I was wondering how "perfect" you expect your cars to be and if you really bug the dealer until everything detail is perfect. I ask, because I have a few minor things I'd like the dealer to look at, but am not sure if I'm being realistic about them fixing it or not. Sure, it's a new car and should be great, but realistically, can we expect that? My "minor" gripes: 1). Engine seems to tick at times, kind of like a the lifters would sound like on the old pushrod motors. Is this common on these motors? I suppose this could be more than a minor issue and something I'll at least ask the dealer about. 2). Driver side speaker sounds blown when listening to talk radio. I really don't think I blew it, I think it has always been this way and I never noticed it until I switched from music to talk radio. 3). I have a rattle in the passenger side dash, especially in the mornings when everything is a little colder and tighter. 4). At a recent fill up, my fuel gauge didn't come back up to full until driving for nearly an hour. No problems since though. I'm thinking I'll wait another month or two and take it in for all these things to see what they can do, but is it realistic to think they would actually spend the time and money to get the rattle out of the dash? How far do you expect your dealer to go to make things perfect?
I know it sounds crazy, but the least amount of time your car spends at the dealer, the better. I was there when mine just came off of the truck and I took it from them before they could send it through make ready. I'm a little extreme though. Good luck with it and have fun.
try not to nit-pick the car too much, but i would take the car in for the things you mentioned. the engine tick is probably normal, as these motors are noisy. the speaker could be blown, and the rest are known problems. i have had several wierd problems with mine, including a defective windshield wiper motor, and 2 sets of defective horns. each car will have its own small personality traits, and the dealer will tell you they are normal. you can just make a list of the small stuff, and let the dealer know about them when you go in for other bigger warranty issues.
Thanks bigcat. I'll probably do just that, let things accrue a little and then take it in a mention them. Oh, and good to know that I'm not the only one with a noisy motor. I'm used to the sounds my 5.0 made, but am still learning about the modulat motors
Yea...coming from about 20 different 302 powered cars in the past this is a change for me too. These engines make some funky noises, but they have a lot more moving parts than are old engines did. They seem to like to rev more also!
I guess I'm lucky in that I took delivery of my '06 with 12 miles on it from the showroom floor. It was never test-driven. I haven't really noticed anything except for the noisy 5-speed manual tranny. I'm in heaven.
I currently lease an 02 Audi A4 3.0 don't forget you are driving a Ford...the lesseer of all 3 evils. When I take delivery on mine next month, I'll be feeling the same pain I'm sure. Just suck it up and like the other guy's say....stay away from the dealer whenever possible.
