Hopefully selling the Ford back to the dealer tomorrow

[cummins2k]

So my wife purchased a Focus a couple years ago. Not a bad car, little small, but good fuel mileage. However since we have had the car it has been a lemon. First issue was random acceleration. Yes that is right. I swear this car is half Toyota. This was at 4k miles. The dealer claimed wires were improperly restrained and rubbed through on the clutch pedal. However I distinctly remember while cleaning the car there were no wires hanging down in this area. There was also a lot of noise when the transmission was in neutral and the clutch was engaged. They claimed it was normal gear mesh / no load noise. I called B.S. but they stuck to their story. In fact for the last 41k miles they have. Despite the fact I can simply set my foot on the pedal, taking up the free play in the pedal, and it stops. Mind you the clutch is NOT disengaged, the transmission is still spinning, and there is still NO LOAD. This sounds like a classic throw-out bearing issue to me. What do I know though, I just grew up working in a shop, learning from a 70 year old mechanic that spent 50 years working on cars. For god sakes I don't hold the holy ASE license like them.Well guess what? At 10k it went all nuts. It would randomly accelerate hit about 5,000 RPM then a wrench light would come on the dash. The car would then go to idle and the gas pedal would no longer do anything. They claimed it was just a random malfunction and they "reset" the computer. B.S.To make a long story short we kept taking it back complaining, in fact twice after this. Now I have just completed the FIFTH time I have taken it in. Now they think the THROTTLE BODY is bad! They wanted me to pay nearly $700! I blew up, called the manager an idiot, told him he didn't know his head from his...well you can guess the rest.I guess I made enough of a scene that he got in touch with Ford and they offered to "cover all but $175." I flipped again. Why should I pay $175 for a problem that has existed since the car was BRAND NEW. I could understand if a part failed after the 3yr/36,000 mile warranty. However if I have been in 5 TIMES for the same problem they should just fix it. Mind you this isn't the first time we have had problems with this dealer. My wife took it in because I told her to make them check it. It was vibrating while driving down the highway and I noticed a small amount of abnormal tire wear. It didn't hardly have any miles on it at the time. They said they would check it out and tell her what was wrong. Needless to say they came and got her. Told her to go to the cashier there was a $160 charge for an alignment! She never approved it! So she stayed and argued with the manager that convinced her he would only charge her $100 since it was their error about approval. She paid!I was pissed to say the least. The car hadn't hit a pothole, hadn't been handled rough, and was brand spankin new at the time they did this. Why should I pay for an alignment on a new car. It should have been properly aligned off the lot. Well here is the kicker. They don't show this alignment in the computer now. They say they never performed an alignment. Well I have a withdrawl on my bank account that shows $100 to them. They claim they didn't see the car but twice for the acceleration problem. They don't show the time they had it for 3 WEEKS. So after the last time at the dealer I demanded they fix it and they refused until I pay part. I blew my top and almost got the police called on me. They directed me to a dealer about 30 miles away that is purchasing used cars due to low demand. I will not take less than blue book and they know that. I can sell it private party for more. I am sure I ruined at least 10 sales that day lol.What really makes me angry is I came home and took the throttle body off. Mind you the replacement charges me for 3.5hrs of labor according to them. It took less than 10 mins for me to remove it. Remove the air filter box held on by 3-clips. Remove the ducting to the throttle body, just hose clamps. Remove two wire connectors and 4 bolts. It is now off and in your hand. I cleaned it with carb cleaner. Opened the sensors and cleaned them with electronic cleaner and greased the drive-by-wire gears with white lithium grease and haven't had a problem since. In fact I drove the car 100 miles today and didn't have one problem. Usually I have one dead pedal about every 20 miles and have to restart the car. How come a total of about 30 mins and the car goes 100 miles without a problem but the holy grail of a dealership can't make it go more than 20 MILES!I just hope this POS sells tomorrow for bluebook. Bluebook is more than I owe, so I can afford to buy my wife another car. She has been informed from now on I pick her next car whether she likes the looks or not. Just in case your wondering I did compare my Dodges (Dakota, Ram, my parents Dakota and Stratus) to this lemon. He said "apples to oranges." I remarked you mean "oranges to lemons" right. None of these vehicles have less than 100k. None of them have had major malfunctions under 100k. In fact the most major is my Dakota with a bad timing chain, and my moms Stratus with a bad A/C compressor and head gasket. Each costs me well under the $700 the dealer wanted to fix my wife's car. Sure I fixed them myself but that is because I am willing to if they carried me over 100k problem free and are OUT OF WARRANTY.So to end my rant, the MORAL of the story is never have a vehicle serviced by O'MERA FORD.

[Mopar1973Man]

Mouthful...