Air conditioner story & any suggestion for extended warranty

[stemmlerd]

I have 2002 black on black. 11,000 miles.
I bought it two years ago and it had the full 7 year warranty from Ford. The
The bird sits in York, PA while I still live near Baltimore. I wll be moving to York soon.
This May, I took the beautiful bird out for a spin. Fun as usual.
In June, I returned to York and went for another spin. This time, I wanted to use the air conditioner. Whoops. No luck. Just hot air.

After some inquiry, the local Ford Dealer, Beshore and Koller, was recommended to fix the problem.
They called to report that I needed a new compressor. The total cost of the repair was $1035.
The mechanic suggested that because the car sits unused so much, the seals in the compressor dried out. It could not be rebuilt.

What about the 7 year warranty. It expired two weeks before I took the car to the dealer.
If I had tried the air conditioner in May, I probably would have discovered problem and it would have been covered.
Perhaps this information will will be useful to some other owners who let their car sit idle for long periods.

Does anyone care to share information on extended warranties after the original expires?

 

[George]

Stemmlerd:
I don't believe it, dried seals. Mine is a 2002 with 15,678 miles and no problem In fact many here in NE have very low miles and have not reported this. However there are some across the country that have had this issue. Here's 3, all with different results:
1) - "PROBLEM FIXED....COVERED UNDER EXTENDED WARRANTY....
PROBLEMS WAS - HEATER CONTROL VAVLE CC42....VALVE WAS REPLACED.
CLEANED AND RECHARGED COMPLETE SYSTEM.
TODAY I HAVE AIRCONDITION AND HEAT AS NEEDED."
2) - "I've had the same problem with my car on 2 separate occasions, caused by different gremlins. Several months ago all my vents were blowing very hot & my mechanic confirmed that the Coolant Control Valve was faulty. This repair is a $450 job but Ford agreed to pay 80% of the cost since I was only one week out of warranty. The second problem began happening several weeks ago. The passenger side vents blew very hot air but the driver side worked OK. On the advice of one of our members, I moved the temperature settings back & forth & so far it seems to be fixed. That is good news because replacing the Blend Door actuator costs >$1000."
3) - "I have also had this problem. The mechanic replaced every valve, doodad, whatnot and gadget attached to the ac system and yet, the problems continued on. The mechanic's last ditch effort after talking to the mucky muck engineers with Ford was to trace every single wire that was in any way connected to the ac and all its components and he found a wire at the end of the last line he looked at that had shorted out. Fixed that and the ac works fine now.
I guess I'm fortunate, the mechanic is a tenacious perfectionist who wouldn't give up and wasn't about to let an air conditioner best him. "


SO, if you concede to go with what your mechanic says, ask if what he exchanges does not fix the probelm will he do all other work to fix the problem free? Why should you pay for him to follow the process of elimination?
By the way, try a Lincoln dealer for a second oipinion at that cost!
Hope this helpsl

 

[Ski]

Extended Warranty

I got an extended warranty from Bob Davidson Ford in Towson for my 2002. It was about $1700 for 48 months/48K. Well worth it IMO due to the potential for COPS problems and cost of repairing them. BTW I live between Baltimore and York.

Oh, the extended warranty requires an inspection for $100 and everything has to work.

 

[stemmlerd]

thanks

Ski,
Thanks for taking the time reply.
Your note about the extended warranty is good info. I may follow up. It is a gamble. Is the warranty that you got a Ford warranty?

Concerning the COPS problem, if I remember correctly, it seems that our 2002's were not having the problem. I would have to go back through this forum to check it out again.

Are you going to the conveniton in Lockport. I will be driving past your area today on my way to York. I will leave for New York on Sunday morning.

I hope to hook up with you at some time in the future.

Don Stemmler

 

[Big Al]

My AC is suddenly blowing very hot air. It was good to see the notice above. I will check with my Ford dealer who has taken care of the car for the last 9 years about the coolant control valve situation

 

[Pcrpete]

My AC is suddenly blowing very hot air. It was good to see the notice above. I will check with my Ford dealer who has taken care of the car for the last 9 years about the coolant control valve situation

I have a 2004 PCR, had the same issue a year or so go. Don't automatically assume it'll be tricky. My mechanic replaced the compressor, all fine

 

[edward301]

As I have mentioned before, best way to see if AC issues is the coolant control valve or
compressor, is to in the morning while car engine is cold is to start car and immediately
turn ac on, if air gets cold and stays cold, you know compressor, and Freon charge are
ok. If once car engine warms up, ac blows warm air, you know issue is coolant control
valve.

 

[Big Al]

I asked Sioux City Ford to look at it and of course they ran a litany of possibilities. The coolant control valve was not seemingly on the list
. I asked about it and asked if they would at least check it first.
At first they had talked about the control doors in the dash. (expensive!) They did check the valve, replaced the valve and that was it. The total cost, part, labor and tax was $566.