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1Adam12's avatar
1Adam12
Explorer
Dec 02, 2017

2 week old F350 already in for repairs

Traffic crash ended the days of my 16 Ram 3500.

Test drove the new F350 and was very impressed. Decided to buy the Ford after years of having Rams. I’ve previously owned Expedition and Explorer.

Took delivery of F350 DRW Lariat two weeks ago. Started noticing diesel exhaust smell in cab at idle with AC on. Also a strong diesel exhaust smell outside of truck. Went from no odor with Ram to extreme with this truck. Switched AC to recycle with little to no improvement.

Noticed light colored smoke or exhaust coming from hood vents next to windshield and the smell was worse. Turned off AC and opened windows to get to destination. (Traveling out of town of course, no RV attached thank goodness)

Went to first Ford dealer I could find this morning and got the bad news. There is soot and scorching behind manifold and on firewall. They’ll take it apart Monday and locate the source.

I’m pretty thrilled this truck with 450 miles on it is now deadlined in a garage out of town from where I live. I’m also pretty happy about having an issue two weeks into ownership since everyone knows what they charge for these one tons.

On a positive note, I installed the Pullrite rails in the factory puck system and then the Pullrite Superlite on the rails. It took 20 minutes and fits great. I tested it and was able to quickly hook up with zero sight issues and no backing up and pulling forward trying to line up hitch as with all of my previous set ups. The capture plate ball easily slides into coupler and there is no play or chucking.

Hopefully this will be resolved soon. Good times.
  • Exhaust pipe running from behind right side turbo was defective from factory. They replaced pipe, gasket and resealed which has fixed the issue.

    I’ll give credit to Ford as well for actually responding to my calls and putting me in touch with a regional manager. I was provided with a fair solution involving future maintenance costs.

    I’m pretty confident that cooling off before calling was a good idea.

    The truck is great and I’m looking forward to using it and the Pullrite Superlight.
  • Fantastic! Wishing you many years and miles of happy, trouble free travels with it.
  • Enjoy your truck... My '12 6.7PSD has 135k miles and so far I've had to replace 2 EGT sensors and a Nox sensor.
  • have any IDEA the number of repairs at the dealer after it comes off the delivery truck or train...
    and before its put up for sale..

    LOTS...... then errors that shows up days or weeks later.. WARRANTY...

    a New car dealership IS the last and final inspection off the assembly line.
  • I had factory ordered a 1985 Dodge pickup.
    Waited almost 2 months to get it. They called me to tell me it was in and come pick it up.

    On my way home about a mile from my house the thing died and would not start.
    Called the dealer and they had to tow it back to the dealership.

    I was not happy!

    But, that same truck went on to give me 377,000 miles before I sold it still running.
  • 1Adam12 wrote:
    Exhaust pipe running from behind right side turbo was defective from factory. They replaced pipe, gasket and resealed which has fixed the issue.

    I’ll give credit to Ford as well for actually responding to my calls and putting me in touch with a regional manager. I was provided with a fair solution involving future maintenance costs.

    I’m pretty confident that cooling off before calling was a good idea.

    The truck is great and I’m looking forward to using it and the Pullrite Superlight.


    Great! Let us know how it compares to your Ram.

    OP, looking back on posts it appeared your Ram had around $10k damage and was going to be repaired. Did that change and it was written off?
  • The damage to the Ram ended up being approx. $12K. When I got the truck back it wasn't shifting correctly, pulled to the right and had noticeable vibration at 65 to 70 MPH. The truck went back to repair shop and dealer several times (crash was August 11) and it still wasn't right. After the truck was aligned and still pulled I decided to move on. This was in November and with a big Xmas trip planned enough was enough for me.

    There is a diminished value claim pending. After having the truck evaluated at multiple dealerships it ended up a loss to me (reduced value carafax etc.) of $6,000 due to crash. I'll know fairly soon how much of that I'll be getting back from at fault insurance company. A diminished value expert was hired to put together a comprehensive report.
  • 1Adam12 wrote:
    The damage to the Ram ended up being approx. $12K. When I got the truck back it wasn't shifting correctly, pulled to the right and had noticeable vibration at 65 to 70 MPH. The truck went back to repair shop and dealer several times (crash was August 11) and it still wasn't right. After the truck was aligned and still pulled I decided to move on. This was in November and with a big Xmas trip planned enough was enough for me.

    There is a diminished value claim pending. After having the truck evaluated at multiple dealerships it ended up a loss to me (reduced value carafax etc.) of $6,000 due to crash. I'll know fairly soon how much of that I'll be getting back from at fault insurance company. A diminished value expert was hired to put together a comprehensive report.


    Thanks for the update. What a shame for such a beautiful truck. Best of luck with recouping your loss and your new truck.