"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:50:08 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

Based on that, it's safe to assume Ford is still doing similar things with
their vehicles.

To be totally honest, I've owned Ford cars and pickups for 40 years
starting in high school.

Never had a problem with one of them until this one.


I'm 1 for 3. I probably ruined my first car, a 1970 Cougar. My Pinto wagon,
however, was a joke. The shifter was held onto the top of the tranny by a
threaded plastic ring. The exhaust pipe was a few inches to the right. One
day, I downshifted from 3rd to 2nd and found myself holding the shifter,
which was no longer attached to anything, except for being held in place by
the console boot. The plastic ring had melted, which released the shifter
from the tranny. Fortunately, I was a quarter mile from the dealership, and
I was able to get there in second gear because the traffic was moving at
just the right speed.

The dealer said they'd never seen the problem before. Bull****. $250 later,
it was fixed. The part cost only ten bucks. It happened again a few months
later. This time, I fixed it myself and found out why the labor charge was
so high. To install a new ring, it had to be dropped over the top of the
shifter. To do that, the shifter had to be removed from the boot, which
could not be done from under the car. The boot was held in by a flange under
the center console. The console was held in by screws hidden under the
carpet. The carpet couldn't be removed enough to get to the screws without
removing the front seats and all the trim that held the carpet down at the
edges. Four hours later....

A few months later, same problem. This time, a mechanic friend used a new
ring as a model to make a better version at his brother's metal shop. No
more problems.

I've already described the Taurus issue.

I wouldn't buy another Ford unless the dealership owner first took me to his
home so I knew where he lived. This way, I'd always know where to find him.
I'd expect HIS vehicle as a loaner in case mine had problems.