Bad spring/Sneaky dealership?

[AprilinCinci]

Hi all, this is my first time posting on these forums. I guess I'm looking for opinions. I have a 2000 Taurus SES. Last night when I left work I started hearing rattling on the left side of the car. I took it to a Ford dealer this morning to have them look at it. The service manager comes out and tells me the rear left spring is broken and both rear springs need to be replaced. He says the parts are $64 and the labor is $315 because this is a difficult and dangerous part to replace. Well I call my father in law who says not to get the repair yet and he would look at it. He comes over and just takes a quick look underneath the car and says that it's the FRONT left spring and he can see it's completely broken. So I start researching recalls and find the recall for the protective shields for the front springs, which I got done a couple of years ago. On the recall under corrective action it states the following:

Dealers will install protective spring shields. In addition, Ford is extending the warranty coverage of the front coil springs in all other states, for fracture only, up to 10 years of service or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first. If the vehicle has already accumulated more than 150,000 miles, this coverage will last until July 31, 2005. If either front coil spring fractures, dealers will replace both front springs at no charge to the owner.


Why would they tell me the rear spring was broken when it was really the front spring and then try to charge me almost $400?? Just prior to speaking with me, the service manager told an elderly lady that a sensor needed to be replaced and it wasn't covered under her warranty. She was angry because she purchased the elite warranty and was told things like that would be covered. She told them to forget it and that she would have her grand daughter's husband look at because he works at a Ford dealership in another city. A few minutes later the service manager comes back out and tells her the "guy" made a mistake and that this was covered under her warranty and they would fix it at no charge. Something seems fishy to me. What do you all think? It seems as if my front springs should be replaced at no charge. I'm going to call Ford tomorrow to verify what I read.

April

[jjh1976]

looks like ur in cincy what dealer did u go to.
buy some after market struts and springs and have them installed at a repair shop. you should not have to worry about broken springs again. if the recall was done they wont do it again. but if you call ford you might get help with the parts and labor cost

[AprilinCinci]

It was Mike Castrucci in Milford. I did get the protective shields but by reading the recall it sounds as if they are also covering the springs if they do fracture within that 10 year or 150,000 miles. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

April

[TaurusKing]

if the springs break within the time frame, they will replace them, the shields are only designed to prevent the tires from being cut by spring pieces and possibly preventing a serious situation.. if the springs were not broken with the original recall, the shields were installed to prevent said possible issues... I'd find another Ford dealer

[jjh1976]

i would try montgomery ford. they are better to deal with. and the shop techs have been there a while. go in to the service dept and dont leave till it is fixed at there expense.
if you are over 150000 on your odometer its expired

[AprilinCinci]

Thanks so much. I will try Montgomery Ford. No matter how convenient I will never go back to Castrucci. It just makes no sense that they would lie about which spring it was except that they were trying to pull one over on me since the back springs aren't covered. April

[jjh1976]

thats what it soundslike to me. they are a pain to replace and to do it under warranty time sucks. so it sounds like they were trying to compensate themselves not expecting you to figure it out.

[Millermagic]

Ford does not pay for replacement springs. Only the shields they put on under warranty.

[AprilinCinci]

I called Montgomery Ford and spoke with the service manager. She looked up my vin# and said my car DOES fall under the extended warranty for the front springs and they will replace them at no cost to me. April

[AprilinCinci]

Also, she said they have been doing a ton of these repairs and knew immediately what I was talking about when I mentioned the extended warranty on the front springs. That leads me to believe that Castrucci Ford's service dept is seeing this a lot and must know about the warranty on the front springs. Hmm, I'm wondering why they told me it was the back spring and not the front and tried to charge me almost $400.

[jjh1976]

like i said they were trying to compensate themselves. they were gonna charge you and replace the springs under warranty.

[AprilinCinci]

I was being sarcastic....that's exactly what they were trying to do and really makes me so angry. I hate taking my car anywhere because I can't trust anything I'm told by a mechanic. I know there are good ones out there but the bad ones really make it difficult for women.

By the way, do you think I should get new struts while they've got it all taken apart? My car is at 106,000 miles. I know this could've caused a problem but should I get them even if they don't see anything obviously wrong with them?

[AprilinCinci]

How much do struts cost anyway?

[jjh1976]

i thought you were bing sarcastic. struts are not that expensive. the last ones i did were sixty a peice and you need two. i would replace them. ask the dealer for a quote. little hint they have to take the struts off to replace the springs