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This forum is so helpful! Everyone is so nice and friendly. You all take care and have a great day!!
LOL
I think I'm going to go apply for a job as a Ford Technical consultant. I apparently know more about their cars than they do.
:-)
It sure does sound like their technicians are giving them a bad name. It's probably safe to say that I won't be offending any of them either because they most likely haven't heard of the internet either. :-)
ok, low blow...but this is getting silly.
If you go to the site, click on "Check for Recalls", choose "Service Bulletins", then go through the process to identify your Freestyle. I hope that helps. :shades:
Full text is available at alldata.com (and I think one or two other sites), but you have to buy a subscription to get the full text.
But if you know the number, a friendly service writer should be willing to pull it up for you. Take donuts. :-)
Steve, Host
Truth is.. poor dealer service is everywhere you look. My next door neighbor's Toyota was returned to him after being serviced at the dealer where he'd bought it with no oil in it. The kid who brought it around to him didn't notice the oil pressure light on and left the engine running while my neighbor was inside paying the bill. Needless to say, by the time he got to his car it wasn't running any longer.
:-)
(of course I'm just guessing since I can't see what it really looks like)
I was thinking about getting one of those in the charcoal color ( I have the grey interior) but was unsure of how it fit.
I wish they had pictures of the actual dash mats.
You said you got the velour correct? I was thinking of getting the brushed sude-looking style.
Consumers Not Convinced That Crossover SUVs Match the Functionality of Traditional SUVs (PR Newswire)
Steve, Host
I can understand the perceptions for the segment. Many still think they need or want a 'real' SUV and practicality or reality never comes into the decision making process - they convince themselves it fits their needs (ie - I need big 4wd for the three times it snowed last winter or I need a pickup truck as I go to Home Depot twice a year and I need that Hemi to get the plywood home faster).
Personally, I prefer a vehicle that is functional, competent, a little more conservative than many out there - not so 'in your face' or flashy (ie cadillac, infiniti) and not screaming that I spent $60k on it. I am probably in the minority.
Yes, when you go to your annual new car show, the crowds are not hovering around the Freestyle - this is one you can take home to Mom.
I have a bit over 8.3K miles on my AWD Limited and am still extremely pleased with my Freestyle as are those who have ridden in it.
On a more practical note, I was wondering where the rear window washer fluid container is located. I checked the owners manual and it only mentions the one under the hood for the front window washers. Could it be that the same container supplies the fluid to the rear window as well? Inquiring minds want to know. Also, the owners manual only mentions replacing the front wiper blades - nothing about the rear one. I assume the rear blade is generic where the front ones are exclusive to the Freestyle and must be obtained from Ford.
Happy & Safe motoring to all -
M. J. McCloskey - AWD Limited - Titanium
Well on this second oil change the regular service advisors appeared to be busy so a young lady came out from nowhere to attend to my service order.I figured no big deal as she went to the car to get the info. She looked perplexed and I asked if there was a problem.She said she did not know how to get the odo reading and I had to show her. I asked if she was a service advisor and she answered yes.
Since I normally prefer to change the oil myself I asked her to make sure they use 5w-20 oil and she replied why 5w-20 so I showed her the info from my o/manual.To make a long story short I was really sweating it out whether the apprentice mechanic doing the oil change had any better training .
When the job was done the service advisor sounded a little more professional by going over their multi-point inspections showing everything was ok except for the tire pressure which they reduced to 30 PSI. I asked why 30 and she answered they go by what Ford recommends on the door label.So I took her by the arm to check the label on the car door and it states 32 PSI. The car went back to the shop and the tires were re-inflated.I later changed it to 34 PSI as I found it to be more suitable.
The moral to all this is a total waste of my time and driving a total of 100 miles to and fro for free oil and a new filter when I could have done a better job myself for the expense I incurred. Still I'm not knocking the dealership overall as they have a good reputation and other good service advisors and mechanics. But watch out when those service orders are assigned to the greenhorns.
And did you really drive a hundred miles for a "free" oil change? Just how "free" did it end up being? Oh well... as long as you got your pound of flesh out of the dealer's hide. I guess you showed 'em... didn't ya willie.
