Car Wizard Gets a '21 Bronco Sport to Repair

[harrkaep]

Didn't CarWizard state the owner had it for a few weeks? This signals that the dealer probably new something was up if they sold it to them.

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[Uncle Brad]

Didn't CarWizard state the owner had it for a few weeks? This signals that the dealer probably new something was up if they sold it to them.

At 7:00 minutes in, Mr. Car Wizard only stated that the customer brought it in to the dealership, where he eventually was given the lousy diagnosis.

 

[MKC1911]

This the guy that Hoovie takes all his cars to or used to. Thought he was selling his shop & retiring somewhere. He seems to have a pretty good knowledge of older cars.

I will say I've cringed at some of the prices he's charged Hoovie for minor things.

 

[Big Ben]

There are literally many tens of thousands of members on Escape and Bronco Sport forums. If these engines were ""dropping like flies"", then why is this the only one vehicle with a major failure?
This guy is worse than Scotty Kilmer.

 

[jkernitzki]

This the guy that Hoovie takes all his cars to or used to. Thought he was selling his shop & retiring somewhere. He seems to have a pretty good knowledge of older cars.

I will say I've cringed at some of the prices he's charged Hoovie for minor things.

He is, or at least relocating. Notice his shop was nearly empty.

 

[jkernitzki]

There are literally many tens of thousands of members on Escape and Bronco Sport forums. If these engines were ""dropping like flies"", then why is this the only one vehicle with a major failure?
This guy is worse than Scotty Kilmer.

All Scotty does is whine and bitch. At least the Wizard actually fixes things.

 

[BroncOHiggins]

Oh, come on!

As a former owner of a 2024 Bronco Sport, and my son having picked up a new one at the same time last year, I want to believe that the 1.5L configuration is well-designed and reliable. But I'm not going to engage in character assassinations of those that bring to light the irrefutable problems!

- The open-deck 1.5L cast aluminum block is subject to cracking under heat and stress (there is no proper exhaust manifold).
- There is a wet belt for the oil pump, submerged in that hot oil. (Discovering this was a deal-breaker for me)
-Hoses, clamps, sensors and even fasteners are poor-quality plastic and cannot be re-used. Worse, the replacement parts are generally only available through Ford AND are frequently on backorder.
- These vehicles are manufactured in Mexico, which introduces a host of problems - including availability.
- Some Ford (as well as any other vendor) dealership service departments have engaged in this kind of chicanery for a very long time

I've known Ford sales reps not knowing what "GOAT" means - so we can forgive the wife of a mechanic for not knowing. Besides, that doesn't matter anyway: it's a marketing issue (not a design, manufacturing, quality or reliability issue).

Regarding the value of the Bronco Sport with 89K, the mechanic was obviously referring the the cost of it at the time of purchase. To buy a new Outer Banks would of course cost more than 30K now. How much the owner had invested in the vehicle (and not necessarily the current market value) is for many the deciding making important decisions like this.

The owner of the vehicle obviously took care of his Bronco Sport both inside and out, and a lot of effort went in to ensure the viewer of the video understood that. No mention was made about abuse (ie: infrequent oil changes, letting coolant get too low). The owner obviously had common sense after walking away from the attempted dealer con job. In fact: Mr. Car Wizard repeatedly exhibited compassion for the owner, a veteran, buy keeping the repair costs down as much as he could.

I really like the Bronco Sport; don't get me wrong. But when I crawled underneath it and found so little usable ground clearance, exposed clutch diffs with no cooling, un-shielded gas lines, etc. I determined these were risk factors I couldn't live with. Going with the 2L Badlands addresses some of these issue, but not enough of them.

So there: I'm a gap-toothed, ignorant, untutored hill-jack, gleefully "defaming" a product I "don't like." To claim Mr. Car Wizard "knows nothing about these vehicles" itself sounds "defaming" to me, because we all know character assassination is often preferred by some in favor having to confront an honest assessment. I have a sneaking suspicion that any one of us - who are qualified and experienced - having worked through these issues with the vehicle on the rack, would come away with a similar assessment.

N

>>This may cost you a cylinder head, but not a turbo or cat.

That the cat ceramic being damaged due to prolonged exposure to coolant within the exhaust indicates the user was persistent in keeping the coolant reservoir topped off as necessary. The customer obviously knew he was loosing coolant somewhere, but didn't know why - so he did indeed seek out a dealership (potentially as soon as possible).

Obvious coolant intrusion DID damage the cat and potentially the turbo: the video shows the visual evidence.

It was the source of the coolant leak which was in question (which is why the owner sought help from the dealership to begin with).

