My gripes with Ford Motor Co

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Ac compressor on a 6.0L diesel is 7 hrs.


i really dont understand the gripes about labor time on a 6.0. just pop the cab off and everything is right there, maybe a half hour at most to pull the cab off.
 
Ford's gauges are pretty useless. That's a big reason why I got a ScanGaugeII. It's weird driving the truck without it now. The lack of an OLM does not bother me at all though. I wouldn't go by it anyway.

Ford can be pretty bad about decontenting too. Most of their models steadily lose features over the course of their life cycle. Most of the time it's not that big of a deal, but still, if my truck has slots for a cargo cover in the back of the cab, why not just give me one?

Probably my biggest gripe is the complexity of some fairly basic repairs and maintenance. Replacing the heater core on 95+ Rangers and Explorers is a 6 hour job that involves removing the entire dash. On 94 and older models it's about a 10 minute job. Ford also loves engine compartments with hoses, vacuum lines, and wiring harnesses running everywhere. It's hard to avoid a lot of this with modern vehicles, but Fords tend to be more of a mess than many other brands. [censored], my truck has a coolant line wrapped around the PCV valve!

But I put up with the gripes because certain Ford models are very reliable, well designed, durable vehicles, even if the usual idiosyncrasies are there.
 
Originally Posted By: nomochevys
I have owned Ford, Toyota, and Gm cars and trucks most of my life. They all have good and bad about them. Of late, I have turned to the blue oval for many reasons.

My gripes with Ford is their fake gauges and no OLM. I love the GM OLM. Why cant Ford do this? Is it a patent or something they cant copy? To me, the OLM is a break through in technology. Its proven reliable with most any brand of motor oil. It saves time and money.

Second, Ford puts in idiot lights for gauges. That is just STUPID! I hate them! I still have a gm truck and love the realistic readings. I hate a lot of things about this truck but why cant Ford do the same?

I really think Ford is on the right track these days overall and these are minor gripes but they drive me crazy. What are your thoughts?


The only gauge that is a complete dummy gauge on the Expy is the oil pressure. The others (voltage, coolant temp, fuel) all "work".

Though they are heavily buffered.

Ford has had an OLM for a while. They just do not put it on a lot of vehicles. I have no idea why. My dad's '03 Town Car has an OLM, and it is interesting to see the role the time of the year and driving style have on how long it wants him to run the oil for. It has been as long as 18,000Km and as short as 7,000.
 
Originally Posted By: nomochevys
Originally Posted By: Johnny
On the gauge issue, unless it is a mechanical gauge, it's just an idiot light with a needle (referring to oil pressure here).

Was unaware that OLM was not available of any Ford products.


Gm gauges are real. Maybe not accurate to the tee but they are real. Fords are fake and are nothing but idiot lights. I hate them. The Ford OLM is a mileage counter and nothing more. More fake information from the blue oval.


Not true of all GM's. I have an 05 Chevy Trailblazer with the I6 engine. The gauge is basically a dummy light. There is an old pressure switch that closes at something like 8 psi, and from there the PCM "guesses" at what the "oil pressure" should be.
One member ran their vehicle 6 quarts low on oil (the I6 holds 7 quarts) and said his oil pressure gauge was showing "normal" pressure between 50 - 60 psi. (Yes the engine ended up being toast)

At trailvoy.com we researched this extensively. Some found that the 5.3 V8 oil pressure gauge was real, but not the I6.
My oil pressure gauge ALWAYS reads 40 psi at idle (hot or cold) and about 50 - 55 at cruise - again hot or cold and it reads the same if you use 5W-30 or 20W-50 oil.

Also we found that the temp. gauge "lies" quite a bit too. Many have found that when it is reading 210 - the ACTUAL temp (according to a scanguage) can be anywhere from 176 to about 225 degrees F.

I agree - the Ford "OLM" is nothing more than a mileage reminder - my wife's Camry does that too. The GM OLM actually uses an algorithm based on various engines parameters and operating conditions to determine the OCI.
I have always been happy with my Ford vehicles, but I have to pat GM on the back in this respect!
 
Ford's oil pressure gauges are lame and I have never cared for the lack of an A/C on/off button on the manual controls, other than than that I have no real complaints with Ford. They do more things "right" in my book than just about anybody. I could care less about an OLM, I wouldn't go by that anyway.
 
I went to a car show today in Freezelanta and there was a beautiful 1963 Impala with a 409. It was fully restored and the owner had just bought it. He started it for me and I noticed something on the dash I had not seen since I was a kid - a COLD light. When the engine is cold, a light comes on and tells you. When the engine gets to a certain temp, the light goes out. Just above it is a HOT light.

