What should I demand from the dealership

[Jmuns]

Friday I had the transmission fluid, brake fluid, spark plugs changed, and an oil change. I normally check things out but I didn’t this time. Fast forward to today. An hour down the highway I pull into a rest area. When I start the car back up and get on the highway the check engine light turns on, and Fordpass tells me I have an emissions error. I pull over and pop the hood. Well look at this.

They didn’t reconnect the two vent tubes and I’m thinking they overfilled the brake fluid as it’s all over the bay.

Brakes still worked and I reconnected the hoses and got home. It’s going in tomorrow. I immediately texted the advisor and let her know to have the manager available.

 

[TheX]

I would be rather unpleasant if they didn't immediately jump through hoops to resolve this.

 

[John J]

They should immediately provide you with a loaner and detail your car top to bottom. At the very least. Talk about no quality control.......ll

 

[fjbear!]

They should immediately provide you with a loaner and detail your car top to bottom. At the very least. Talk about no quality control.......ll

I agree they should be jumping. The leaked brake fluid can swell the hoses it hit shorting there life and make the paint peal. Make dealer note all this with a paper saying they will fix if anything arises.

 

[Jmuns]

I was headed out of town to medical appointments when this happened. I had to get the car home and then backtrack out of town immediately. I can’t get the car to them until this afternoon when I get back home (3 hours away).

I spoke to them this morning and they said the foreman would look it over and have it back to me today as most likely no issues lol.

I said no way. All services will be redone. Engine bay degreased and cleaned. Written letter claiming fault and that they will fix any issues that arise over the next year from their mistake. And a loaner. I also filed a formal complaint and opened a case with ford and told them I’ll be calling the regional rep after I speak to them this afternoon it there is no way they can compete and fix all that in a couple hours.

 

[fjbear!]

So

I was headed out of town to medical appointments when this happened. I had to get the car home and then backtrack out of town immediately. I can’t get the car to them until this afternoon when I get back home (3 hours away).

I spoke to them this morning and they said the foreman would look it over and have it back to me today as most likely no issues lol.

I said no way. All services will be redone. Engine bay degreased and cleaned. Written letter claiming fault and that they will fix any issues that arise over the next year from their mistake. And a loaner. I also filed a formal complaint and opened a case with ford and told them I’ll be calling the regional rep after I speak to them this afternoon it there is no way they can compete and fix all that in a couple hours.

sounds your asking and doing the right things

 

[incavulator]

That was definitely a miss on the shop's part. I don't think that's brake fluid. I think that's oil mist from the crankcase vapors likely coming out of one of those hoses that were not connected. That looks like it's been sprayed, not spilled, and looks like it mostly concentrated at the end of one of those disconnected hoses. In addition, the spray pattern looks to align with the direction those hoses are pointed in.

I'm betting one of those hoses is for purge (fuel vapors from the canister) and the other is for PCV (crankcase vapors which contain oil). I would bet the PCV is the source of that "mess" you see.

It's two seconds to reconnect those lines. They are quick connects and just push back on and click in place. I would have connected them myself just to have the car back together. If my understanding of those hoses is correct, one or both of them would have eventually resulted in a fault code and/or a check engine light.

However, I still would take it back to the dealer, would show them the photos and the mess it created, and I would make them clean it and give me something for my trouble (a free oil change, a discount if they charged you anything, etc.).

I hate to say it (I think it's good news), but other than the mess and inconvenience (and loss of your time) there are very likely no other consequences that you should have to to worry about.

 

[Jmuns]

That was definitely a miss on the shop's part. I don't think that's brake fluid. I think that's oil mist from the crankcase vapors likely coming out of one of those hoses that were not connected. That looks like it's been sprayed, not spilled, and looks like it mostly concentrated at the end of one of those disconnected hoses. In addition, the spray pattern looks to align with the direction those hoses are pointed in.

I'm betting one of those hoses is for purge (fuel vapors from the canister) and the other is for PCV (crankcase vapors which contain oil). I would bet the PCV is the source of that "mess" you see.

It's two seconds to reconnect those lines. They are quick connects and just push back on and click in place. I would have connected them myself just to have the car back together. If my understanding of those hoses is correct, one or both of them would have eventually resulted in a fault code and/or a check engine light.

However, I still would take it back to the dealer, would show them the photos and the mess it created, and I would make them clean it and give me something for my trouble (a free oil change, a discount if they charged you anything, etc.).

I hate to say it (I think it's good news), but other than the mess and inconvenience (and loss of your time) there are very likely no other consequences that you should have to to worry about.

Thank you. I was thinking it could be spray as well because the brakes still work and don’t feel loose at all which is expected with that much fluid. I reconnected the hoses and drove home thinking that the fault light would go off. It didn’t so they will have to clear that. It’s through an emissions system error which is to be expected.

 

[incavulator]

You're welcome. The light will go out after "3 good trips" of the monitors running and no longer detecting the malfunction (hoses no longer disconnected). You might have to drive it a couple more times, but the light should shut off.

 

[Ernest T]

Brake fluid would eat the paint so probably oil.

 

[Jmuns]

Well I dropped it off this afternoon. You all were right, it's not brake fluid fortunately.

The manager doesn't think that much oil could come from the vent hoses but had no explanation of what else could have occurred. I believe it is from the hose as @incavulator said but I'm going to let them sit around and waste their time figuring that out. They are going to look into everything the tech worked on Friday and double check everything. They claim that tech mysteriously called in sick today so they can't ask him any questions to see if he did any of the work at all.

They will clean and detail the entire car and are having someone verify things have been done and completed. Who knows. Do I trust them, absolutely not. Do I have much of a choice at this point, also no. It's all documented and I have a case number with Ford. They gave me a loaner and will call me when they figure it out.

I guess I need to learn to service it myself. I could have done as good of a job as the guy they had working on it Friday. Lesson learned. I'll be reading up on here and Youtube on what I need to start changing my own oil and fluids.

Thank you all.

 

[incavulator]

Well I dropped it off this afternoon. You all were right, it's not brake fluid fortunately.

The manager doesn't think that much oil could come from the vent hoses but had no explanation of what else could have occurred. I believe it is from the hose as @incavulator said but I'm going to let them sit around and waste their time figuring that out. They are going to look into everything the tech worked on Friday and double check everything. They claim that tech mysteriously called in sick today so they can't ask him any questions to see if he did any of the work at all.

They will clean and detail the entire car and are having someone verify things have been done and completed. Who knows. Do I trust them, absolutely not. Do I have much of a choice at this point, also no. It's all documented and I have a case number with Ford. They gave me a loaner and will call me when they figure it out.

I guess I need to learn to service it myself. I could have done as good of a job as the guy they had working on it Friday. Lesson learned. I'll be reading up on here and Youtube on what I need to start changing my own oil and fluids.

Thank you all.

Glad to hear they are trying to take care of you.

I think I recall you saying you drove 3+ hours with the hoses disconnected? If so, I think it's entirely possible that much oil could come out. It's why some people install oil catch cans.

 

[wireman]

A heads up on who the dealer is for those who live in your area?

 

[Jmuns]

Kelly Ford in Melbourne FL. Waiting to see if they call back today. The advisor texted me this morning saying she had no update yet.

 

[Jmuns]

Glad to hear they are trying to take care of you.

I think I recall you saying you drove 3+ hours with the hoses disconnected? If so, I think it's entirely possible that much oil could come out. It's why some people install oil catch cans.

I drove maybe a little over an hour and a half total with the hoses disconnected. It was a lot of oil!

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