[aloyouis]

Remote started the FuSpo this mornin while I put my shoes and and when I went out to the garage (door was up) there was an intense rotten egg smell and the car was idling really rough. I sat inside and noticed the check engine light was on so I grabbed my ELM327 OBD2 thingy and plugged it in. It had a stored code of P0304 (cylinder 4 misfire detected). I screen shot the app and it is attached. The dealer told me to have Ford Roadside assistance bring it in. They are on the way.

That said, I was hoping some of you smart car guys here could tell me what you think might me up? Rotten egg small scares me for the catalytic converter. Should I be concerned?

TIA

Jim

 

[TomS]

That doesn't sound to good, but hoping that things
work out alright for you...

 

[Vert]

Well with it being a misfire, you had extra fuel travelling to the cats which probably caused the smell.

 

[gedalanc]

Remote started the FuSpo this mornin while I put my shoes and and when I went out to the garage (door was up) there was an intense rotten egg smell and the car was idling really rough. I sat inside and noticed the check engine light was on so I grabbed my ELM327 OBD2 thingy and plugged it in. It had a stored code of P0304 (cylinder 4 misfire detected). I screen shot the app and it is attached. The dealer told me to have Ford Roadside assistance bring it in. They are on the way.

That said, I was hoping some of you smart car guys here could tell me what you think might me up? Rotten egg small scares me for the catalytic converter. Should I be concerned?

TIA

Jim

Maybe it was just a misfire, while more rare in today's cars it does happen.

My wife's 2013 Explorer Sport misfired once on the expressway, I was on a hill and jumped on it to pass someone and it shimmied for a second and then went really rough and the check engine light popped on and was blinking (which is really bad)... I was right at an exit so I pulled off and before I get to the end of the ramp the check engine light had stopped blinking, so I pulled into a gas station that was close and before I even got the car off the check engine light turned off. It smelled funny, but I don't recall rotten eggs. I let it sit for a few minutes as I got gas, it fired right up no problem and I never had it happen again in the 2 1/2 years I owned the car after...

 

[aloyouis]

Well with it being a misfire, you had extra fuel travelling to the cats which probably caused the smell.

This is what I am thinking as well.

Question: With the high cost of cats, is there anyway to see if it was damaged? The rotten egg smell was STRONG.

Also, the misfire occurred the entire time it was idling (4-5 minutes) and then stopped as I sat in it and the cold high idle dropped to 500 RPM.

Waiting to hear from Suburban Ford's service manager. They need to replace the battery, replace a buzzing upper door speaker and hopefully upgrade the Sync 3 firmware to 2.2 while they have it.

What are the chances they will give me a loaner?

Jim

 

[Kaylee]

The egg smell is just the cats dealing with the excess fuel that was dumped into the exhaust by the misfiring cylinder. I doubt you could add enough fuel from this event to torch a cat.
They are covered under warranty if they should fail an emissions test within that period of time.

 

[aloyouis]

The egg smell is just the cats dealing with the excess fuel that was dumped into the exhaust by the misfiring cylinder. I doubt you could add enough fuel from this event to torch a cat.
They are covered under warranty if they should fail an emissions test within that period of time.

We actually have no emissions testing here in Michigan any longer. The service writer said the cats are covered for 80k miles. That is only2.7 years for me so I wonder about damage long term. I understand these things are expensive as ****.


The service writer just called. They won't get to it until tomorrow. Ugh. For fun I asked about the battery issue folks are dealing with and he offered nothing. Said it was due to bad batteries.

Not confidence building.

 

[Vert]

We actually have no emissions testing here in Michigan any longer. The service writer said the cats are covered for 80k miles. That is only2.7 years for me so I wonder about damage long term. I understand these things are expensive as ****.


The service writer just called. They won't get to it until tomorrow. Ugh. For fun I asked about the battery issue folks are dealing with and he offered nothing. Said it was due to bad batteries.

Not confidence building.

Lol, that figures on the battery issue. Did you get a loaner? I usually inform them when I make my appointment so Im not dealing with it when I take my car to the dealership.

 

[aloyouis]

Lol, that figures on the battery issue. Did you get a loaner? I usually inform them when I make my appointment so Im not dealing with it when I take my car to the dealership.

Car left on a flat bed. No time for arranging anything. I will take your advice next time (please, no next time!). I am traveling for work tomorrow and Thursday so I won't need a car the next couple of days....

 

[aloyouis]

Update:

Spark plug good.
Coil good.
Fuel good.

Still missing badly on cylinder #4. Car is a month old. 2500 miles.

Sent over to the engine tech for him to "dig deeper".

Could be compression.
Could be valve.
Could be???

