Well folks, the honeymoon is over. Yesterday morning the "service engine soon" indicator came on and the non-nav message center said "Service Emission Sys". At 2600 miles and 6 weeks of ownership, Ford Quality strikes again.

I say "again" because the first problem occurred on the day we picked up the vehicle. It was shipped in from another dealership, and somehow after the assembly plant's multiple quality inspections, the original dealer's quality inspection, the transport hauler's damage inspection, the new dealer's inspection, my salesperson's inspection, and the vehicle detailers washing/detail job, I was the first to notice three quarter-sized blobs in the factory paint. All three flaws were in the center of the driver side rear door, and happened at some point during the factory paint process. The flawed paint was mitigated by replacing the door with another door taken from an '07 Dune Pearl Escape.

My last Ford, a 2000 Ranger purchased new, was in the shop 15 times the first 12 months I owned it. It eventually had the engine replaced, the frame straightened, two wheels replaced, and other less significant work performed in the first 15000 miles (all deemed factory defects and/or delivery damage). A majority of these service visits were follow-ups for crappy service the first time.

Enough ranting for now. I'll relay the dealership's findings as they become available. Hopefully this is an isolated, minor problem...

Fingers crossed, Aaron

 

I hope it is just an isolated incident. From everything I have read on here, these cars seem to be pretty reliable. Let's hope so.

Your 2000 Ranger never qualified as a Lemon Law candidate? Ford should have bought that one back way before 15 service visits.

Good luck with this one. Seems like Ford stands behind these pretty well. Most people on here seem happy with them, anyway.

 

Interesting. Keep us updated on what the problem is. Hopefully it will be back up and you'll find that was an isolated incident.

Based on nothing but my own completely unbiased Observations ( I say that not in jest as much as it seems that there have been far more threads/posts about '07 system warnings/errors at this, the 6 month point then about the '06 system in the last year + or weighted about the '05 in 3+ years ), it seems like the '07 is a bit glitchy. They must've changed some stuff and not had enough time to thoroughly test it or something.

 

Before you go too far, one question - did this happen while sitting with the key on and engine off? If so, the service emission message is normal.

 

ElectronBob - We had just pulled out of the driveway and were 100 yards down the road. The car was warm (my wife had returned from errands 10 minutes earlier), and it was about 35 deg F outside.


****** Quick update: We won't be getting the vehicle back for another day or two. The ten second discussion with the service advisor mentioned replacing the exhaust manifold (had to be ordered) and a bad O2 sensor. I'll know more when I get the paperwork back and have a face-to-face with SA.

Aaron

 

I'm actually not at all suprised if its a bad O2 sensor. On conventional vehicles an emission system light is usually a bad O2 sensor.

 

Did they mention what DTC codes were present?

 

***** Quick update: After repeated calls, the dealership finally checked on our parts. Turns out they won't be here "this afternoon", they're being shipped from somewhere else and won't be here until Monday at the earliest.

Looks like we're stuck with a loaner 05 Taurus until the parts arrive. I'll post again when we get the FEH back, and pass the time looking for advanced anger management classes.

 

It sounds like the tech stripped the threads on the exhaust manifold when removing the O2 sensor or putting the new one in. Not sure if they had to remove the exhaust manifold to take the sensor out. Most of the time, exhaust manifolds don't go bad, but can warp and leak with the head.

GaryG

 

***** Update: We got the FEH back! I talked to the technician who worked on it and he gave me the diagnosis. Apparently there's an O2 sensor and some type of monitor sensor (exhaust temp?) that thread into different places on the stock exhaust manifold. He said these were switched (reversed) from the factory, and one of them was damaged from excess heat. He seemed surprised that the car made it 2600 miles before the "check engine" light came on.

As someone surmised earlier, the sensor threads in the manifold were damaged. I didn't push too hard to find out if this was another factory defect or if it was caused during this service. Several people were listening to our conversation and I didn't want to put the tech on the spot. Either way, it was an expensive mistake, as the factory manifold and catalytic converter are one piece and had to be replaced!

The end result: the manifold/cat and the O2 sensor were replaced under warranty. I didn't enjoy waiting for parts, but was very satisified with the service. The tech said he hasn't seen this problem before. This was also his first hybrid brought in for repair. Not confidence inspiring, but he seems like a competent dude. My dealership doesn't sell many hybrids, but its good to know FEHs aren't having lots of problems requiring warranty service.

Wait, one complaint- this tank average was only 28.4 mpg! That hurts my average! Dangit!!