...they replaced my slave cylinder, flywheel, pressure plate and clutch disc all under warranty. It's like driving a whole new truck and I love it.

But no one in the ENTIRE service dept., including the parts counter had ever heard of a 'Level II' package and they gave me a hard time about my shift **** (since I had complained about a rattling noise coming from it). They said it was an aftermarket shifter and **** so they couldn't do anything about it. I kept trying to tell them it was part of the level 2 package, but they didn't believe until they put my VIN in the computer and it told them that there was such a thing and that my shifter and everything was stock.

So know I have to bring it in next week to fix the ****, and since this is the third time bringing my truck in in the last week, I get complimentry rental car for however long it takes.

 

I hear that. I just had all of that done too, holy crap is there a diffirence. I didnt know there wasnt supposed to be 6" of play in the pedal!

As far as the parts people, yeah, they have no clue what they are doing it seems some times. They can fix things, but other than that, good luck.

 

Wow, they never heard of a L2 before?? hahaha

 

He asked if I bought it used and I said yes, then he said "Well maybe someone made up the level 2 package and just put these parts on" and I laughed at him and said that Ford still makes it on the 2006's and it's in the brochure.

 

Yup. I took mine in for warranty wheel balance and they accused me of installing the shifters, the Alcoas and BFGs and a lift kit, even though it was almost dead stock at the time. I had to rub their noses in it by showing them the sales brochure.

 

lol thats crazy. i cant believe they didnt know about the Level2

 

That's one thing that would tick me off, they shouldnt have accused you of all that before that checked the VIN #

 

I tried to get my clutch replaced at the dealer and they wouldnt, kinda pissed me off now I have to replace it on my own.

 

WHat did you have to do to get them to replace the slave cylinder? I tried to get them to look at mine and they said nothing was wrong.

 

LOL i love it dealers are so stupid they dont even know about the Level II but then agian it isnt a huge bought package

 

I just told them that it was making a loud squeak almost everytime I took off from a stop. And that it had gotten exponetially worse and it was squeaking going into 2nd and 3rd on the drive to the dealer. They test drove it, checked it, and ordered the parts and I came back a few days later and they fixed it.

They didn't hassle me at all for the clutch.

 

I'm another LII owner that has had trouble convincing dealers that my truck is stock.

The sales people at the dealer I bought from never went on any of the test drives w/ me. In fact I don't think any of the sales people even sat in the vehicle w/ me throughout the entire sales process. The day I picked the truck up the sales woman I was dealing w/ remarked to me "You know, that truck is pretty slick! I had to pull it around front after we prep'ed it and I didn't realize we made a Ranger that was that nice!" She said now she completely understood why I was so amazed there was only a $1000 difference between it and the plain-jane FX4.

Ironically she knews Mustangs front and back. One afternoon we were walking through the lot when a new Mustang drove by. From 200' she could tell it was a V6, not a GT.. and had the XYZ package. Clearly Rangers don't get much attention from the sales force.

Fast forward a few weeks. I brought it back to get my inspection sticker after having registered it. W/ new vehicles they basically just slap the sticker on it after barely giving it a once over. I pulled by one afternoon after work to have this done real quick. The service people were all utterly impressed w/ it. The truck seriously drew a crowd! I had to bust in and say to them "You guys realize you have another one just like it out front.. I saw it on my way in!"

Skip ahead a few months from that. I had the truck in for the busted t-case indicator switch (the first time) and squeaky clutch (dying throwout bearing). I promptly got a call asking me if I had modified the shifters. He was in the middle of explaining to me that my modified shifters were to blame when I refered him to fordvehicles.com. Mind you this is all from the SAME dealer so far!

After those clowns screwed up my O2 sensor swapping the clutch I decided I'd better try a different dealer. One day I dropped the truck off for them to do their "Yup, it's broke.. needs parts.. come back in a week" song and dance. This time I managed to get away w/o static about how I had voided the warranty w/ my 'custom' work.. but I did get a "Dude, nice custom shifter install!" from the service writer. I didn't even bother to correct him this time..

Yeah, it's pretty insane how unkown these LII's are..


Kyle. In my case my clutch made a high-pitched squeal when engaging in 1st or 2nd. It was especially bad if starting on an incline. It started pretty quiet (only my GF could hear it) but got progressively louder. Still, Ford swore it was okay. I actually had to 'go for a ride' w/ one of the techs at one point.. I had to urge him to 'launch it' to get him to really admit there was a problem. My words to him were: "Now, you tell me, is a brand new truck w/ ~12k miles on it supposed to do that?!" ... They agreed and replaced the clutch/slave cylinder.

