Joining the Cam Phaser Club! YAY! (ugh)

[FoMoCo_Stealth]

About 10 days ago on a 3 hour road trip with the family the AC in my truck started acting up. Fan speed wouldnt get high no matter the setting, it blew hot air and would sporadically blow cold air on a low or medium speed. After futzing with it a bit i was able to get cold air but no fan speed. We suffered through the trip and about an hour after we arrived at our destination i went out to see if i still had the issue. Nope, full fan speed, ice cold ac, no problems. Very Strange. The next morning, Cam Phaser rattle at start up. Sounds like its coming from the passenger side head. Ive found i can avoid the rattle by holding the brake and gas during start up to let the engine build oil pressure before i let go of the gas and let it start. My local dealership told me there is a 2 week wait just for diag and id have to leave it for the entire duration of the 2 weeks otherwise they wont look at it. Nice. Spoke with a tech at another dealer and they thing the phaser going bad is causing the computer to do funny things which in turn is killing my AC. Anyone else have this experience with Cam Phasers? Ive also read it could be a pressure sensor that needs replacing (in regards to the AC). This sucks and it seems like so many of you have had this happen and there really isnt a guaranteed fix either. I love my expedition and I have had more Fords than anything else throughout my life but it may be time to fix it, sell it and move into something less likely to have issues like this.

Luckily ive found another dealership that isnt playing games and can get me in for an official diag end of this week. Same day turnaround. We'll see.

 

[wannabeMtb]

how many miles on the SUV?

 

[FoMoCo_Stealth]

how many miles on the SUV?

just rolled 50,000 last week

 

[5280tunage]

Welp, mine didn't have your issues at all, and technically I never had phaser rattling, but Ford wouldn't replace my turbos due to the wastegate rattle without first trying the phasers. So freakin stupid that me and the tech took a video of the locations (notice plural) of the sound, had nothing to do with the phasers, but for mother Ford to require the engine be torn apart to fix the turbos, was really stupid! I would find it really weird that the phasers would have anything to do with your AC issue, especially since you were on a long road trip and the phaser issue really only causes problems at start up when there isn't enough oil in assemblies. Seems like you'll get the phasers fixed, only to be back some time later for the AC issue again. This rarely happens in cars, but I wonder if something froze up, happens in hope AC systems a bit when the coil freezes when it's running too hard/too cold. Which could explain why a gap in use may have made it come back, it defrosted.

 

[Soliyou]

Welp, mine didn't have your issues at all, and technically I never had phaser rattling, but Ford wouldn't replace my turbos due to the wastegate rattle without first trying the phasers. So freakin stupid that me and the tech took a video of the locations (notice plural) of the sound, had nothing to do with the phasers, but for mother Ford to require the engine be torn apart to fix the turbos, was really stupid! I would find it really weird that the phasers would have anything to do with your AC issue, especially since you were on a long road trip and the phaser issue really only causes problems at start up when there isn't enough oil in assemblies. Seems like you'll get the phasers fixed, only to be back some time later for the AC issue again. This rarely happens in cars, but I wonder if something froze up, happens in hope AC systems a bit when the coil freezes when it's running too hard/too cold. Which could explain why a gap in use may have made it come back, it defrosted.

Yeah! Probably the evaporator had ice. That would also explain why there was no air flow! Good point!

 

[qckslvr]

Has anyone had luck having Ford cover the cam phasers since January? I just bought a '19 Platinum with obvious cam phaser rattle, and it appears the PO didnt bother to take it to the dealer during the programs. Ford corporate customer service supervisor said they wont cover it and that I can write to "senior management" and complain and see if they would go "off policy". Seems ridiculous that Ford would stop supporting a $90k product with a manufacturing defect in just a few years.

 

[5280tunage]

Has anyone had luck having Ford cover the cam phasers since January? I just bought a '19 Platinum with obvious cam phaser rattle, and it appears the PO didn't bother to take it to the dealer during the programs. Ford corporate customer service supervisor said they wont cover it and that I can write to "senior management" and complain and see if they would go "off policy". Seems ridiculous that Ford would stop supporting a $90k product with a manufacturing defect in just a few years.

Here's my thing on this, I know Ford put date wrappers on their "customer experience" bulletin related to the phasers, but what really strikes me about this is that in a legal situation, that's all but admitting there's a design flaw. If Ford actually won't cover this for owners, I foresee a massive class action lawsuit over time. There are far less damaging and invasive class actions out there right now, like roof panels on Bronco's and Wranglers that are discoloring, etc. I've had my phasers done already (even though they weren't even bad), but if they fail again and I've properly maintained my vehicle, I will absolutely seek legal help. There are hundreds of thousands of these 3.5's out there, I think that could be as costly to Ford as the emissions scandal was for VW. I still remember the acres and acres of VW's piled up in southern CO where they were stored near the old PPIR, was insane!

 

[SyndicateZ]

Here's my thing on this, I know Ford put date wrappers on their "customer experience" bulletin related to the phasers, but what really strikes me about this is that in a legal situation, that's all but admitting there's a design flaw. If Ford actually won't cover this for owners, I foresee a massive class action lawsuit over time. There are far less damaging and invasive class actions out there right now, like roof panels on Bronco's and Wranglers that are discoloring, etc. I've had my phasers done already (even though they weren't even bad), but if they fail again and I've properly maintained my vehicle, I will absolutely seek legal help. There are hundreds of thousands of these 3.5's out there, I think that could be as costly to Ford as the emissions scandal was for VW. I still remember the acres and acres of VW's piled up in southern CO where they were stored near the old PPIR, was insane!

This. If any dealer denied me a cam phaser replacement my stop before going back home would be the lawyers office. Ford would EASILY lose the case a

 

[bjohnson425]

This. If any dealer denied me a cam phaser replacement my stop before going back home would be the lawyers office. Ford would EASILY lose the case.

Ford is a multi billion dollar corporation. I guarentee they have better lawyers than some random guy on the internet. If it were that easy it would have already happened there are THOUSANDS of cases of Cam Phaser issues over the last decade.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Ford is a multi billion dollar corporation. I guarentee they have better lawyers than some random guy on the internet. If it were that easy it would have already happened there are THOUSANDS of cases of Cam Phaser issues over the last decade.

Going all the way back to the Pinto, Ford's approach has been that it's less expensive to leave a problem unsolved than it is to pay off the few people that will actually pursue legal action. Ford has lost or settled most of the peeling paint cases, but there have been very, very few despite the rampant problems because most people don't want to devote the time or money to legal action. Most people with the cam phaser issue will piss and moan at the dealership and some may call the 800 number and complain. Eventually though, the vast majority will bend over and pay for the repairs. For the very, very few that sue, Ford will delay and deny and many of those will give up also. For the less than 1% that actually stay the course of legal action, Ford will very likely settle because their odds of winning after admitting fault are very low no matter how good their legal team is.