When we last saw our stalwart heroe, they had landed in Moorhead, MN and welcomed a new family member. Then they seem to fall off the face of the Earth. Yeah.
, While we were gone for the winter, our house suffered significant weather related damage. Once we got home, we both started our local jobs and started to work towards opening the house and trying to get a handle on the future.
A lot has happened, and there is little photo record of most of it. I was torn between a number of posts without pictures and then just being busy all the time. I finally broke my blog inaction by deciding to just talk about all that has happened and what all we've been doing.
Just after we got home, Eliza and her family came to stay for a few weeks. They were moving into a new house, but the timing left them without a residence for a bit. It was really nice to have them here and we put both sets of bunk beds into Eliza's old room. The kids had a small pool in the yard to play in, Brett had the four-wheeler running and there are lots and lots of LEGOs. Alexander even came up from Texas for a bit. "Uncle Alex!!, Uncle Alex!!" Part of all that was us helping them move out of their old place and then into their new one.
Devils Lake High School had it's graduation and we attended the graduation party for Micah Cox whose parents helped us raise our kids as well.
There were a few events that we participated in this summer. We participated in a Flag Day ceremony at Roosevelt Park in Devils Lake put on by the local VFW. We both became honorary lifetime members. You don't have to be and old guy to be in the VFW....
Memorial Day found us home instead of in Arlington, VA for a change, and we attended a program at the Memorial building in Devils Lake and helped laying wreaths at the cemetery in honor of the fallen.
A third event we participated in, was the Independence Day Parade as we often do. We had work looming over us so we were unable to stay for the night at the Lake that we normally get to do.
Family in June, including Laurie's birthday. Patriotic and personal events in July, including my birthday and Eliza and Brett's anniversary.
Now it's August. we've been working on the house and watching and following the Boston Red Sox who are having one of their best years ever. More work on the house hangs over us and there is still the possibility Laurie will take a short travel assignment between now and when we leave for our October assignment back in Imperial County, CA.
For me, I always define The end of a blog season as when we hook up the fifth-wheel and hit the road. Hopefully, between now and then, i'll be a little more attentive here.
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
December. Truck repairs and things to know
This will not be a typical post from me. It is still an event we were involved with, but not voluntarily. In November, we started having troubles with the truck starting. Instead of taking it in to get looked at, with just kept working with it until we finally burnt out the starter. Not the best way to handle things, but there it was. Once that happened, we had it towed. When we had our last breakdown in Idaho, we took it to a Napa repair shop. This time, we did what we normally do, and took it to a Ford dealer. I always think the repairs might be more expensive, but you are dealing with mechanics that have been trained by the manufacturer of the car.
The problem manifested itself like this. The truck always starts when cold. No problem. If it is warmed up and you restart it soon like if you stop at a store, it starts also. However, if it gets warmed up, and you turn it off for a period like 45 minutes to and hour, It will turn over but just run rough and stop. Think of an old car with a manual choke and you don't engage the choke when you first start it. So, we would keep pushing on it with the starter until it finally caught correctly and ran. Of course, the starter can't take that.
I called AAA and they sent out a tow. The guy asked me what the problem was. I told him what I just said and said that the starter was burnt out. I knew this because there was the smell of a burnt starter and it no longer turned over. So, apparently he didn't listen and got a heavy tool and banged on the starter a couple of times like you would if the starter was just seized. Nothing happened and I was peeved he hadn't listened to me.
We got the truck to Fuller Ford in Chula Vista. As the check in guy wrote up the order I told him the story. He didn't seem like he was really listening but assured me they'd get to the bottom of it. They gave me a courtesy ride home and Laurie took a Uber home from work. The next day, they said they had the starter replaced and the truck ran well. We took a Uber down to get the truck. The guy I had been dealing with is named Jon. He told us the starter was to be $850.00 but he had discounted it so it would be a bit less. Then we asked him if the truck had started okay after it was warmed up, and I repeated the story of the symptoms we had experienced before the starter went out. He then asked the guy who had brought the truck around if he had had any problems starting the truck. The guy said yes he had. So, I told the story again, Jon said they'd find out and he said, "Let's get you a car to drive" and walked us over to the rental department. We filled out the paper work with no discussion of cost or anything. We assumed they weren't charging. If they were, we would have had a chance to see if we liked their prices or if we thought we could get a better deal somewhere else. Right?
We got a call from Jon and the valve related to the Idaho issue was not functioning properly. This would end up being a replacement of that valve and the High Pressure oil pump as well. Basically a bunch of the work from Idaho. Jon worked things out with Napa as it was under warranty. Because it was nearly Thanksgiving and they had to get parts, things drug on. During a phone call, he said we would be just paying for the starter and the rental. We said what? the rental? He said he would see if he could get Napa to pick that up, too.
After three weeks, they were finally done and Laurie was at work so I went to get the truck. Napa covered everything except two days of rental, $70.00, and the starter. It ended up being over a thousand dollars. I still don't know how that math works out. So I picked up the truck and went home. Later that night I did what I always do, I drove to the hospital and got there early for her shift's end. Yes, I sat for about an hour before she got off. When she was ready, I tried to start the truck, and it was just as it was before. It took 10 tries to get it to kick over right and run. I have rarely been that angry.
