Yes, I am pissed off enough to start swinging a cactus at a burning car right now

"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
02/15/2018 at 13:38 • Filed to: None

So last week I dropped my FoRS off for the headgasket TSB. They called me up Tuesday and said it was ready. Two hours later they called me back saying after a test drive it threw a CEL, so don’t bother coming to pick it up. This morning they called to say it was ready so I picked it up at lunch time. It cranked for a long time before starting, but it basically hadn’t been driven in a week. Idled a little rough too, but they had the head off, probably had the battery unhooked and the ECU maybe needs to do some learning. It seemed to run and drive fine, but had a slightly rough idle. So I got lunch, ran a couple errands and headed back to work. On the way I stopped at the post office, and when I went to turn the car off it started back up on me. WTF???? Turns out it had stalled. Get back out of the post office and start it up. Idle is low and rough, and after a few seconds it stalled. Fuck. Restart it and the CEL is on and FUCK!!!! Drive it the mile back to work and it stalls at one stop sign, but I keep it revved to avoid stalling at another stop sign. Stop at work and it stalls. Before I was in the driveway at work I was on the phone with the dealer. Send a flat bed to pick it up, and get it here within the hour because I have to leave. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKITYFUCKINGFUCK!!!!!!! Turns out my FoRS isn’t the only thing with a fucked up head gasket at the moment.

TL;DR The 9 hours (according to Ford) test and replace head gasket has taken my local dealer a week and a half and my car doesn’t run.

DISCUSSION (19)

HammerheadFistpunch > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 13:49

I wonder what the code is. I hope its not an internal problem and its just the case of some tech not plugging in a vacuum line or sensor or something.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 13:50

Fun times with Ford Performance.

random001 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 13:51

well....crap. may the FoRS be with you.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > HammerheadFistpunch
02/15/2018 at 13:56

this happened to me once, I located the vacuum line myself and my problems went away (the disconnected line wasn’t allowing my turbo to spool up, causing it to cycle rather frequently, causing my car to surge rather violently).

BeaterGT > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 13:56

Damn, best of luck. I would have assumed the ECU would need to re-calibrate too. Did they already come pick it up?

promoted by the color red > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 13:58

Oh man, that sucks. :(

Is the dealer at least trying to make it up to you?

Maxima Speed > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 14:08

The more of these posts I see the more my desire to own one melts away.

vondon302 > Maxima Speed
02/15/2018 at 14:09

Too true.

cmill189 - sans Volvo > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 14:13

Me wonders if the timing belt is a tooth off...

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 14:26

Sounds like timing is off

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 14:42

Like others; I’d be suspect of the timing being right.

When we did my brother’s head swap on his older golf, it took way longer than a week and it still fired up pretty immediately.

The long cranking and stalling sounds more like timing and less like a missed sensor or vacuum connection.

Good luck!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 15:19

I think the problem with a lot of these specialty low-volume cars is that dealers don’t get the factory support and training that they need in order to work on them correctly. There was just a bit about that with the V10 Touareg article the other day.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 15:21

Until the dealer straightens our your car you must Find Other Reliable Sedan.

Shift24 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 15:41

Ford has 100% dropped the ball on the RS. This is there Halo practical performance car.

First whether or not they are accidentally using Mustang gaskets there is no excuse for it. There are stop gaps and other techniques to engineer out using the wrong gasket. Or if it is due to a lack of cooling thats a bigger fault on Ford.

Second, the horror stories from Ford not knowing what the issue is and then how long its taking them to actually fix the cars is ridiculous. Jalop did their article back in November and its sad 4 months later there is no change...

I understand its got a Drift mode and AWD but if it doent run or have to make payments while its in the shop why should Ford expect anyone to buy one?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 15:45

Found

Road

Stalling

HA, had to, also I’m a Ford guy so I really hope they figure this crap out for you.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > HammerheadFistpunch
02/15/2018 at 16:00

Reminds me of when I forgot to hook up a pair of vacuum lines, not only was it idling at 3200 rpms but I had maybe 5% of my brake pressure and nearly had to Flintstone stop my car when turning it around in my parking lot. Oops.

gettingoldercarguy > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/15/2018 at 16:25

Timing for the camshafts is off by a couple of teeth I bet.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/21/2018 at 16:50

Turns out the timing was so far off some valves crashed and got bent. Haven’t talked to them in person yet, but going to look at it tomorrow while they’ve still got it opened up. What should I be worried about and what should I insist they replace?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/21/2018 at 18:44

Head and valves at least need to be replaced. And everything that goes along with those, seals, springs, etc. Pistons need to be inspected.