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Got a Lemon.... Make Lemonade?

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heffneil

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Hey guys! Proud (or was) owner of a 22 Lightning Platinum. December 12 I was at a drive-thru ordering food when all of the sudden I started getting alerts and bing bongs. I didn't know what was going on. I turn the truck off, opened the door, closed the door, opened the door and started it back up - still all alerts. I went to pull up to get the food and slid by the window - couldn't stop! I slammed on the pedal and the truck stopped. Tried to reboot a bunch of times and still didn't work. I called ford roadside to see if they knew how to reboot - they said we just tow. I ordered a tow truck and called my dealership and went around their phone menu for 35 minutes since the messages SAID they were open but they closed early for a Christmas party. I was desperate to learn if I could reboot the car and try to get home. My wife had to drive down to the place I was at so I could unload my truck and bring me a key for the dealership and tow truck driver.

Truck was in the shop for 10 days. I told them to get Ford to send a tech down to help them. They were baffled. They cleared the codes and drove it for 15 miles and on the last mile all the alerts came back and they too lost braking. Dealer didn't have a loaner vehicle for 5 days of the 10 it was in the shop. End result was it needed a new brake booster. $2300 which is apparently very expensive for the part, the service writer made a point of telling me the price - I didn't know what a "regular" brake booster cost but I think it was a valuable point if you want to keep this truck post factory warranty, extend it!

I was convinced I wouldn't ever trust this truck again but with the new brake booster I was happy, truck felt solid and I was a happy camper to get it back, I really missed the truck during the 10 days I didn't have it!

Fast forward to Friday the 13th. Drove to breakfast with my wife and daughters and enjoyed a meal. Got in the truck and hit start to which I was alerted to a message "Stop Safely Now". I wasn't even in gear! Tried rebooting, door open, door close, patting my head, rubbing my belly - nothing. Had a read battery icon with an exclamation point over the truck.

Ordered a tow truck on the app. Was going to be 2 hours. The wife and daughters ubered home and my wife grabbed a key (i need to just keep one on me now) and brought her car to unload my truck again. While I was waiting for her I cleaned out most of my car as if I would never see it again, nor did I want to. Second time being stranded with this thing in a month! So I call the dealer and speak to one of the writers and said hey I am stranded and waiting for the tow truck but I don't know how to get it in to neutral - she told me they will know. Got my truck emptied and sat there and said screw it. I put the key and a 20 in the console and left. Worse that could happen someone steals the 20. Truck driver called me asking exactly where I was and I explain I left but I was in front of this one restaurant. I said I don't know how to get it in neutral and he said what kind of truck is it and I said a lightning, all electric and he said I don't know anything about those they didn't tell me that. So I said listen I'm so frustrated with this truck, just drag it dude I don't know what to tell you. Well I called him back 20 minutes later and sure enough he dragged it up the bed.

I asked the dealer if he had my old truck - a 2018 Raptor with 10k miles. He said no, he said sold it in November but we have 2 new ones that just became available! He sent the window stickers to me - 82k + 15k premium. I said well if you give me $120 for my truck and sell me the new one for invoice I will do that deal. He said you paid msrp for your lightning right? I said yeah? He said where does the 120 come from? I said where does the 15k come from on your raptors? He said limited supply. I said oh in that case you have a replacement Lightning for me? He said no. I said oh well then maybe $120k isn’t enough for what I am asking for my truck

Monday they delivered me a loaner. I asked the service writer if there was any update on my truck and he said the tech who is certified to work on my truck had an emergency and didn't have a chance to look at it before leaving for the day, hopefully he will be in Tuesday. I told him just lie to me and tell me he's looking in to it. I don't need to hear about a guy not showing up for work. I also asked - I guess there isn't anyone else, there isn't.

I contracted ford to see who else could work on my truck in my area - apparently its all dealerships. I left a message with the larger dealership in town but they didn't call so that's probably no better. But if they had more than one electric vehicle tech that would be better.

It is Tuesday, I will txt to see if the dude showed up for work today but the saga continues....
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heffneil

heffneil

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Btw I was livid about the dragging so I spoke to the service manager, and he said yeah we don't know and I asked my Ford rep and he didn't know either. Someone sent me this link:



Good for everyone to know because it shows how to hard reset your truck!
 
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heffneil

heffneil

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What was the result of that on your truck?
 

MannyG20

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I would suspect a lot of dealers do not have experienced EV techs and that it will take a while until Lightning owners can get reliable service.
if you Think your dealer has great EV service it might be good to post so others in your area can benefit.
 

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heffneil

heffneil

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well I don't think I have good service. Waiting 5 days for a loaner and taking 10 days to diagnose the problem the first time isn't acceptable. Now my truck sat there for an entire day and probably another if this guy didn't show up for work today....
 

F150ROD

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Hey guys! Proud (or was) owner of a 22 Lightning Platinum. December 12 I was at a drive-thru ordering food when all of the sudden I started getting alerts and bing bongs. I didn't know what was going on. I turn the truck off, opened the door, closed the door, opened the door and started it back up - still all alerts. I went to pull up to get the food and slid by the window - couldn't stop! I slammed on the pedal and the truck stopped. Tried to reboot a bunch of times and still didn't work. I called ford roadside to see if they knew how to reboot - they said we just tow. I ordered a tow truck and called my dealership and went around their phone menu for 35 minutes since the messages SAID they were open but they closed early for a Christmas party. I was desperate to learn if I could reboot the car and try to get home. My wife had to drive down to the place I was at so I could unload my truck and bring me a key for the dealership and tow truck driver.

