• Sign Up! To view all forums and unlock additional cool features

    Welcome to the #1 Explorer ST Forum and Explorer ST community dedicated to Explorer ST owners and enthusiasts. Register for an account, it's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the Explorer ST Forum today!


Blown Transmission

Cdubya

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,693
Reactions
842
Points
262
Location
NE Ohio
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST
#61
Yeah, Ford wasn't able to prove it but that Crackpot Team at the dealership knew you did. Uh huh! F those guys for pulling that shit on you!
 

Messages
189
Reactions
123
Points
37
Location
St. Louis
Vehicle
2021 Explorer ST
#62
I totally agree. The three on one confrontation seems unnecessary.
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #63
You might think it came out of their poket or something! They were so nice to me when they went to give me my key and told me about the survey I would get from Ford. I won't bash them but I'm sure not going to give them props either. I'll just delete it!
 

Polo08816

Member
U.S. Army Veteran
Law Enforcement
Messages
87
Reactions
35
Points
17
Location
Maryland
Vehicle
2014 BMW 335i
#64
Well, I can finally put this to bed. I got my vehicle back today! I got a little suprise when I walked in though. The service manager, the operations manager and some other upper managment guy were all there waiting for me. The service manager told me my vehicle was all done and Ford covered everything except for a melted transmission vent tube (which they blamed on the downpipe) BUT, and there was an errie pause, he said, "we know you are tuning your car but Ford was unable to prove it"! That is what took so much time. Then the operations manager spoke up and said "we see this all the time with these high performance vehicles. Had the guys at Ford been able to prove your computer had been tampered with, you would have been on the hook for around $12-13K and your extended warranty would have become null and void." Of course I still denied it to the end. If I had to pay for it then so be it. You accept that as soon as you load that tune in the vehicle. I was prepared to fork out the $5,900 to this other guy to get it fixed. At least it's done, so far there are no issues and I have somewhere else to take it if I have an issue in the future.
Moral of the story for others: If you're not willing to go out of pocket for major powertrain repairs, then don't tune your vehicle in the warranty period.
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #65
Exactly that! It’s too bad it has to be this way when some of these tuners know more about the platform than the manufacturer does! But I totally understand them needing to cover their asses from people who tune to race and when something breaks, they want to get it covered under warranty.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Polo08816

Member
U.S. Army Veteran
Law Enforcement
Messages
87
Reactions
35
Points
17
Location
Maryland
Vehicle
2014 BMW 335i
#66
Exactly that! It’s too bad it has to be this way when some of these tuners know more about the platform than the manufacturer does! But I totally understand them needing to cover their asses from people who tune to race and when something breaks, they want to get it covered under warranty.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There's no way a tuner knows more about a platform than the manufacturer.

Just because a tuner can extract more power from a powertrain without an immediate failure doesn't mean the tuner knows more about the platform.

The same could be said of the F30 335i / F80 M3 crowd. (I have a F30 335i). You'll have people from the F30 335i crowd criticizing BMW for not "knowing" their own N55 can made similar power levels as a F80 M3 with a tune and some simple modifications. But I guarantee you a FBO F30 335i's powertrain would turn into kibbles and bits on the racetrack after overheating while the F80 M3 will run ice cold all day with no durability / reliability issues.
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #67
I said “some tuners”. You don’t think that a tuner who specializes in a specific platform could be just as good, if not better, than the manufacturer tuning literally hundreds of different platforms? I understand that some tuners produce a bunch of “canned” tunes to just increase the hp for multiple platforms but I would stand behind the notion that my tuner knows more about tuning my Explorer ST than Ford does. Especially where he tunes according to my specific vehicle with specific mods rather than sell me a tune to fit any Explorer ST. That’s just what I think though. And I’m not dissing the Ford tuners either! They are certainly amazing at what they do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Cruising68

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,627
Reactions
1,185
Points
262
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
#68
I think the trans tuning is better than stick for longevity. Oem tune is pretty slow and mushy to shift. Quicker more crisp shifts actually help longevity. But they have to tune for the vast majority of people.

Regarding the motor, while a tune might make it run better, anything increasing hp adds risk.

