way they checked all that, transfer case fluid level, air filter, etc. And honestly, I don’t blame them in that instance with a 5k mile truck. The air filter should be fine if it’s there!
I also remember when we bought a “certified” used Malibu and took it in for the first free oil change. When my wife got home, I discovered they’d left the oil filler cap on the cowl and closed the hood on top of it. I mentioned it to some folks from GM when they called for a customer satisfaction survey. They offered another free oil change. I asked if I could just have the oil and filter instead, but they wouldn’t go for that 
So I pretty much do all my own maintenance now, if it’s not something over my head. I’m not a mechanic so sometimes it’s a little intimidating and I’m afraid I’ll forget to check something or make a mistake. Then I remember I’m probably more attentive than some of the oil change techs simply because I’ve probably got more at stake if something goes wrong. I do still take free oil changes whenever we buy another vehicle. Hard to pass up free. But I make sure to check the oil level and for leaks.
I guess this is the operative statement.
You owe them the $1000, you went and complained:laughing:
I don’t know why it does that sometimes when I click on the emoji.
Do you think that the parts and labor would have cost less 800 miles earlier?
Unfortunately dealers that offer the manufactures “express lube” program take a loss on the service with hope of making up for it with repairs on these vehicles. They hire people at $10 to $12 per hour to reduce costs. The lube rack manage at a dealer that I worked at ten years ago stated that the monthly operating loss for that department was $1500 per month.
When inspecting brakes all eight brake pads must be checked/measured, often the inboard pad wears more than the outboard pad, even regular service techs fail to measure all eight pads.
We have Fords at work. I took mine in for an oil change. Lubegoober comes in with a terribly dirty air filter. Really desperately needed changing he said. I agreed with him and suggested he tell the owner of the car. “You’re the only one here.”
“Then maybe you can explain how you got a cylindrical filter out of a vehicle that uses a square one.”
If they’d been honest about the whole thing, yeah. As it was, they tried to rip him off and failed. Why would you need new calipers if the brake line caused the caliper to stick? Replace the brake line.
Maybe the caliper got roasted. I watched a guy driving with smoke billowing out of a wheel well. He was oblivious to it. I wouldn’t trust that caliper after that…
Car dealers are like any other vendor: there are good ones, there are bad ones and there so-so ones. My only experience like this was when I took my '92 Dodge Dakota to the dealer for its 60,000 mile service. It was done and the next day I went to a Goodyear dealer to get new tires. When they took the rear tires off, they showed me where one of the rear brake pads was worn through to the rivets that hold the pad together and the rivet was gouging a trough in the drum. When I got home I check the previous day’s service sheet that said I had 60% brakes on the front and 40% brakes on the rear. The next day I went back to the Dodge dealer, showed the service manager the inspection sheet and told him about the damage to the rear brake drum. They put my truck up on a rack, and the original “inspector” looked at it and he said, “I don’t know how that happened.” (Well, stupid, you obviously didn’t inspect anything!!!) The dealer did my rear brakes for free.
Dealerships and mechanics are not as dependable to do a job as if you do the work yourself. These shops have as many as 50 customers a day and on top of that they the managers are pressured to employ people that are willing to take the job at a dirt low paygrade.
Agreed completely, but OP didn’t say anything about a smoking caliper. I’d at least take the car to an independent mechanic for a second opinion before I sprung for the whole works.
Reading your story, I’m willing to bet all they did was the normal brake job you paid for. Unless you saw the brake lines for yourself, there was probably nothing wrong with them to begin with.
This reminds me of a story.
The blower motor in my '98 Civic was making a racket. I took it to the Honda dealership in Miami Lakes, FL (now known as AutoNation Honda Miami Lakes). They told me the blower motor was falling apart and quoted me a price. I passed on the replacement and paid them a diagnostic fee.
For the 90,000 mile service, which included the timing belt, I took it to a Honda dealership in downtown Fort Lauderdale that now appears to be gone. (I did a search and took a virtual drive down US-1 through the area in Google Earth looking for it.) While working on my car, the mechanic brought the fan in from the blower motor to show me it was full of leaves. He said he noticed how loud it was and decided to clean it out for me, free of charge.
Now I’ve got about 317,000 miles on that car, and it’s still using the same blower motor that AutoNation Honda Miami Lakes said was “falling apart.” Obviously, I never went back to the Miami Lakes dealership, and got my car serviced at the Fort Lauderdale dealership until I moved out of the area in 2002.
Make sure there is a space between the last word and the colon:
Unless they did a remarkable job of cleaning the old parts, it has new lines and calipers and pads.
It went up on the jack stands when I got it home. I don’t trust them like I used to.
You could have had a caliper pin hang up. It actually might have been good 800 miles earlier, once one or both of those pins hang up, the outer pad wears out very fast. I once saw a brake job done, the caliper pins lubed but one of them hung up for some reason and two months later, the outer pad was gone and the rotor nearly cut half way through.
Other side was doing the same thing, just hadn’t worn down to the metal yet. But it wasn’t far from it.
The mechanic who fixed the brakes said they were seeing more of this happening on '12 and '13 models. He blamed the hoses for causing the problem. I can’t say for sure what it was. I don’t feel like they have dishonest about anything. Execept of course the lube tech who filled out the report saying everything was ok.
I dunno, like I thought I insinuated, you just have to take inspection reports with a grain of salt and verify yourself. I had a recall performed and along with the two free weeks of Sirius, I got a free inspection. The guy said I had a bad rear seal oil leak and the front needed attention too. No oil on the garage floor, not using any oil etc. so the guy I’ve been using put it up on the lift to verify. No apparent oil leak. Maybe he had oil on his glasses or maybe just saw some oil I dunno, but I’m not about to spend $1200 based on a kid that I don’t know saying so.
It is possible for brake pads that measure 6 mm to burn up in 800 miles with a caliper or hose failure. It is possible for brake pads to burn up in 20 miles with a caliper failure. There is only one person that measured the brake pads 800 miles ago so no one can be certain that the pads were thinner at that time.
I think the service manager said it best. You don’t expect them to check all those things for that price.
I’ve learned to be more vigilant in inspecting things myself. Got lazy is my excuse. I hold no grudge against the folks in the service dept beyond the fact that they let at least 1 incompetent/lazy guy work there. Now he’s at another dealer in the neighboring town.
The Honda dealer that services my wife’s car seems to do a very good job. Too bad Honda doesn’t make real pickups. Joking…don’t want to get an argument started on that.
Thanks 