Ford Enthusiast

[gobzofzeal]

Good Morning.
>
> My name is Petrina Compton. I am sending you this email regarding severe
> electrical problems I am experiencing with my Ford Expedition. Per
> service personnel at the Jenkins & Wynne Ford dealership in Clarksville,
> Tennessee, these problems are a direct result of water intrusion into the
> GEM/CJB due to a faulty windshield as outlined in the following special
> message sent directly from Ford to all Ford dealerships in April of 2002:
>
> *FORD SPECIAL MESSAGE #15773 VARIOUS ELECTRICAL CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM
> WATER INTRUSION INTO THE GEM/CJB
> SOME 1997-2002 EXPEDITION AND 1998-2002 NAVIGATOR VEHICLES MAY EXHIBIT
> VARIOUS UNUSUAL ELECTRICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: FRONT
> OR REAR BLOWER OR EATC STAYING ON WITH KEY OUT OF THE IGNITION, RADIO
> STAYING ON AFTER DOORS OPENED AND KEY OUT OF IGNITION, WIPER CIRCUIT FAILURE
> CODES, AND MULTIPLE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHTS WITH 'SHORT TO POWER' OR 'LOW
> BATTERY VOLTAGE' DTCS. THESE SYMPTOMS MOST OFTEN OCCUR AFTER A RAIN OR SNOW.
> THIS MAY BE DUE TO GEM/CJB WATER INTRUSION RESULTING FROM A WINDSHIELD WATER
> LEAK. TO SERVICE, REMOVE THE GEM AND CJB FROM THE VEHICLE, SEPARATE THEM AND
> INSPECT FOR WATER CONTAMINATION OR CORROSION. IF FOUND IN EITHER COMPONENT,
> REPLACE BOTH COMPONENTS AND COMPLETELY RESEAL THE WINDSHIELD.
> EFFECTIVE DATE: 04/05/2002
>
> These problems have existed for years. And although I have taken my vehicle
> in to have correct these problems, at no time did any service personnel
> reference the above message, or fix my vehicle in accordance with prescribed
> guidelines.
>
> The following is a summary of the services performed on my vehicle that are
> a direct result of this problem. I will be more than happy to provide copies
> of these documented services upon request.
>
> *Dec 2000: My husband and I purchased our vehicle in Washington with 13,000
> miles on it while on Christmas leave from Germany, and our truck sat in
> storage until our return in Sep 2001. We then drove our vehicle from
> California to our new duty station at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
>
> *Jan 2002: We had issues with the electrical and transmission modular. We
> took the vehicle to the World of Ford dealership in Arlington, Virginia.
> They replaced the power train control modular, airbag light, and the Check
> Engine light, and reprogrammed the GEM modular. The odometer reading at this
> time was 26,795 miles. Fortunately, the vehicle was still under warranty.
>
> *Jul 2002: I took the truck back to World of Ford in Arlington, Virginia for
> the following problems: transmission slipping, Check Engine light, airbag
> lights, and ABS lights. Ford said they could not duplicate problems. The
> vehicle was still covered under warranty with an odometer reading of 30,481
> miles. Again, although the Ford Special Message had been released in April
> of 2002, at no time was it mentioned to me as a possible source for these
> problems.
>
> *Sep 2004: I went back to World of Ford with the same problems mentioned
> above, plus the trip meter/odometer was blinking in and out. They replaced
> the LED and electrical connections under the driver seat, and fixed the
> lights on the dash. I had to pay $600.00 for these repairs. The dealership
> wanted an additional $500.00 to fix the odometer/trip meter lights, but we
> simply could not afford to fix it at that time. Still no mention of the
> Special Message. The odometer reading at the time of these repairs was
> 56,076 miles.
>
> *May 2006: My vehicle is currently sitting at the Jenkins & Wynne Ford
> dealership in Clarksville, Tennessee because of electrical issues. I took it
> in because the transmission felt like it was slipping sporadically
> (mentioned above), the Check Engine light, the ABS light, and airbag light
> are still not working properly (mentioned above), and, of course, I still
> have the problem with the Odometer/trip meter. A service employeee, Mike
> Burnes, told me on 16 May 2006, that Ford had manufactured some front
> windshields incorrectly and that I needed to replace my front windshield,
> fuse box, and wires in my dash because of corrosion, and rust caused by the
> rain seeping through the windshield and running on the inside of the truck
> into the dash and fuse box causing extensive damage. Mike Burnes told me he
> believes the extent of the damage is indicative of years of precipitation
> getting into my vehicle because of the faulty windshield. They had to
> replace the front windshield, electrical wires in the dash and fuse box, the
> fuse box, GEM modular, transmission modular, airbag control
> modular, and fuel injection gas pump. My cost for these repairs is $2632.00.
> In addition, my transmission is on the verge of needing to be replaced -
> they found twice the amount of metal shavings in the pan than normal for a
> vehicle with only 81,000 miles. Replacing the transmission will cost
> $3000.00. Service personnel believe this problem may have also been caused
> by the faulty windshield/water damage. For now, we do not have to replace
> the transmission; however, they are not sure how long it will be before I
> will have to.
>
> At this time, my truck is scheduled to be repaired tomorrow, but I can't
> afford these repairs, nor should I have to. It is my belief that
>
> 1.) This is a FORD manufacturing issue. Ford recognized the problem as far
> back as 2002, but did not recall or alert individual vehicle owners. Because
> of pure negligence on their part, I have had to take my vehicle in for
> repairs on 4 separate occasions.
> 2) Jenkins & Wynne of Clarksville Tn, HAD to repair/replace the electrical
> issues (totaling $2632.00) before they could move on to the transmission
> problems. Now we've discovered we may have to repair/replace the
> transmission (an additional $3000.00), and this problem may be directly
> related to the faulty windshield. In addition, Mike Burnes said the truck
> was throwing electrical codes and did NOT have a spare digital dash to find
> the problems before repairing/replacing parts and charging for
> parts one at a time. I HAD NO CLUE this was going to COST this AMOUNT of
> money because I was not given an estimate prior to. Again, they couldn't
> give me an estimate because problems needed to be fixed before they could
> move on to the next set of problems and realize the full extent of the
> damages to my vehicle.
>
> The payoff for my truck is $7400.00. And now I am looking at a minimum of an
> additional $2300 - $5300.00 worth of repairs that could have been avoided if
> Ford and/or their dealerships where I had repairs made to my vehicle would
> have fixed the problem from the very beginning.
>
> The bottom line is, I have sent this information to several agencies - Ralph
> Nader, Consumer Affairs, Better Business Bureau, National HWY and Safety,
> and the Center for Auto Safety - to report this because I feel that Ford
> neglected its consumers by not alerting vehicle owners to these potential
> problems and the safety hazards associated with them.
>
> I would appreciate any assistance or guidance with this issue.
>
> Sincerely,
> Petrina Compton & William Compton (deployed to Iraq)
>gobzofzeal@yahoo.com