Truck was in the shop for 10 days. I told them to get Ford to send a tech down to help them. They were baffled. They cleared the codes and drove it for 15 miles and on the last mile all the alerts came back and they too lost braking. Dealer didn't have a loaner vehicle for 5 days of the 10 it was in the shop. End result was it needed a new brake booster. $2300 which is apparently very expensive for the part, the service writer made a point of telling me the price - I didn't know what a "regular" brake booster cost but I think it was a valuable point if you want to keep this truck post factory warranty, extend it!

I was convinced I wouldn't ever trust this truck again but with the new brake booster I was happy, truck felt solid and I was a happy camper to get it back, I really missed the truck during the 10 days I didn't have it!

Fast forward to Friday the 13th. Drove to breakfast with my wife and daughters and enjoyed a meal. Got in the truck and hit start to which I was alerted to a message "Stop Safely Now". I wasn't even in gear! Tried rebooting, door open, door close, patting my head, rubbing my belly - nothing. Had a read battery icon with an exclamation point over the truck.

Ordered a tow truck on the app. Was going to be 2 hours. The wife and daughters ubered home and my wife grabbed a key (i need to just keep one on me now) and brought her car to unload my truck again. While I was waiting for her I cleaned out most of my car as if I would never see it again, nor did I want to. Second time being stranded with this thing in a month! So I call the dealer and speak to one of the writers and said hey I am stranded and waiting for the tow truck but I don't know how to get it in to neutral - she told me they will know. Got my truck emptied and sat there and said screw it. I put the key and a 20 in the console and left. Worse that could happen someone steals the 20. Truck driver called me asking exactly where I was and I explain I left but I was in front of this one restaurant. I said I don't know how to get it in neutral and he said what kind of truck is it and I said a lightning, all electric and he said I don't know anything about those they didn't tell me that. So I said listen I'm so frustrated with this truck, just drag it dude I don't know what to tell you. Well I called him back 20 minutes later and sure enough he dragged it up the bed.

I asked the dealer if he had my old truck - a 2018 Raptor with 10k miles. He said no, he said sold it in November but we have 2 new ones that just became available! He sent the window stickers to me - 82k + 15k premium. I said well if you give me $120 for my truck and sell me the new one for invoice I will do that deal. He said you paid msrp for your lightning right? I said yeah? He said where does the 120 come from? I said where does the 15k come from on your raptors? He said limited supply. I said oh in that case you have a replacement Lightning for me? He said no. I said oh well then maybe $120k isn’t enough for what I am asking for my truck

Monday they delivered me a loaner. I asked the service writer if there was any update on my truck and he said the tech who is certified to work on my truck had an emergency and didn't have a chance to look at it before leaving for the day, hopefully he will be in Tuesday. I told him just lie to me and tell me he's looking in to it. I don't need to hear about a guy not showing up for work. I also asked - I guess there isn't anyone else, there isn't.

I contracted ford to see who else could work on my truck in my area - apparently its all dealerships. I left a message with the larger dealership in town but they didn't call so that's probably no better. But if they had more than one electric vehicle tech that would be better.

It is Tuesday, I will txt to see if the dude showed up for work today but the saga continues....
Sounds like another shitty Service Dept. Is Ford Service actively trying to sabotage EVs @Ford Motor Company
 
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kwalt21

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The 2nd problem that you are experiencing sounds exactly like mine. It ended up being a high voltage battery contactor inside the battery housing..
 

antimatterparticle

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Stuff like this have often the same culprit: The 12V battery.

It is good to have an OBD reader. For 40$ you can now more about your truck than what the dealer is telling you. In some cases, you can tell the dealer what the issue is.

hope you get your truck back soon. If it is a true lemon the. Just go through the process.

Make sure to check for any damage from the towing.
 

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brewski

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This sucks, but that video is great.
 
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heffneil

heffneil

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Sorry to hear about all the problems. But, with all due respect, you told the driver to drag it. I hope he used slide mats.
I'm not guessing he would. I don't know what a professional should do or use. It would still be there considering my dealer didn't even know how to get it in neutral
 
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heffneil

heffneil

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Stuff like this have often the same culprit: The 12V battery.

It is good to have an OBD reader. For 40$ you can now more about your truck than what the dealer is telling you. In some cases, you can tell the dealer what the issue is.

hope you get your truck back soon. If it is a true lemon the. Just go through the process.

Make sure to check for any damage from the towing.
The problem is this is an electric truck. I shouldn't need an OBD reader - it should just display the errors. You needed ODB when you had a car with no displays or computers that were accessible to the end user. Now it should just show me, and my dealer should be able to connect to the car remotely like onstar or tesla and see whats wrong with it. Its still a 1908 Model T mentality.
 
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heffneil

heffneil

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The 2nd problem that you are experiencing sounds exactly like mine. It ended up being a high voltage battery contactor inside the battery housing..
Oh god. How long did that take to fix?
 
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heffneil

heffneil

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When I bought my truck there was a rough spot on the steering wheel. I identified it immediately and asked for them to fix it. They said they needed to order a new steering wheel. I was shocked, but ok. After 2 months of waiting I finally gave them a hard time, and funny thing is I saw an email from the parts department that my steering wheel was finally on order. They didn't know I knew about the automated email. Well they finally scheduled the steering wheel replacement (after thanksgiving, I bought my truck September 4th). While I was there I jinxed myself because when talking to the service manager I said what could go wrong with these things. Im pretty sure god was listening and laughed the entire time!
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