It wouldn't take long for extensive damage to occur in the cat. Have you ever been behind a vehicle burning coolant? It not only assaults the nose and throat with a memorable stench, the vehicle will only make it a few miles as the problem compounds. My bet is that the customer wasted little time in making it to the dealership. As you can imagine, fleet vehicles really suffer the worst from this, which is why the Ford Transit is notorious for damage tied to coolant leak problems (don't believe me: do a simple YouTube or web search).

But then - when the dealership tried to screw him - he had to drive it to another repair resource, making the problem even worse. There is positively no reason to assign blame to the owner or to Mr. Car Wizard, but every reason to point the finger to the Ford dealership and to Ford design/quality/warranty issues.

exactly this

All Scotty does is whine and bitch. At least the Wizard actually fixes things.

what I’m most concerned about is the dealership’s actions. I hope it was a one-off

 

[Big Ben]

All Scotty does is whine and bitch. At least the Wizard actually fixes things.

As far as I know, this is the only BS he has worked on To say every BS is garbage based on 1 he has seen is unprofessional and not credible

 

[Ernest T]

That's alarming.

 

[Uncle Brad]

As far as I know, this is the only BS he has worked on To say every BS is garbage based on 1 he has seen is unprofessional and not credible

You honestly don't think this automotive professional is qualified to assess a vehicle in the contexts of design and quality - without having to have more than one of them on the rack?

You don't think Mr. Car Wizard would make draw the same alarming conclusions if he found the same design and quality problems in, say, a Toyota or a Honda? Truly, we all have to draw upon the qualified experience of those who know more than we do.

What specific finding(s) did he make which disqualified him? Would it even matter?

My bet is that if there were many professionals all lining up and saying the same thing (which there are, by the way) you would dismiss their concerns as "not credible" simply because you - yourself - like the vehicle.

 

[Big Ben]

You honestly don't think this automotive professional is qualified to assess a vehicle in the contexts of design and quality - without having to have more than one of them on the rack?

You don't think Mr. Car Wizard would make draw the same alarming conclusions if he found the same design and quality problems in, say, a Toyota or a Honda? Truly, we all have to draw upon the qualified experience of those who know more than we do.

What specific finding(s) did he make which disqualified him? Would it even matter?

My bet is that if there were many professionals all lining up and saying the same thing (which there are, by the way) you would dismiss their concerns as "not credible" simply because you - yourself - like the vehicle.

Absolutely There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of these engines on forums. If this was happening to every engine, there would be thousands of posts about it.What does he say about every Tundra engine blowing up orthe hundreds of thousands of 6.2 GM failu recall.

 

[fourthgear]

It always surprises me of how some will always think that a mass produced Vehicle these days doesn't have issues with some of the product .

You should look at the Sprinter Forum (Chevy/Ram etc ) ,all the same .

 

[Uncle Brad]

It always surprises me of how some will always think that a mass produced Vehicle these days doesn't have issues with some of the product .

You should look at the Sprinter Forum (Chevy/Ram etc ) ,all the same .

I certainly would not agree with this. An informed, observant and rational person can express concern about a design oversight, a quality control issue, etc. regardless of whether the product is mass produced. If this were not true, we would not have prototyping and unit testing.

What CAN (and does) happen in mass-production is that a determination may be made that such a design oversight or quality problem is an acceptable risk (in favor of material availability/inventory, pending assessments, litigation costs, etc.)

Just because a repair professional - like Mr. Car Wizard - explains and demonstrates a design or quality problem does not mean he limits such a conclusion to mass-produced products. That would be silly, wouldn't it?

Nobody is saying that mass-produced products like the Bronco Sport must be free of problems.

Nobody is saying that, throughout automotive history, all the beloved classics didn't have their problems.

Nobody is saying that Bronco Sports cannot make it to, say, 200,000 miles. They do. But then some folks drink and smoke heavily and live to 102....

What Mr. Car Wizard is saying is that - in his professional opinion - he would not recommend the purchase one of these because of the number of problems (and the significance of these problems) in terms of reliability and expense. Though I really like the Bronco Sport, I'm in agreement with him.

Short of interpretive dance, I'm not sure how I can communicate how this defensive, knee-jerk reaction Bronco Sport owners have to this video should not include an attack upon the observer, making unsupportable claims about what he thinks, and - God forbid - comparisons to Scotty Kilmer.

 

[Dannyp56]

I think you meant Ford Stealership!

 

[Dannyp56]

I wish I kept my truck instead of trading for this. It was a hell of a lot easier to get in and out of. Especially after lower back surgery and a knee replacement.

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