power door lock diagnosis - impossible?

Here's one for Ripley's Believe it or Not. My power doorlocks stopped working on my 2000 Excursion yesterday. I have been having intermittent problems. Replaced the driver door switch and they worked for a month or so. Yesterday they went south. Took it to the Ford dealer. He called and said I needed 4 of the 5 accuators replaced. Approx. $800.

This just seems so impossible that I am stunned. I questioned him extensively, called him back to say if it requires ANY other parts, the accuators will be on him as that would, in my mind, mean it was mis-diagnosed in the first place. He assured me that his best technician had the truck and they had seen this happen in the past. I have used this dealer for years and, up until this juncture, been pleased with the work - expensive but competent.

So, has anyone ever had this problem or even heard of such a thing? $800 for a power doorlock fix? I'm still typing this in the state of disbelief.

Planocat

Reply to
PLANOCAT
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I imagine that the dealer was holding an extra large jar of Vaseline while you were speaking with him. Let me put it this way. You can get a man to come to your house and replace a window operator in your vehicle for about $150. That's one heck of a bigger project and the parts are much more expensive than the lock actuators. If you don't wish to let the dealer slip it to you, it is time to start doing some of your own repairs. When you calculate how much you are saving, you must ask yourself the following. How much money must I earn and pay taxes on in order to have $800 left over to pay the bill? That is the real cost of doing business with this crook.

Reply to
Tyrone

the actuators are probably bad. you can get then for around $60 each and do it yourself, or pay ford $75/hr to change them. it takes about 1 1/2 hr per door

Reply to
Falcoon

Unfortunately, you are right on the money. Daggone Excursion is too big to reach over and open the doors manually, so what's a guy to do? Charges look like this: Actuators were $ 58.42 x 4 = 233.68 labor 6.5hrs @ $86 = 559.00 misc. shop charge bs = 46.12 tax = 23.08 vasoline = n/c total bill = 861.88

I still don't believe it will solve the problem long term...... but, we'll see. I never thought I'd be paying $86 per hour for labor either!

Planocat

Reply to
PLANOCAT

Why? I work in a service department where we charge $95 per hour. I know some service departments that charge $110 per hour.

Reply to
Mark Jones

Did they all quit working at the same time? If not it could very well be that the actuators are bad. I would think it to be a heck of a coincidence if they all died at once however. As far as cost, the actuators themselves have a list price of $71.70 each for a total of $286.80. Each door has to be disassembled to install the actuators, I'm not sure where you are but lets say your dealer gets $75/hour labor rate and he figures 1 1/2 hours per door that would be another $450 for a total of $736.80. The things you need to keep in mind are that your doors will still unlock the old fashioned way if you don't have them repaired. The other thing is that the dealer isn't your only option, an independent shop could also do the repair, probably for a lot less. By far your cheapest option is to fix it yourself. Bob

Reply to
Bob

Excuse me, the actuators are less than $30 a piece.

Reply to
Tyrone

So what? That doesn't mean you are worth it.

Reply to
Tyrone

Where? Are you talking about your local junkyard or what? Bob

Reply to
Bob

He's surprised because you could get Ford engineers to fix it cheaper than that. That's why. Ford is a corporation with cost-based accounting. How much of the $110 per hour does the tech get?

Reply to
Joe

I think a independant might be the best option myself if you know a good one. I have a shop up the road that charges $25.00/hr and does good work for basic stuff like this. I have another guy that will do basic rust repairs for $25.00/hr, a lot cheaper than any ford shop will ever dream of.

L8R, Hawk

Reply to
Hawk

Call up the local parts supply house for the dealership and use a little social engineering. In our case locally, the Lincoln Mercury supply house stocks all Ford automotive and truck parts for up to F-550's. So, the answer to your question is *No*. I buy new OEM parts only. The only way I would go to the bone yard would be for an item that is no longer made.

Reply to
Tyrone

At a "pull your own parts" place a guy can learn how to take the sucker apart while he's getting the part. Especially with interior stuff with all its hidden fasteners and tricky crap like that. :/

A lot of the time the wreck is already partially disassembled and your job easier but at the same time you can still see how it goes together or comes apart without damaging your vehicle or their's.

If I could have my way ;) the service manuals would quit reproducing the half-assed engine overhaul section over and over and use that space on details of interior work with all its hidden fasteners etc.

After buying a couple speakers for my girl friend's '96Tbird from Crutchfield I now know what complete interior instructions can really be! :)

Ok? And a separate book for engines (that's a lot better than the simple crap they show now) and also include something they usually leave out like- transmissions and power steering equipment repair for those that want it.

BTW, I received the Ford Truck Service Manuals for my '75 F150 before the truck I ordered, had arrived. :)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

Social engineering? WTF is that, your way of saying you blew the parts manager so now he sells you parts at less than his cost? Bob

Reply to
Bob

No, smart-ass, I let him hump your girlfriend for free, so he would give me a discount. Are you too damned stupid to give them a company name and a little B.S.(social engineering)? What rock have you been hiding under? I was going to sell a book on this fine art years ago. I decided against it because I thought there weren't enough morons like you out there to support me. You certainly could have earned more than paid for the book in your first application of the simple principles presented.

Reply to
Tyrone

Amazing. Hey, how about buying the parts online and having a good neighborhood mech do the job; unless ofcourse, you also use this dealership to change your oil / filter and 'check your fluid levels' for....let's see.....around $45? Jeeezzzzz.

Reply to
moli n ny

also ,not all of are rocket scientists, so we have no idea what "social engineering" is.

Reply to
Falcoon

Yeah, I didn't know what he meant either. :(

But as a high school student I used to make rockets tho! :)

NaClO3 dissolved in water and soaked into sawdust and dried then stuffed tightly into a tube.

Ok so my first attempt at a time-delay fuse was a bust. ;)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

I had a similar eye-opener when I took my daughter's Ranger in a few years ago for the Door Ajar light and domelights. The service rep said that the vehicle was

600 miles over warranty and it would cost the standard $70.00 for diagnosis, but that the fee would be applied to the cost of repair. So I figured that the mechanic would do the repair while he was inside the door all at the same time and I'd walk away with a $70 repair bill. They came out to the waiting room and told me that the door switches were bad and had to be replaced, both of them.

The total bill? $200 complete! I politely told him that I can buy a whole lot of flashlights for $200. And as the years go by, I hear that it's a common problem with Rangers.

The switches were priced out at around $14.00 each ....

Reply to
Kent

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