Ford F53 Maintenance

[EricNJ]

I’ve used United Ford in Seacaucus once. They were one of the few who had a lift for my 351DS. They did a fine job and nothing to complain about here.

[seasure1]

thanks for the info, we have been looking all over NJ with no success

[repsolgamma]

Our 2014 FR 3DS 25 had an issue with the chassis warranty as well.

But my results were completely opposite of what yours have been when dealing with ford chassis warranty.

My air conditioner stopped blowing cold for the house portion that was driven off of the F 53 chassis compressor on the V 10 engine.

Lots of confusion there regarding who should resolve any issues, but anything to do with the Ford chassis should be covered under 3/36 ford chassis warranty, whatever that is in your particular country.

So I take it into the dealer, and he looks at the Vin number and says no warranty on this unit because it was built in 2012.

We purchased our 2014 DS 25 in September 2014. At the time I didn’t know the difference between chassis build dates and RV house completion dates and just assumed the chassis was a 2014.

Then I was told the chassis was a 2012 model, which is printed right on the air pressure sticker behind the drivers seat.

Not only did the ford dealer not warranty the chassis, they claimed the chassis wasn’t even in fords database (oasis) as a unit that could be serviced at a Ford dealer. Imagine my surprise!

Went back to the original selling RV dealer, and after a few minutes discussing the situation with them it became clear that the RV dealer had never transferred the vehicle chassis from his company into our name. I have no idea how that could’ve happened, but that is exactly what had happened.

So my selling RV dealer had to register, through the California DMV, our chassis from 2012 into our name. They also had to register with Ford in their database - oasis, so that our chassis would show up in the ford database.

By the time I requested warranty service from Ford, based on the build date of 2012, my chassis was years out of the 3/36bumper to bumper warranty!

So now I am really pissed off, for all of this drama and finger-pointing and mistakes. So I argued in my own defense to the Ford dealer that the date of the chassis is not listed on my title and that my vehicle is registered as a 2014 and that in the eyes of the California DMV the chassis was also a 2014.

The dealer accepted my claim as true, and put my chassis in-service date as the same date that the coach was delivered to us in September of 2014.

Finally after a lot of determined pushing by me I was able to get ford to perform all of the warranty services required on our F 53 chassis within the 3/36 warranty. Based on an in-service date of September of 2014.

We were very lucky to get the air conditioning system serviced and repaired to a fully functional air-conditioning system that still works well to this day, they had to replace the compressor due massive leaks. The second item that was repaired was the factory recall that was on all 2012 model F 53 chassis for the swaybar bolts in the rear that were too long and would come loose losing all of the hardware and the bushings turning the sway bar into a jackhammer hitting the rear axle and anything else it could reach as you went down the road.
So I suppose I got about $2000 worth of warranty work done shortly before my warranty expired, and I was at least happy for that.

But for all of you that are reading this, let me apologize because for as tiring as it was to go through this to get my F 53 chassis repaired, it must be far more tiring for you all to hear me tell the story.

Michael

[Dodge Guy]

Originally Posted by AbdRahim

Yup! Ford explained that to me when I called- one day after the warranty expired. The shock bushings that were shot when I bought it ( I had too many other issues to deal with so not knowing, it was low on the priority list) were on me to pay for.

Nope! The warranty goes into effect on the date of sale to the owner. Forest River is not the owner, so it doesn't go into effect until the date of sale. So even though the chassis would be a year old when you purchase it the date of sale would be from that point on. Been that way forever. If a dealer explained that to you they lied so you would pay the bill for for something that would technically be in warranty.

A dealer tried telling me the front wheel bearings on my 13 Explorer weren't covered by the power train warranty, even though I knew they were (it was in the owners manual). He insisted they were t covered. After he talked to the service manager he said (oh yes they are covered). Do you know have many people he has probably done that too. Never take the word of the dealer!!

[AbdRahim]

Originally Posted by Dodge Guy

Nope! The warranty goes into effect on the date of sale to the owner. Forest River is not the owner, so it doesn't go into effect until the date of sale. So even though the chassis would be a year old when you purchase it the date of sale would be from that point on. Been that way forever. If a dealer explained that to you they lied so you would pay the bill for for something that would technically be in warranty.



A dealer tried telling me the front wheel bearings on my 13 Explorer weren't covered by the power train warranty, even though I knew they were (it was in the owners manual). He insisted they were t covered. After he talked to the service manager he said (oh yes they are covered). Do you know have many people he has probably done that too. Never take the word of the dealer!!

This is what I was told when I called Ford directly. They did not cover the repair. This was confirmed by the dealer and I paid out of pocket.