What maintenance do you do yourself?

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Schurkey

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Y'think it's a coincidence that the FIRST recommended spark plug replacement on those pieces of shiit Ford Modular engines happens AFTER the warranty runs out?

IF this country had a functioning Federal Trade Commission, Ford would recall every one of those heaps of crap, apologize to the owners, and refund all plug-repair bills from the beginning of production until now, plus penalties and interest.
 

stutaeng

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My BIL is a Ford guy (inherited from his Dad). He's got an 05-ish F150 with the 5.4. He did have to call the mechanic to do the spark plugs. A few years ago his transmission went out and got it rebuilt, but it was north of 200k on the clock. My sister (his wife) drives an 07 Explorer (I don't know the mileage, but I don't think it has that many) and that one seems like is always breaking down.:rolleyes:

A few months ago, the Explorer was down due to a transmission failure. My Mom loaned my sister her 05 Escape to drop off her little ones at school (we sold the Escape to Mom, pretty clean and only 88k on the clock.) Well, the darn Escape left her stranded...transmission failed on her! I learned CD4e transmission requires complete teardown to change the filter...My BIL was sweating bullets when my sister had to drive the F150 while the 2 Fords were down for transmission rebuilds! LOL.

Coincidentally, my BIL's Dad had bought a GMT800 Sierra 1500 with the 5.3. He'd been driving Fords since we met them a while back. Last I talked to him he was pretty happy driving the Chebby. ;)
 
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PlayingWithTBI

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I learned CD4e transmission requires complete teardown to change the filter.
Yeah, our 2015 Escape is like that too. It's called a lifetime filter and its fluid change intervals are ~30K miles. I didn't know that and wound up changing the fluid @ 100K, it was a little dark but didn't smell bad. In the future I'll be more attentive to that. :rolleyes:
 

Erik the Awful

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Some of those horror stories are so stupid, like stripping out the spark plug threads on Ford Triton engines... some poor fella trying to actually maintain their Ford and surprise you need a new engine!
The repair doesn't require a new engine. I have the tool for installing the replacement threads and can knock it out in under an hour. But, yes, it's a stupid failure and I hope that engineer got his bonus revoked.
 

xXxPARAGONxXx

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Do everything you can do. Having worked at three dealerships as a tech, I do not trust dealerships.

Of course, doing it yourself means you need the correct tools, a space to perform the work, etc. DIY can be an expensive investment, but it certainly can pay for itself in the long run.

My current job is replacing shift solenoid on my current daily driver (beater) 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt. While I was doing that, I decided to replace both CV shafts, the steering gear box, transmission cooler lines and seals, and a few other odds and ends.

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The labor would have cost me thousands of dollars at a dealership, in addition to the parts costs. Moreover, it is nice being able to sleep at night knowing the work was done right.
 

xXxPARAGONxXx

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The culprit: faulty 1-2 shift solenoid. When I attempted to remove the connector from the shift solenoid (just like the one below it), the body of the shift solenoid broke off with the connector. (The heat from the faulty solenoid fatigued the plastic over time.) You can see the charred coil in the photograph.

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