As far as I'm concerned motor oil is still fairly cheap relative to the high cost of today's gas prices.Two quick oil changes gives me better peace of mind for a cleaner engine to start with and hopefully better longevity as our Freebie goes thru its cradle to grave lifecycle.
My next OCI will probably go a little further , maybe 2000-2500 mi. as I will continue to use Motorcraft 5w-20 which is much cheaper than the popular Mobil 1 stuff, and besides I have a case of FL 820S oil filters my dealer threw in during our car purchase.
Future OCI's after that can then follow Ford's schedules to stay within warranty.
Whether one agrees or not I still believe early prevention than later expensive cures.
The bottom line to this discussion is , hey to each his own decision and it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than buying into an Extended Service Plan..
Hope everyone is still enjoying their Freestyle.
Well, the Freestyle is about as sporty as any other SUV I've seen (read, not sporty at all). Ditto for being "exciting".
However, the Freestyle is quite a bit more modern and high-tech than other SUVs.
and high tech
how many other SUVs have a CVT in them?
I definitely notice it on my pebble interior, though polarized sunglassess eliminate almost all of it (mostly on the front windshield, not so much when looking at the outside mirrors).
I notice it on my Five Hundred, as well (also a pebble interior).
Ford also stuck its neck out with the CVT transmission, electronic AWD, all row safety curtain option, digital instrument bus, steering wheel controls, and the programmable information center. They are well integrated in the Freestyle. Sometimes, new technology needs to be carefully evaluated and proven before you dump it into a vehicle. Being first on the technology bandwagon can draw in the masses, but may not make a reliable vehicle :shades:
Probably not many. I met a new (female) service-advisor trainee once . . . in fact, she took me home that day in the van. Her experience there prior to being a trainee was the cashier.
She was working mainly nights, under supervision. Because of her, I almost got some non-warranty work done under warranty . . too bad she was being watched too closely. :P
As far as oil changes, I've typically changed my oil and filter every 2500 miles. I've done that on my new Freestyle and Five Hundred as well for the first 5000 miles. But at 5000 miles (the second oil change), I've gone to Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-20, and will change that every 5,000 miles instead of over 2,500 miles. I figure that this will be at least the equivalent of 2500 mile changes with Ford's synthetic blend . . probably even better. But I don't trust intervals beyond 5,000 miles, even with synthetic oils.
I've been busy the last little while smacking a lot of lips ( huge fightin' salmon kind) in my local river but lately it has been blown out due to much heavy rains and our fishin' season is coming to an end and that means getting bored with cabin fever.
Ok, jumping back to the oily stuff discussion. Barnstormer164, Tim156, et al, good to hear you guys are on the right train of thought regarding the application to the Freestyle. So I'm raising my glass of cool beer and hope to be remotely clinking with you guys.As I see it even the lubricant experts are not in full agreement that the 5w-20 viscosity has been proven to handle the longterm OCI's compared to some other heavier weights.Is it that shear stable?
Some folks even claim that Ford's call for 5w-20 is mainly for CAFE requirements.I also agree with Barnstormer that going dino or even semi-syn for this weight going beyond 5000 mi is suicidal.At best I would use Mobil Clean 7500 but methinks Mobil Full syn EP is not cost effective.
Ok, now to keep some of the other naysayers happy and also to be a little controversial and contradict myself. I bought a case of Esso XD-3 Extra 0w-30 which I will use for my 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac for a much longer OCI up to a year or about 9000 mi. This is a HD engine oil designed for fleet/commercial use and only available from an Esso bulk oil facility in Canada. Sorry to say this guys, but not available in the U.S. and also since it is a full polyalphaolefin synthetic and about 40% cheaper than Mobil 1.
Eat yer heart out.I'm not an oil geek so check it out in the BITOG forum (Bob is the oil guy)
Happy motoring folks !
P.S. Tim156, you said," Ford's not going to take another hit like that again."
