Ford Grrrrrr (First World problems)

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
So....I got a Ford-chassis Class A motorhome. Still under bumper-to-bumper warranty. Battery is totally dead, won't charge, probably a dead cell. Regular Ford dealers won't touch at a motorhome, so it has to go to one of the heavy truck service centers. Closest to me is either Fayetteville or Greensboro.

Simple, obvious, trusting solution is pull battery from RV, throw battery in back of Jeep, drive to local Ford dealer, give them the VIN, and exchange for a new. Big bucket of 'nope' there.

Simple and cheap solutions for me would be A) stick in another battery, make appointment with Ford service, drive to their lot, swap batteries, let them jump start, drive into bay, replace under warranty. Would probably blow a whole day. --or-- B) Just buy a new battery, and eat the cost.

NO....Fords solution is a heavy tow to either F'ville or Greensboro. With all the risk, time, trouble, aggravation that would cause. And then I'd have to get a ride to pick it up, and a few gallons of gas to get it home. So....they'll pay out five hundred bucks plus for a tow, and assume that risk...AND warranty the battery. And I have several hours tied up...waiting for tow, then going to get it. AND it might be "in service queue" at the dealer for up to two weeks. FOR A FREAKING BATTERY!!!

But, they were real nice on the phone....
 
The $1,000,000 question (ok maybe only a couple hundred $K) is this.
If you change the battery and then another electrical gremlin raises its head. Will they try and blame the E-Gremlin on your chosen replacement battery and void warranty?
 
I would either 1)tell them to come pick it up and let them handle everything or 2)verify that you can buy and install a Ford replacement battery without affecting warranty and swap it yourself and be done with it...
 
Funny you brought this up, my boss has a '15 fx4 f150 that has been through 3 batteries since he bought it new. Coyote 5.0 runs great otherwise but he's fed up and very nervous about how and why a battery would die that quickly. He always swears it's not from his doing. They'll replace it for free but only after 4 hours spent at the dealership.
 
Fingers crossed.....went to service department at our local Ford place (that doesn't do RV's, big trucks). Told guy in service department that all I needed was two minutes, and somebody with some common sense that could help me out. He checked with his manager, said they knew how they could make it work, got my VIN number and took the battery (loose in the back of my truck). Had to leave it with them to try and charge so they could test (I charged it overnight, as soon as I unhooked it, it went from 12.8 volts to 2 volts in about 15 seconds). He called right before leaving for the day, it was still charging, so he'll call in the a.m. with the verdict.
 
Loganwayne said:
Dang up here it's a 1000 if they start a 18 wheeler tow truck


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I had our old Peterbilt hauling 45k pounds of copper towed from Mt Airy to Cat in Greensboro for around $600. This was about 4 years ago when fuel was higher than it is now. About 70 miles one way.

Oh and the tow truck can from Winston
 
When I managed an armored truck fleet in Charlotte, tows would range from $85-$150/hr depending on how large a truck they needed. We used Hunter most of the time if the truck was in the Charlotte area. (This was 7 yrs ago so prices may have changed)
 
Hunter and Mangum are both reasonable.

What's hurting in Clyde is the mileage. I think the farthest west I know of is Morganton
 
Ron said:
Hunter and Mangum are both reasonable.

What's hurting in Clyde is the mileage. I think the farthest west I know of is Morganton
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when you refer to mileage are you talking about length to a shop or distance for a tow truck to come.
either way there are probably 6 or 7 big rig tow trucks in the county and probably 4 shops that work on bigger stuff daily.
 
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