In the end, I really have no issue with voiding drivetrain warranty after a tune. I would obviously love it if they knew it was tune and they covered it. There is no doubt if the look for a tune, they can see it. In my company, we would also never warranty anything that was customer modified. If you want to play, you might end up paying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #69
There is no doubt if the look for a tune, they can see it.
I wonder why they couldn't find mine! If they took three months examining my vehicle and ended up covering the cost to replace the transmission it's because they couldn't prove my vehicle was ever tuned. All they had to go on was the fact that there was only seven key cycles and that was from them upgrading the programming a week earlier. Maybe mine is just an oddball case. What they told me about Ford seeing the seven key cycles and investigating further must be the truth! I can't imagine an entire dealership would just sit on a repair out of spite because the service manager suspected I was tuning the vehicle.
 

GearHead_1

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,557
Reactions
1,300
Points
262
Location
Utah
Vehicle
Exploder
#70
...I can't imagine an entire dealership would just sit on a repair out of spite because the service manager suspected I was tuning the vehicle.
I can. Dealerships have employees, employees who are people, people who like recognition, hold grudges, they want to be someone, and be in control. Some people may like you and your actions, while others may not. I think you came across a person or persons, who had the mindset of we'll show you.

I don't believe it's a matter of whether or not they could see you had a tune but more a matter of whether they could prove that the tune caused your transmission issue. The fact that they had serviced your trans in the not-too-distant past more or less put them on the line but they didn't need to make it easy for you.

Sadly, all too often a Dealer, sales team, finance team, parts team, and service team are not on the same page and don't look at how the harmony between them may result in repeat customers.
 

Last edited:
OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #71
I only said that due to there being two members of upper management there. This is not a small dealership either. But who knows. I’m just happy to have my vehicle back!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Messages
114
Reactions
78
Points
27
Location
Treasure Coast, FL
Vehicle
2022 Explorer ST (AWD)
#72
I'm late to the reading party on this, wow what an experience. @BrooseDaMoose - Let me ask you, after your tranny was fixed under warranty are you still running tuned? I would imagine you are but what if this happens again is where I'm going with my question. I personally plan on keeping my car after the money i put into it, i'm willing to go RSA Racing options for 10R60, if my tranny fails and warranty doesn't cover it.
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #73
I'm late to the reading party on this, wow what an experience. @BrooseDaMoose - Let me ask you, after your tranny was fixed under warranty are you still running tuned? I would imagine you are but what if this happens again is where I'm going with my question. I personally plan on keeping my car after the money i put into it, i'm willing to go RSA Racing options for 10R60, if my tranny fails and warranty doesn't cover it.
Oh yes! I put the tune back in it about a week later. If I hurt it while beating on it then I would bite the bullet. But it wasn’t even tuned when the transmission failed! They screwed it up!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Messages
35
Reactions
16
Points
2
Location
NJ
Vehicle
2023 Explorer ST
#74
Wow. Sorry to hear of all of this! What state is the dealer located in?
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #75
Empire Ford New Bedford, MA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #77
Interesting. I grew up a Masshole


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
LOL I’ve tried to escape twice but ended up right back here! Moved to FL for 10 years and came back. Then moved to VA for 6 and here I am, back in the armpit of America!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Messages
114
Reactions
78
Points
27
Location
Treasure Coast, FL
Vehicle
2022 Explorer ST (AWD)
#78
LOL I’ve tried to escape twice but ended up right back here! Moved to FL for 10 years and came back. Then moved to VA for 6 and here I am, back in the armpit of America!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wait! @BrooseDaMoose - what part of Florida? that's what happened you shouldn't of left the sunshine state.
 

OP
BrooseDaMoose

BrooseDaMoose

Active Member
Messages
945
Reactions
530
Points
82
Location
East Freetown, MA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Thread Starter #79
Wait! @BrooseDaMoose - what part of Florida? that's what happened you shouldn't of left the sunshine state.
I lived in the Palm Bay area. About an hour south of Cape Canaveral.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Cruising68

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,627
Reactions
1,185
Points
262
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
#80
LOL I’ve tried to escape twice but ended up right back here! Moved to FL for 10 years and came back. Then moved to VA for 6 and here I am, back in the armpit of America!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I escaped….. to Illinois

Got a place in SW Florida I will likely end up at next few years.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 



Top