Yeah, Jac Nasser really took Ford to the cleaners on that Firestone fiasco. But lucky me that Ford replaced them with Michelins LTX for free on my Explorer Sport Trac and I've had them for about 4 years without problems.That cost over $400 for 5 tires and with thousands of trucks/SUV's affected, you do the math.
HEY WHOA!
Too much information there! LOL
(I know what you meant....just having soem fun on a Friday morning)
:-)
Every 5k miles:
Oil+Filter change with Mobil1 Synthetic
Rotate tires
Every 10k miles:
Replace Air Filter (5k seems too frequent, 20k not enough?)
Every 20k miles:
Replace CVT fluid (manual calls for every 60k)
Flush radiator fluid
Flush power steering fluid
Flush brake fluid
Replace battery
Every 30k miles:
Replace tires
This is based on about 10k miles per year, BTW
I'd replace windshield wipers about every 10k miles (1 year), as well. Does anybody know where you can buy these wipers?
Among the 10 crossovers evaluated, the Volkswagen Touareg and Cadillac SRX receive particularly high marks for overall styling.
I would not rate the Touareg a crossover but rather a full blown SUV. What's the definition of an SUV these days?
Despite being the most recently introduced model in the study, the new Mercedes Benz R-Class receives a high level of brand recognition and is perceived to be quite luxurious
Quite luxurious? Hello! Its a $50,000 to $80,000 car! Of course its going to be luxurious...
And is it just me, or was this press released highly focused on what women thought of the cars?
Well, women influence more than 85 percent of all new car buying decisions.... (link)
As far as classifying the Touareg, why is the Freestyle a SUV/CUV but the Pacifica is a wagon? (Actually in the Competing Vehicles section, we also call the Freestyle a wagon). It gets confusing sometimes!
Steve, Host
Replace CVT fluid (manual calls for every 60k) "
barnstormer, go back to Tim156's post on item #3764.
You don't want to change the CVT fluid. If it ain't broke don't bother to fix within 2 years as per your schedule.Powertrain warranty is 5 years/60 K so let Ford take any hit.
Other 20K items also seem too soon.
Agree with the oil part.
Cheers!
BTW...you have to get the wipers at the dealer. I think they work great too, although I haven't been through a winter with them yet.
if you are going to change your air filter once a year, do it in the spring after the sand is off the road(if you live in those conditions).
the benefit to going to the dealer for your 'free' oil change, is that you get into their computer system. they like it when they can do your maintenance. knowing your vehicle does buy you some capital with the service department, if you are diplomatic in your approach. get them on your side.
As far as tires at 30k, it's simply been my experience that by 30k miles, the tires have reached a point where their performance has started to be substantially lessened . . perhaps not yet "unsafe", but certainly to a point where putting new tires on will yield noticeable improvement.
I've had Ford's new "100k radiator fluid" start to look pretty bad long before the 100k miles and 5 years (I think it's 50k and 3 years after the intial batch) on my 2002 Taurus.
Also bear in mind that I live in the Houston area, and a large part of my driving is to and from the Park'n'Rides, in traffic that sometimes is at a standstill (stop'n'go), and is with a lot of short trips (less than 15 miles). That extracts a pretty heavy toll on a car, especially in the heat and humidity down here.
leads me to ask then why not 10K, 5K, or 1K. Whatever mileage point is picked, there should be for a reason other than that it's better then waiting longer because by that logic we'd take cars in for scheduled maintenance every week. And the same with radiator fluid being changed because it "looks bad" versus being tested and found to actually be bad. Anyway, this is really off topic anyway, and there are "normal" and "severe" maintenace schedules as well. I also think that everytime you take in a vehicle for anything, there's always the risk that one of the mechanics will screw something up (stripped threads, wrong fluid, insufficient fluid, over torqued bolts, damage to wires/hoses in the area being worked, etc) and while those risks are small, so are the risks, so everytime someone works on the car it should be really necessary to do so. I think that the risks are low that a mechanic will do something stupid, but I think those risks are higher than having an engine problem because I'm not changing my oil as often. Sort of like in the US we don't give TB vaccinations to children while in some countries they do. Here it's been determined that the risk of getting TB are very low and not worth the side affects of the TB vaccination. Yes there will be someone in this country who will die from TB because they didn't have the vaccine, but there may be 10 others who die from the side affects. Anyway, like I said before, if there were scientific reasons for exceeding scheduled maintenance then I'd be all for it...sorry to everyone for rambling and HOST can delete this if I'm too off topic.