I have the noise again at ~35k miles. Unfortunately it is far more intermittant. It squealed for weeks.. then I dropped it off for them to look at.. and it was perfect. Now ~2 weeks later, it's back. It'll probably just explode in about ~2k miles.. right after I go out of warranty!!!

 

The dealer I bought mine from didn't have a clue what a LII was and had never had one on their lot. They were clearly hungry for a sale, gave me by far the best trade-in $$ on my 2000 and dealer traded my truck in from out of state. Every employee at the dealer filed out to look at it when it arrived.

The selling dealer was about 40 miles from home. I only took it back there once a couple of days after I bought it for a tire balance problem. After that it went to the dealer 3 miles from here for warranty. That's when I had to go through the education process with their service department.

 

My local dealer here in Nashua shares owners/facilities w/ a motorcycle dealership who deals in Suzukis. I bought my B12 from them and had a very bad experience, both w/ the sales and the service departments. The Ford dealership is also relatively small. They didn't strike me as much of a volume seller. I walked their lot, but they didn't have much in stock that I was interested in. Besides, I've always found that I get a better deal w/o the BS negotiations (which I just don't have the patience for) w/ large, volume dealers. So I drove ~40 miles to a larger dealer as well. (I actually shopped 4 dealers within a ~80 mile radius, including the one near where I grew up, where I bought my first Ranger.)

I was very happy w/ the sales from the large dealership, but quickly grew unhappy w/ the service.. as I mentioned. Unfortunately I've had to have what I would define as a lot of warranty work done on this truck. Out of fustration I've since brought it to the small, local dealer. They've treated me great! A lot less static on in-warranty repairs and the stuff gets fixed the first time.. w/o them breaking 2 other things in the process! I also actually get to talk to the techs that actually work on the truck every now and again instead of some lackie 'service writer'.. which is worth a lot in my eyes!

I guess the moral of the story is to buy from large, volume outfits.. but have your warranty service done by the smaller, local guy.

 

replacing my clutch this weekend. should be easy, the engine is out. $400 in parts. glad im doing this myself could be worse.

 

Thats simple to explain: The large-volume guys make their money on volume sales. The smaller operations make their money in the service dept. You tell me which one is going to provide better service.

 

I expected the high-volume guys to be good in both respects. Sure, they make money by selling in volume.. but they also make money in volume service. They want you to become a repeat customer, meaning they want you to come back for service/support/etc. Or at least that's the line they feed you. Especially w/ Ford's 'blue oval' program. The larger dealers nearly bribed me to give them positive reviews when surveyed by Ford. The fact that they had to bribe me w/ free oil changes and "we'll make it better" speaches was unexpected. I'm surprised they stay in good standing in the program w/ that kind of service.

Meanwhile I figured that if you had problem w/ one department at a smaller dealer, you'd have problems w/ other depts too. I was a little surprised at the differences between two dealer service departments under the same roof and ownership. Given one is for cars and light trucks and the other is for recreational vehicles. But still, not what I expected..

 

sorry to jack your post my truck makes that loud squeak when i take off and sometimes a little bit in second is that bad for it? what is it? and how much would it cost to fix? thanks

 

It's most likely the slave cylinder. It's a fairly common problem. To be honest, I don't know how much it would be to get fixed since mine was all under warranty.

But if it is the slave, it will start to bleed onto the clutch disk and your clutch will start slipping, then it will finally blow and you'll be stranded. This is what I've heard, others will know for sure, so don't quote me on it

 

i'ma just say one thing....... you think your dealers don't know what there talking about.... mine are speech less when i pull uip and ask for some warrenty work

 

That's exactly what I experienced. Ford decided it was the slave cylinder throwout bearing as described above..

 

The first time I went to a dealer to have my oil changed a service tech was walking by and he started asking me questions about the truck as if I didn't know what I bought. I told Him I knew exactly what was on it and then he said I should put some 33's on it.

Seeing this thread makes me glad I went with an Auto, that and the higher towing capacity.

 

But you don't have the cool chrome twin shifters and boot bases!

 

Yeah but I have 6 cup holders.

 

But do you ever get thirsty enough to use all of them? lol