Contaminated Refrigerant Issue

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grsanders

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I just wanted to post some info about our experience with Ford thus far relating to our 2018 Expedition XLT FX4. We started noticing some problems with our Expedition's A/C around late July. At first we just thought it was taking forever to get cold air blowing because it was hot outside. However, I also have a 2018 Raptor and it had cold air blowing within 5 minutes even sitting in the sun. It got to the point it was taking 20-30 minutes before it would blow any cool air. So finally I took it in to the closest dealer to us on August 6th with something over 5,000 miles on it. After about a week of it being there I was told there is a batch of the Expeditions and Navigators with contaminated refrigerant and Ford has a special piece of equipment to evacuate it, test it, and then can approve replacement of the A/C system. I was shocked but thought it would be handled within a week or two. We still do not have our Expedition back. As of Monday, October 8th it will be 9 weeks it has sat at the dealership.

I have contacted them weekly about it and as of this past Thursday they still do not have the equipment to even evacuate the refrigerant and no idea on when it will show up as they're understanding is Ford only has one of these and is just sending it to each dealership that has vehicles with the problem, having it sent back for testing, then sending it out again. We have had 3 loaner vehicles in this time from the dealership. The most recent is a base model Explorer while we're making payments on a $65,000 Expedition.

2 weeks ago I finally contacted Ford Customer Service about it and started a case with them. I told the "case manager" that I wanted them to either refund me for the vehicle and my tag/title/tax as my wife doesn't even want it back at this point. He said he would look into it and get back to me. He called the next day and said their people had reviewed my case and determined it was not eligible for a buy-back or any other type of refund. He said he was sorry he didn't have any further update for me on the equipment either, but would be able to discuss some things that would hopefully bring our trust in Ford back once we got our vehicle back. The guy was a total arrogant moron and completely unhelpful.

With all of this in mind, I have (as far as I'm aware) reached the Lemon Law requirements in the state of Oklahoma. The way it reads is that if a new vehicle has been "out of service" for 30 days or more within the first year of ownership it qualifies as a lemon. It has been 61 days as of today. I'm not sure what to do other than hire an attorney and go after them for this now. I still have no idea when I will get the vehicle back and if I do, it's been sitting for 9+ weeks and then supposedly going to have the entire A/C system ripped out and replaced, I don't want the damn thing back. I am about to the point of on top of hiring an attorney, going to the media/news and raising hell about this. Ford has completely mishandled this and the way we've been treated from Ford corporate should be a complete embarrassment to Ford.

I wanted to post this partly to give a heads up to others, but also to look for any other similar experiences or suggestions. I appreciate it.
 
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stamp11127

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Get a lawyer and get things moving. Never buy the first years production of a new model unless you are willing to "blaze new trails" and find any and all problems.
 
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grsanders

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stamp11127, I agree...and I could have lived with the A/C issue had it been a reasonable time frame to fix. I understand there will be minor quirks, issues, etc. to work out in the first year or a re-design but this is beyond that. I've never even heard of a new vehicle being at the dealership for over 9 weeks. The way they're talking it could be 10-12 weeks easily too. That is completely ridiculous. I've contacted two law groups here in OKC and heard back from one, but they are 2-3 weeks out to even sit down and discuss it with me so I'm hoping the other one has more availability. I'll post more once I have more info. Thanks.
 

stamp11127

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Yes they do need a machine. The contamination that is in the r1234yf refrigerant will trash their in-house ac reclaiming machine. I would expect the loaner machine to have additional filters to catch whatever the contaminate is.

Man I read thru the article for the techs. What a major pain the azz and costly mistake for Ford. Replacing the complete ac system. I'd check what the warranty is on the repair....
 
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Blackscreen67

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Yes they do need a machine. The contamination that is in the r1234yf refrigerant will trash their in-house ac reclaiming machine. I would expect the loaner machine to have additional filters to catch whatever the contaminate is.

Screenshot_20181006_175550.png
 

mossback

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Wow- brutal. Hope whatever resolution you guys come to happens soon.
 
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