the transmission fluid, brakes and and fluid, coolant, sparkplugs, hoses and serpentine belt are still original too. the oil has been changed (by me) maybe 18 times, 3rd battery and air filter.
my '02 explorer (50k) which is our road trip vehicle, and gets driven pretty often gets dealer service every 3k. changed tires at 45k and still have original brakes.
30k on oem tires, maybe you can need better ones at that point, but maintaining them can make a big difference. my '04 focus(16k) is a commuter vehicle and gets service every 5k.
I'm a believer in deferred maintenance too, and only change my oil at 7,500 miles (just like the owner's manual recommends). If I really cared about whether the dead dino in my van with 106k on it was working well, I'd pay the $15 or $20 for an oil analysis.
Some places on the net tell you to check your fluids by smell or look, but unless you have obvious rust in your radiator fluid or your transmission fluid is really black and smells burnt, I think it's hard to really gauge just by looking or sniffing. Oil usually gets dark in a hurry, which is good since that means it's doing the job of holding the dirt in suspension.
My wagon tires aren't quite as old as Explorerx4's Mustang, but any tires over 5 or 7 years old (depending on the source) are suspect. Since so much rides on your tires, I'd put replacements on the todo list ahead of a radiator flush or transmission fluid swap.
Steve, Host
Other than fiscal sanity? :P
Clearly, there is some break-even point. Whether it's below, at, or above the recommended points . . . I don't really know.
You're correct about risks: I once replaced the waterpump on my '83 Tbird (I want to say at 80k miles), only to find out a few weeks later that I'd replaced it with a DEFECTIVE one. Since the car had no temperature gauge and the idiot light sensor had gone bad, I didn't know about it until the engine seized one day (longer miles on a hotter day than normal) and steam came rolling out. That was apparently the death of the engine in that car, as it never really ran right after that.
Down here, car batteries rarely go more than 3 or 4 years . . and they seem to "take something else with them" when they do fail (anecdotal, to be sure, though others agree with me). So replacing it every 2 years doesn't seem like TOO much overkill to me.
Not really, but I don't think I've ever gotten more than 40k out of a set of tires. Even the old 80k Bridgestons I used to have on my T-bird. Though that thing ate tires (and alternators) for breakfast . . .even with a Firestone alightment policy (used every 6 months or so). Something about that vehicle (or rear wheel drive?) just never could keep an alignment.
"the transmission fluid, brakes and and fluid, coolant, sparkplugs, hoses and serpentine belt are still original too"
My '96 Taurus still had over 50% of the pads left when I had them brakes replaced at near 100k miles. The car "shimmied", though, when braking. I would've sworn it would be warped rotors . . but when I had the brakes fixed, the mechanics said there was nothing wrong with them. I was a bit worried that the problem would'nt be fixed . .but it was. They guessed it was probably the calipers sticking or something.
Spark plugs and wires (and rotor cap?) on that vehicle went out at about 85k (short of the 100k "guarantee"). Sure wish I'd replaced THOSE a bit early, as the trip back from Dallas that weekend was a nightmare. Ran like it had a VERY plugged fuel filter.
The funny thing about today's hoses and belts is that they really don't seem to ever break (or even get flat tires, it seems). Even out to 100k miles. I guess they've really improved the compounds in the last 30 years.
While I'm sure they've improved the fluids, though, I just don't tend to trust those (especially in harsher environments), as that's where the wear comes from.
That aside, I was pleased to see a Freestyle at the gas station one mile from my home. That is in the neighborhood. I am seeing more of them here. The Ford Family discounts must have helped Freebie sales. :shades:
I'm pretty sure I've seen more Five Hundreds on the road . . but even they don't seem to be that common.