Hub Caps Haunted?

- or you can't keep out of pot holes or from scuffing the curb while parking. Or, perhaps you have a neighborhood kid playing tricks on you. I remember when I was a teen, my Dad used to deliver the LI Press. He had bought this Volkswagen 411 and was constantly bragging about its gas mileage. I grew tired of his exaggerated claims so every night I slipped out and poured a 5gal jerry jug of gas into it. This went on for weeks and he had no idea; his mileage claims went through the roof! Everyone in the neighborhood knew but him.

Neighborhood kid taken into consideration. Last two hubcap losses were verified

*before* moving van. Cap nice and tight, unable to pull free from rim. No curb scuffing or potholes. Smooth road, nicely paved with speeds up to 60mph. The cap just came off. Simple as that. Most likely during high speed as I did not hear it leave the rim. No vibration, no shock, no oscillation through the steering wheel. Nothing to indicate a problem from the driver's position.

My last visit to the Ford dealer I suggested, (even offered the device) to mount a tiny CCD camera on the inside wheel well, aimed at the suspect rim and cap. Video signal would then be fed to a inside VCR that is capable of running off 12VDC. Even if they don't think it's necessary, I may do it anyway after hubcap #5 is installed.

The Service advisor said to wait until he got an answer from their " Inside Hot Line "

I tell ya, the damn thing is haunted......

Did anyone check to see if the brake caliper is dragging? That would heat the rim up; as the rim thermally cycles between drives, it could work the cap loose. Just an idea.

"Nukie Poo @verizon.net>"

Everyone in

I say, it's haunted. Make sure to have the whole vehicle exorcised.

I'll pull the cap off the un-affected rim on the drivers side and begin taking heat measurements with my surface temp reading gun. I'll take several measurements in multiple locations and note any major heat differences.

Have they replaced the shock absorber on that side?

Gerard

Check Ebay; I bet *your * caps are there. Kids are very enterprising these days.

The so called "in house" hotline has an answer within minutes. The answer may be "we have a fix" or it may be the standard "Ford is working on this concern, no repairs are available at this time". One way or another they give an answer so don't hold your hand on your butt waiting, it'll grow there.

At this point your being blown off. Demand to talk to a Factory Service Rep. Every Ford Dealer has one. The dealer has no idea what the prob but Ford has to take responsibility. Hopefully you don't have more then 12k If you do don't let it go over 50k without a resolution.

John

The so called "in house" hotline has an answer within minutes. The answer may be "we have a fix" or it may be the standard "Ford is working on this concern, no repairs are available at this time". One way or another they give an answer so don't hold your hand on your butt waiting, it'll grow there.

At this point your being blown off. Demand to talk to a Factory Service Rep. Every Ford Dealer has one. The dealer has no idea what the prob is but Ford has to take responsibility. Hopefully you don't have more then 12k If you do don't let it go over 50k without a resolution.

John

Thanks, I shall seek out the Factory Service Rep, the van purchased new in may 03, currently has 1,900 total miles on it. I'm not comfortable yet to take it on a long drive until the problem is fixed or the vehicle replaced.

Received word today from my local Ford Dealership that a TSB issued indicated aluminum hubcaps made up to April 03 have poor " retention " abilities and that a new set of " whole wheel " hubcaps are on order to replace the exhisting aluminum snap-on caps. According the the service advisor I spoke to, the new caps have spring clips that attach to the rim. A check with Alldata did now show the TSB so I guess it's a new bulletin?

Jim, what is the date of the TSB? Is it new or has it been out for a while?

Don't know yet, just got the phone call from the dealership shortly after calling Ford customer service 800 line last Friday. The dealership stated a TSB had been issued but didn't say when regarding certain Ford van aluminum hubcaps made up to April, 2003 that had "retention " problems. The service advisor who called read from

The dealer asked me to bring the van in on Monday to install new full face hubcaps that have spring retaining clips. Apparently ford feels there is nothing wrong with the vehicle itself, but only the hubcap's failure to stay attached to the rim.

And again it's odd it only occurs on the right front wheel and nowhere else.

I will ask for a copy of the TSB from the service advisor, if he cannot produce it, the TSB number and date issued will be requested. At this point I'm not totally convinced and have my doubts regarding it's authenticity.

The new full face caps have been installed. The TSB or rather SSM is 16867,

SYMPTON CORE 306000 CHASSIS TIRES/W/HUBCAP

Tommorrow a long range trip is planned. Will the new caps stay in place? We will find out.

The right front wheel on any vehicle sees more abuse (bumps, pot holes, puddles, curbs, etc) especially while braking when weight shifts forward.