The next day was Friday and I took it back. Now, Jon finally listened to me as I described step by step the issue. It was as if he had never been told any of this though that was just not true. I got the rental back and we all understood I would not be paying for it.
No call Friday.
No call Monday
We stopped in to a different dealer in town and asked for advice. We were told to take the issue directly to the service manager.
We drove down there Tuesday to what was up. The mechanic had left for a doctor's appointment and we were told Jon would call us when he got back We talked to the Service Manager and (Josh) said he'd become personally involved and get us on the road.
No call Tuesday
No call Wednesday
No call Thursday.
Understand I made several calls throughout this process and never got more than an answering machine.
We drove down Friday. The story was that they ended up calling the Ford Company itself, were told several things to check. Everything looked good. Apparently, this is a very unusual problem. They think we have a set of bad injectors. Usually, when an injector goes bad, it just stops working. Ours seem to work most of the time, but the only way to find out is to have them replaced and see if it fixes the problem. We are leaving for a different site on Friday, and we need our truck. We returned the car, and took our truck. We'll get it fixed in our next town.
Overall, a very bad experience. Because they didn't want to listen to me, because it ran over Thanksgiving, and because of basic subpar service, it took literally, 30 days and the problem is still the problem.
Fuller Ford in Chula Vista, California will never see me again.
The problem manifested itself like this. The truck always starts when cold. No problem. If it is warmed up and you restart it soon like if you stop at a store, it starts also. However, if it gets warmed up, and you turn it off for a period like 45 minutes to and hour, It will turn over but just run rough and stop. Think of an old car with a manual choke and you don't engage the choke when you first start it. So, we would keep pushing on it with the starter until it finally caught correctly and ran. Of course, the starter can't take that.
I called AAA and they sent out a tow. The guy asked me what the problem was. I told him what I just said and said that the starter was burnt out. I knew this because there was the smell of a burnt starter and it no longer turned over. So, apparently he didn't listen and got a heavy tool and banged on the starter a couple of times like you would if the starter was just seized. Nothing happened and I was peeved he hadn't listened to me.
We got the truck to Fuller Ford in Chula Vista. As the check in guy wrote up the order I told him the story. He didn't seem like he was really listening but assured me they'd get to the bottom of it. They gave me a courtesy ride home and Laurie took a Uber home from work. The next day, they said they had the starter replaced and the truck ran well. We took a Uber down to get the truck. The guy I had been dealing with is named Jon. He told us the starter was to be $850.00 but he had discounted it so it would be a bit less. Then we asked him if the truck had started okay after it was warmed up, and I repeated the story of the symptoms we had experienced before the starter went out. He then asked the guy who had brought the truck around if he had had any problems starting the truck. The guy said yes he had. So, I told the story again, Jon said they'd find out and he said, "Let's get you a car to drive" and walked us over to the rental department. We filled out the paper work with no discussion of cost or anything. We assumed they weren't charging. If they were, we would have had a chance to see if we liked their prices or if we thought we could get a better deal somewhere else. Right?
We got a call from Jon and the valve related to the Idaho issue was not functioning properly. This would end up being a replacement of that valve and the High Pressure oil pump as well. Basically a bunch of the work from Idaho. Jon worked things out with Napa as it was under warranty. Because it was nearly Thanksgiving and they had to get parts, things drug on. During a phone call, he said we would be just paying for the starter and the rental. We said what? the rental? He said he would see if he could get Napa to pick that up, too.
After three weeks, they were finally done and Laurie was at work so I went to get the truck. Napa covered everything except two days of rental, $70.00, and the starter. It ended up being over a thousand dollars. I still don't know how that math works out. So I picked up the truck and went home. Later that night I did what I always do, I drove to the hospital and got there early for her shift's end. Yes, I sat for about an hour before she got off. When she was ready, I tried to start the truck, and it was just as it was before. It took 10 tries to get it to kick over right and run. I have rarely been that angry.
The next day was Friday and I took it back. Now, Jon finally listened to me as I described step by step the issue. It was as if he had never been told any of this though that was just not true. I got the rental back and we all understood I would not be paying for it.
No call Friday.
No call Monday
We stopped in to a different dealer in town and asked for advice. We were told to take the issue directly to the service manager.
We drove down there Tuesday to what was up. The mechanic had left for a doctor's appointment and we were told Jon would call us when he got back We talked to the Service Manager and (Josh) said he'd become personally involved and get us on the road.
No call Tuesday
No call Wednesday
No call Thursday.
Understand I made several calls throughout this process and never got more than an answering machine.
We drove down Friday. The story was that they ended up calling the Ford Company itself, were told several things to check. Everything looked good. Apparently, this is a very unusual problem. They think we have a set of bad injectors. Usually, when an injector goes bad, it just stops working. Ours seem to work most of the time, but the only way to find out is to have them replaced and see if it fixes the problem. We are leaving for a different site on Friday, and we need our truck. We returned the car, and took our truck. We'll get it fixed in our next town.
Overall, a very bad experience. Because they didn't want to listen to me, because it ran over Thanksgiving, and because of basic subpar service, it took literally, 30 days and the problem is still the problem.
Fuller Ford in Chula Vista, California will never see me again.
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