I am NO mechanic. I have a laymen's knowledge of engines but this is scaring me. On a positive note, he said if it requires a new engine, they can get it done in a week and a half and they will provide me a loaner car.


NEW ENGINE???? WTF??????

 

[gzsport]

Hummm strange...I would have guessed fuel injector stuck open by the symptom of rough idle and smell. Coils or plugs typically miss under load and not so much at idle. And valves,etc... would be rare on such a new engine.

 

[aloyouis]

Latest update and I am so pissed.

They have decided to replace the head and ordered it. It might be here next Wednesday....or not. They must remove the entire engine in order to do this. That will take another week.

This car has 2400 miles on it. It already had the battery issue as well.

I told the dealer that I don't want the car backhand that I expect that either Suburban Ford will replace it and deal with Ford OR that Ford will buy it back or replace it. Jim Elder who is the GM of Suburban Ford and whose family owns several car dealerships in Metro Detroit called me today to tel me that Suburban will not replace the car and that I NEEDED to give them the opportunity to fix it. I told him that was not the answer I was looking for and to expect that this will become a major issue for them and Ford.

I bought a brand new car.

Here is the deal:

I now have a car that will have been at the dealer 50% of the time I have owned it by the time I get it back.

I will have a car that had the most MAJOR component die; the engine. I will NEVER be able to sell it down the road without disclosing this and the value of thecae will be tremendously reduced as a result.

I have never seen a car that had major open heart surgery that was "right" afterwards.

The cats had a tremendous amount of oil and gas dumped into them for 2400 miles. I am supposed to see if they last the life of the car whatever that is.



I am about to start a major social media shitstorm. You never met a better and more vocal customer than me when I am treated right. You never met a worse and more vocal customer than me when I am not treated right.

 

[Frizz2112]

It sounds like you have an excellent case. I don't know the details of your state's lemon law, (if there is one) but I'd get to know that as well. I think it's in dealers' DNA to try and wear customers down in these situations, but if they are made to believe they will get significant bad press/ social media condemnation and legal action that they stand a good chance of losing, they will replace your car. It sounds like you have this covered, but I'll say it anyway: Don't relent, and don't allow them to play nice to buy more time to supposedly fix the problem. They now know they have lost a customer so there is no incentive for them to take care of you, unless you can make it so taking care of you is the least painful of their options.

I'm sorry you have had this experience with your Sport; there is nothing more frustrating than buying a new car that turns out to be a dog.

 

[datsunnazi]

I am about to start a major social media shitstorm. You never met a better and more vocal customer than me when I am treated right. You never met a worse and more vocal customer than me when I am not treated right.

If you are looking to receive good service and help from the dealer, you are going about this in the worst way possible. Just FYI. People generally get bad customer service because they are bad customers, but by all means, you do you.

 

[datsunnazi]

I think it's in dealers' DNA to try and wear customers down in these situations, but if they are made to believe they will get significant bad press/ social media condemnation and legal action that they stand a good chance of losing, they will replace your car. It sounds like you have this covered, but I'll say it anyway: Don't relent, and don't allow them to play nice to buy more time to supposedly fix the problem. They now know they have lost a customer so there is no incentive for them to take care of you, unless you can make it so taking care of you is the least painful of their options.

This is totally not how dealers work. Ford Corporate buys the car back. It doesn't hurt the dealer to help you get help from Ford. You don't need to throw a temper tantrum to get help under warranty. Everyone nowadays just goes the "social media shitstorm" route and just makes things worse.

 

[Wildcat Birdie]

This is totally not how dealers work. Ford Corporate buys the car back. It doesn't hurt the dealer to help you get help from Ford. You don't need to throw a temper tantrum to get help under warranty. Everyone nowadays just goes the "social media shitstorm" route and just makes things worse.

To an extent I agree. There is a proper time and place to "release the hounds" but its best to start with trying to work together. When all else fails, you start the other side to it. Sometimes that extra push is what is needed.

 

[Frizz2112]

I was not implying that Aloyouis should go nuclear right off the bat; he has already been working with them for some time and is having unsatisfactory results. If that continues, I do not think being nice to them is going to help.

As far as dealers "not working that way," I beg to differ. I'm sure many of them don't, but I have seen good people get completely hosed by unscrupulous dealers through no fault of their own. A good friend of mine tried the good customer route with a VW dealer on a lemon he bought from them, and they were trying everything in the book to to wear him out. He eventually went over their heads to VW corporate and raised ****, and magically he was taken care of immediately (although the dealer did get mad at him for getting them in trouble!)

Anyway, as Wildcat says, there is a time and a place for this sort of thing, and it should not be your first option. But if you're not willing to go there and the dealer isn't playing it straight with you, you're might get stuck with a broken car.