The only gauges the car had was a fuel gauge and a huge speedometer. Everything else was idiot lights, including the COLD light.

Idiots lights have been around for decades, and I'm sure will be around longer still.
 
VW TDI stripper models came with "cold" lights in lieu of temp gauges. If I paid several grand extra for that fancy powertrain I'd want to keep an eye on it.

My work lost a cherokee to overheating; it only had a "hot" light that probably comes on at 235-240. An astute driver would have noticed temp creeping above its own normal self if they had a real temp gauge. I bought its twin at auction and the just-starting-to-leak rad was chock full of rust and other nasties.
 
Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
My only complaint about Ford is that I didn't buy WAY more of their stock when it was the price of a Big Mac!!



I'll second that. At the time I repeatedly told my wife we need to seriously invest in the company.
She resisted.
Several times since then I have commented on the price of Ford stock to her.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Ac compressor on a 6.0L diesel is 7 hrs.


i really dont understand the gripes about labor time on a 6.0. just pop the cab off and everything is right there, maybe a half hour at most to pull the cab off.
But there is no simple way for a do it yourselfer to pull a cab off. I've never done it and I don't want to learn now. Plus pulling a cab off to acess a small part thats a 5 minute job on many other cars is idiotic.
 
When I was looking for a new pickup three years ago, one of the reasons I bought a GM was that the GMs came with a full set of gauges (oil pressure, coolant temp, fuel level, voltmeter, tach).

The gauges are all real and provide useful info about the engine.
 
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc


I agree - the Ford "OLM" is nothing more than a mileage reminder


No it is not. As I said, the one in my dad's townie has gone anywhere from 7,000Km to 18,000Km depending on the time of year and if the car is short-tripped or not.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc


I agree - the Ford "OLM" is nothing more than a mileage reminder


No it is not. As I said, the one in my dad's townie has gone anywhere from 7,000Km to 18,000Km depending on the time of year and if the car is short-tripped or not.


Really? That may be true on the town car, but did you see what Falcon LS posted from the owner's manual?

"To reset the oil monitoring system to 100 percent after each oil change (approximately 5,000 miles (8,000 km or 180 days) perform the following . . . "
 
They have an indicator light too. I know my buddy's Cougar has that.

But Ford DOES have a REAL OLM, they just don't put it in every vehicle
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
My only complaint about Ford is that I didn't buy WAY more of their stock when it was the price of a Big Mac!!



I wish I bought $50k of stock with it was a $1. My wife didn't want to invest either. now it's $9 a share.
 
OLMs are for girls. Real men only check their oil when they hear lifter clatter above their exhaust.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
They have an indicator light too. I know my buddy's Cougar has that.

But Ford DOES have a REAL OLM, they just don't put it in every vehicle
wink.gif


Hmmm, well if that's true, then I hate to admit it but there is one more place GM is one up on Ford. Most all late model GM have an OLM, even the base models.
For example, my SUV is an LS model, and only has a light that comes on when it's time for the oil to be changed. The upper models with the Driver Information Center gives the percentage left.

I wish my 2004 Grand Marquis LS had something - whether it was a mileage reminder or an actual OLM.
frown.gif


When you get as old as I am, there are two things that tend to go out on you - one is your hearing, and . . .
I don't remember what the other one is! :)
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
OLMs are for girls. Real men only check their oil when they hear lifter clatter above their exhaust.
Nah they get it good and hot and rub the dipstick between their fingers, feeling for "grit".
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Ac compressor on a 6.0L diesel is 7 hrs.


i really don't understand the gripes about labor time on a 6.0. just pop the cab off and everything is right there, maybe a half hour at most to pull the cab off.


Its all well and good if you have a 2 post lift in your driveway. I don't know many people that do. I DO however own a boom truck, a forklift, a carry deck crane and my shop has an overhead crane, I stile find it completely idiotic that i have to remove the entire body off a truck to fix something minor. Also with a real work truck with a utility body and a lumber rack now i have to completely disassemble the entire truck from the tail lights forward to work on the engine.
 
Read thru here fast but did anybody mention trips /calls to the dealer about "oil pressure all over the place"?
With real readings you are constantly reassuring customers "thats normal".
You should hear the radio calls over the two way in our school bus fleet, from the lady drivers when they get in a differant bus. eg.
All the older bluebirds have so little oil pressure at idle (hot) that alarms go off, Cold- comes the call "its 80 psi, never seen that before!
Now imagine the cascade of calls to dealerships when some one buys a new car "Ive never seen this ever!" of course the dealer brings it in ,and why not he gets to charge the company for a visit.
Real gauges waste money just to reassure all the ninneys who fancy themslves "car guys"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top