Dealing with sleezy mechanics

[glockman]

This is a little venting and a little asking for advice.

My oldest son recently bought a 2015 F350 with a 6.7. His best friend was a senior diesel tech for Ford for 5 years. He looked the truck over before my son bought it and said it all looked good except it had a leaking oil pan. Apparently it's a bitch to fix the oil pan leak, you have to pull the trans. Ford books it at 16 hours and he said it takes every bit of that 16 hours even if you are good at them. His friend no longer works for a Ford dealer and said take it to one so you get a warranty if it leaks. So my son took it to Tim Dahle Ford in Spanish Fork. They quoted him $3200, then charged him $3800 and had it done in a day. When he picked it up, it had oil dripping off everything, there are numerous bolts that would need to be removed to get the pan out that had old grease on them and obviously weren't touched. He asked them about the mess and they offered him a free car wash. He cleaned up the mess and has driven it for a couple days, it's still leaking and he found one of the bell housing bolts not threaded in at all.
He took it back this morning. They tightened the bellhousing bolt and basically told him to piss off. I have almost zero experience with this type of thing because I do everything myself because of a couple of experiences like this where I got screwed. So what is the best course of action per the RME hive mind? Call a lawyer? Call Ford Corporate? Here are some pics of the shoddy work.

 

[johngottfredson]

Bummer. I thought Tim Dahle ford was on the RME avoid list? I don’t have good advice for you, I’ve always had good luck at Ken Garff ford in AF

 

[kmboren]

I'd run it up the chain of command. Was there ever a warranty in writing stating work was covered under said warranty.

 

[Corban_White]

Sorry, I don't have anything more useful to add. Like you, this is the reason that I usually suck it up and do my own work, even though I hate it.

 

[glockman]

Bummer. I thought Tim Dahle ford was on the RME avoid list? I don’t have good advice for you, I’ve always had good luck at Ken Garff ford in AF

I took a truck to Tim Dahle when it was Barber Brothers and got screwed, took same truck to Ken Garff in AF and they actually fixed it. My boy's friend actually worked at Ken Garff. He took it to TD because it was $800 cheaper, until the bill came.

 

[Agility Customs]

Walk in there in person into the showroom and demand to talk to the general manager. In my experiance going up the chain of command usually gets the issue handled at dealerships

 

[Johnny Quest]

Drive through the showroom glass windows and onto the GMs desk and demand to talk to the owner. In my experiance going up the chain of command usually gets the issue handled at dealerships

FIFY

 

[Kevin B.]

I'm no help, but don't let him take it to Larry Miller Ford down town either. Same kinda BS.

 

[02SE]

Most of the good techs I knew when I was working as a master tech at a Toyota dealer, moved on to start their own shops, or got out of the business. I'd do as suggested and take it up the chain of command with the dealer. Their work should have some kind of guarantee.

Or maybe Get Gephardt. That seems to make the unethical suddenly want to do the right thing.

 

[Hickey]

I’d kill them, as an example to the other mechanics.

 

[J-mobzz]

I’d kill them, as an example to the other mechanics.

Someone has been peopling too much already today.

 

[Hickey]

Someone has been peopling too much already today.

100%. Every annoying person is heading to Minneapolis this morning, apparently.

 

[Rot Box]

The left overs are on my teams call this morning—ugh.

 

[glockman]

He called Ford corporate and started a claim. He is going to clean everything thoroughly and drive it for a week to see if/how bad it's still leaking and go from there.

 

[85CUCVKRAWLER]

Make sure to take a bunch of pictures first before cleaning it. Then clean it at one of those pressure washer bays and just clean the whole underside area. Then watch for leaks.

 

[Johnny Quest]

He called Ford corporate and started a claim. He is going to clean everything thoroughly and drive it for a week to see if/how bad it's still leaking and go from there.

And what happens when the leak is bad enough that it causes further damage to the transmission due to lack of fluid?

 

[glockman]

Make sure to take a bunch of pictures first before cleaning it. Then clean it at one of those pressure washer bays and just clean the whole underside area. Then watch for leaks.

He took video of crawling around under it before he gunk and pressure washed it.

And what happens when the leak is bad enough that it causes further damage to the transmission due to lack of fluid?

It's the engine oil pan, not the trans so it should be safe with a slow drip, just a mess.

 

[shortstraw8]

My sister took her car down there for transmission work, they "fixed" it but the car had a really bad whine when getting on it after. They told her it was the front and rear diff that needed to be replaced. She asked me to see what I thought and sounded like transmission, every thing I thought it could be was what they "fixed" on the invoice. She ended up taking it to ?tishner ford? in Santaquin that confirmed that it was tranny but they sent her to Ken Garff due to time. Havent heard great things about Tim Dahle and they apparently push for uneeded warranty work and repairs are shoddy.

 

[UNSTUCK]

We have a Peterbilt dump truck at the dealer with coolant blowing out of the secondary relief cap. The service manager called me today to tell me the coolant overflow bottle is cracked and was easy to see when they pressurized the system. When I asked him how a cracked tank would cause coolant to come out of the cap nipple he told me he would clarify that with the tech.
He got back to me an hour later and told me the air compressor head was bad and blowing air into the cooling system causing it to over pressurize. Somehow the tank is no longer leaking.