It's time to have my cooling system flushed & refilled. Yesterday I called my favorite Ford dealer, and was quoted $35.00 for the job, including antifreeze. Thinking as many seem to, I figured the dealer was probably pretty expensive. On the way home from work, I stopped at a Lube Stop to inquire about the job. $59.99. I said bulls$it! Next I stopped at a Valvoline place...$62.00.
I ended up going to the dealer. The service writer called me from the showroom, where I was salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs over a new Stang GT, to tell me that the thermostat housing was leaking on my car. Now I'm getting the job done free under warantee, including, (natch), the flush & fill.
I don't know how much the job would have cost me if I wasn't under warantee. I'm starting to think about getting an extended warantee. Generally I against this kind of thing, but I'm really starting to have 2nd thoughts about it. If any of you have an extended warantee, I'd appreciate it if you could post what it costs, what it covers, if you think it's really worth it, what your experiences have been, etc., etc.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
I bought my extended warranty when I bought my car, up from the 3/36 to a 7/75, I'm going to hit 75K well before 7 years, but I'm a firm believer that the couple of bucks here and there that the warranty costs will quickly be repaid by my first service considering labor in some places around here in maine is quickly approaching 80 an hour.
I had the 6yr/60k service contract thrown in as part of the deal and I am very happy with it. They have even installed after market parts for me at N/C.
My only warning to you here is to be sure it is a FORD warranty, not a 3rd party. You end up paying through the nose for it and it covers nearly nothing!
____________________ Get in, Sit down, Shut up and HANG ON!
I never go in for those extended warrentys. Its just a scam to keep you going to the dealer for service. most of the time your deductable is so big you could have gone to a reputable shop for the same or less. Plus, I know plenty of people who paid way too much than if they didnt have the warrenty and had to come up with their own solution. (like getting a 500$ trans from haines instead of a 2000$ rebuild from ford.)
flush and fill is damn near free. buy the coolent, open the bung, remove thermostat, disconnect heater hose, put garden hose in the overflow tank and flush away. refill and idle with heater on. top off accordingly.
I never belived in extended warantees at all. Once i worked at a car dealership belived in them even less seeing how much they make on it.
Well, i ended up gettin one for free from FORD. Was like, hey, what the hell, im not paying for it, $100 deductable... i can deal. Not too much was covered... saved money here and there... $200 jobs for the deductable, that kinda thing. Then the event that everyone remembers happened... engine go BOOM.... and it cost me $100 to get it replaced. Granted, they did a shit job and i have had my car in there all week getting fixed again... but its not costing me a thing so its alright... just went to a shit dealer.
SO... as long as the warantee is a FORD one and not a third party one (Like chelly said) i say go for it. What can it hurt. Doesnt cover many things but when you need it, its good to have it there
____________________ Its all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye with a dick
depends on which one you get, you can get some that cover a lot others that don't cover as much, mine raised my monthly payment by $18 but it covers everything but a limited selection of items.
In the industry, we have a thing called a bathtub chart. Its a graph of the number of failures in the field over time. The line looks like a bathtub. You see a high concentration of failures right away and the number plumets as time increases. after bottoming out the number of failures start to rise again. the point at which the failures rise again is commonly referred to as "when your warrenty expires".
look at the coverage level of the extended warrenty. If they offer you great coverage for 75K miles than that means their data shows there is a high likelyhood you will pay in more than they will pay out. Sure its a gamble, but they are gambling too.
Not disagreeing with you there, I can certainly see that, but in the scheme of things here, the factory warranty lasted for 3/36K which didn't deal with much other than that my extended is for 7/75K but I could have gone in for a 10/100K with the same coverage. With the number of problems the focus has to offer me, and the high price of labor around here, it will pay for itself pretty much. Labor is no lower than $60 an hour around here, and in some places as high as $85 an hour. So that adds up quick even if the part only costs $100. It also depends on what you know. You (TXFO) know a great deal more about cars, and have the skills to work on yours on your own, I have a little bit, but not enough to tackle some of these jobs, nor do I have the time to do them either usually. In the end run, I see it benefitting me simply because I'm not able to do as much with my car as you are.
I took it in to the dealer again today to get the thermostat housing fixed. They had to order the part. I had'em change the pcv valve while it was there. It's cold here, & I didn't feel like messing with it.
I found a small oil leak where the tranny case meets the engine. I mentioned it to them, because my warranty is almost up. I wanted to be sure I was on record with it. They said it needs to be fixed, & it's a major job. The tranny has to be pulled. The dealer said he'd need the car for a couple of days. It's covered by warranty, but this news gives me pause again. At my advanced age, I tend to be pretty darned easy on my cars. I'm also positively anal about maintaince. This is turning out to be a problematic car. I'm thinking about the extended warranty more than ever now. I looked it up, and for what I want, it would cost about $1000. I don't want to make an emotional purchase, and right now, I'm a little concerned. I'll take the car in to have the oil leak repaired on Dec. 27th.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
I have nearly 34,000 miles on my SVTF...so far it's been pretty reliable with little problems....my concern is the same...I take real good care of my car but it seems that Ford has a long way to go with reliability....I had a 93 Toyota Corolla with 125,000 miles on it and I think I spent less on repairs during its whole life then I have on the SVT. I'm giving some serious thought about trading....but I would loose too much money...especially since my car is paid for and I don't want to have any payments..
____________________ 02 SVT Focus, CD Silver, No. 2032.
I think we're in exactly the same spot. I paid cash for my car new. Despite the problems listed, I really like it & don't want to change vehicles now, or in the new future. I've owned 4 Toyotas & a Nissan, (Datsun back then) & their reliability is truly wonderful. The last Celica GTS I had was kind of a lemon, though.
I normally keep my cars for 6-7 years & put 110-125 thou. on them. I worked for Ford part-time for 3 years. Their quality control efforts are real, but don't equal Toyota. The last 4 vehicles I've owned have been Fords. They have all been completely trouble free, except the Focus. My ZX3 hasn't been awful, reliability wise, but it hasn't been great, either.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
That's what I'm thinking...I usually keep my car for 7 - 8 years and put as many miles as I can and then trade it in...I do enjoy my SVTF and having not listened to my own advice after my last VW GTI about not bolting on part after part and keeping it stock...(although, it is a much better car now then stock)...I want to keep it...maybe I will have to come up with $1000 for an extended warranty. Which one were you looking at...I thought I would get the one that covers everything if I'm going to get one???
____________________ 02 SVT Focus, CD Silver, No. 2032.
It's the official Ford warantee site. I think the one I looked at was the 75,000 mi, 5year option with $50.00 deductable. I'm too lazy to punch in my VIN again to see for sure.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