 

[datsunnazi]

I was not implying that Aloyouis should go nuclear right off the bat; he has already been working with them for some time and is having unsatisfactory results. If that continues, I do not think being nice to them is going to help.

As far as dealers "not working that way," I beg to differ. I'm sure many of them don't, but I have seen good people get completely hosed by unscrupulous dealers through no fault of their own. A good friend of mine tried the good customer route with a VW dealer on a lemon he bought from them, and they were trying everything in the book to to wear him out. He eventually went over their heads to VW corporate and raised ****, and magically he was taken care of immediately (although the dealer did get mad at him for getting them in trouble!)

Anyway, as Wildcat says, there is a time and a place for this sort of thing, and it should not be your first option. But if you're not willing to go there and the dealer isn't playing it straight with you, you're might get stuck with a broken car.

I feel like there discrepancy in the definition of "unsatisfactory results" here. Is he paying for the repairs out of pocket? Is the vehicle going to be rendered unusable after said repairs? Et cetera. If so, then yes, you have a reason to be making an uproar.

I understand being upset because your vehicle is out of commission for a time, but Ford and the dealer are holding up their end of the bargain by fixing the vehicle due to a manufacture defect. Just because you feel like the fix is not what you want it to be does not give you the right to throw a fit.

These things happen. How you deal with them will make this a far easier process for everyone.

 

[aloyouis]

I feel like there discrepancy in the definition of "unsatisfactory results" here. Is he paying for the repairs out of pocket? Is the vehicle going to be rendered unusable after said repairs? Et cetera. If so, then yes, you have a reason to be making an uproar.

I understand being upset because your vehicle is out of commission for a time, but Ford and the dealer are holding up their end of the bargain by fixing the vehicle due to a manufacture defect. Just because you feel like the fix is not what you want it to be does not give you the right to throw a fit.

These things happen. How you deal with them will make this a far easier process for everyone.

I realize that you work for a dealer and see things from that perspective. That said, I don't think you could be more wrong.

I've already spoken with my sales person, a service advisor, service manager and the general manager/owner of the Ford dealership. While they have been nice, they've been insistent that my only option is to take what they're giving me and like it. There are five cars in my family and this is the first Ford.

I didn't buy a used car.

I didn't buy a car with a Bad maintenance history in less than a month. You need to keep in mind that no matter what happens to the car from here on out, I need to disclose to whoever I might sell it to in the future that the engine failed right out of the gate and that the engine has had major mechanical issues. The value of this car has plummeted for me beyond just driving off the lot. It's a real problem.


I bought a brand-new car for $35,000.

There seems to be some sort of perception that I owe something to Ford. I don't owe them the right to sell me a lemon. I don't owe them the right to sell me a car with a bad engine directly from the factory and then to tell me to cool my jets well they try to figure out how to fix it. This was bad from the factory. It did not develop, it did not wear out. It was bad from the start.

How would you react if you brought home a defective $150? I have no doubt that you wouldn't be shipping it off to some other place for it to be torn apart. Now apply that thinking to a $35,000 car.

And as I said in my first post, the owner/general manager of the dealership was unequivocal bowl this morning when he told me they would be doing nothing on my behalf with regards to replacing the car.

And now I'm supposed to be nice?

Last time I checked, I still need to make a payment in 10 days.

 

[Mike E]

I feel like there discrepancy in the definition of "unsatisfactory results" here. Is he paying for the repairs out of pocket? Is the vehicle going to be rendered unusable after said repairs? Et cetera. If so, then yes, you have a reason to be making an uproar.

I understand being upset because your vehicle is out of commission for a time, but Ford and the dealer are holding up their end of the bargain by fixing the vehicle due to a manufacture defect. Just because you feel like the fix is not what you want it to be does not give you the right to throw a fit.

These things happen. How you deal with them will make this a far easier process for everyone.

Apparently there IS a discrepancy in what "unsatisfactory results" are. This man has been without his car for quite some time with the battery issue. Now he gets the rotten egg smell, and is told they have to replace the engines heads. Not only is it time he doesn't have his car, but his new car just lost the appeal that a new car has. I have to agree with him that when he goes to sell this vehicle, the documentation of all these issues may hurt the vale of the car.


In the end, it's up to the buyer to determine what is satisfactory, and what isn't. If he doesn't want this car after all of this, it's a legitimate feeling as far as I'm concerned, and the dealer should help him get that message to Ford Corporate so they can amend it. That's what the dealer SHOULD do once the consumer has made it clear, and then it's up to corporate to do what they wish. The dealer shouldn't make theses decisions for the consumer, as to what is enough.


Sorry for the long response.