More modern JUNK. Thanks Ford, for building 'em ... "tough"

OK Smitty,

Here's more fuel for your fire.

My sister in law has an '08 SD 450. She bought it used and she's a horse person. So she like most horse people need those rigs to pull the horse trailers all over creation on the weekends. Last winter we replaced the fuel pump and filter assembly. 2 weeks ago we replaced the entire fuel tank due to delamination of the coating inside the tank. It keeps clogging up the filters.

My own 2000 F 250 SD left me sit this morning due to a broken shifter tube in the steering column. Funny thing is when I called the Ford dealer, they stock a lot of these parts. Gee, I wonder why ?????



Rick

Yeah I've heard of that busted shift tube happening with early 90's model Grand Marquis & Crown Vics. Guess they didn't learn back then ....

And WOW it looks like '08 was a banner year for Ford products! WTF!!

'09 was the year for GM. Saw many posts online of guys with spankin' new '09 Silverados burning a quart of oil every 100 miles. One guy posted a vid of his truck running in the garage. 2,000 miles on it - you couldn't even see in his garage - was all smoke!!

Why don't these companies just TELL US they're broke, the dollar is worthless, & they can't build anything the right way without outsourcing to China ... ? It's pretty obvious that's the case.

Well, the finishing up of this one is on hold.

I get to pull the engine on the Blazer ... AGAIN ... just for a damn oil pan gasket!!!!!!!!

Couldn't have done it while it was on the engine stand at this exact time last year .... NOPE! Just run it Smitty you *censored* idiot!!!! Great idea!!!!

I spent ALL DAY today dropping the front differential. Nope - still no room. Spend all day yesterday disassembling the front of the engine, removing motor mount bolts, and tranny mount bolts. Raised the engine, lowered the engine, raised the tranny ... lowered the tranny ... NOPE - not coming out.

Glad I wasted 3 *censored* days for nothing. Could've just had the damn engine out the first day! MAN I'll tell ya ..........

Replaced the pan on my daughters 93 Saturn SC2 in about 30 minutes. That whole car was built with 10MM or 13MM fastners! Easiest car I ever worked on but it was not good enough for us Americans, so now it is gone. The wife's Chevy Venture needed a timing chain gasket, it was suggested to lift the engine to replace the oil pan gasket at the bottom of the timing chain cover, $800.00 estimate from Chevy to just change the oil pan gasket My mechanic told me a trick, and with about 8 hours of my time and the "trick" I got the timing chain cover gasket replaced, $20.00 in materials. WTF!!!

MMMMM OIL PAN RUST

Here's my 7.3 LOL



JBWELD is still holding!

Is that tranny fluid pissing up front too? That sucks!!

Yup. I was changing the tranny lines when I noticed the oil pan.

Double whammy .... got to love it.

Focus.......that is more than a hint!!!! Another 'better idea from Europe.....brought to you locally by ....Ford dealers everywhere!!!

I call it the "FICUS" ...

Like the plastic tree, it's a fake version of a real automobile.

Stuff like this never happened "back in the day". Oil pans rusting through? Unheard of. What the hell?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus

I like the Focus, it's roomy, performs well, rides well. Of course the one I have is a 2003 with the Zetec engine, it's my mom's. She doesn't drive anymore and I keep the car around to take her places. It has just over 20,000 miles on it. When we bought it I drove the standard 4 cylinder model and it was a dog.

I have no idea how this car would hold up under "real world" driving!

In my warped mind if it's not big, V8 equipped, and rear wheel drive then it's not a real car. What have we become???

We're becoming more & more like Europe every single day. The media's multi-decade campaign against big cars & trucks is starting to alter the general populations thinking - just take a look around any city. Not one American car to be found, all front wheel drive econoboxes. The media portrays big vehicles as bad, and the people believe. It worked. They also want us all (on the right anyway) to believe there's no one like us left - we're old relics of the past that need to "get with the times" ... modernize ... adapt.

To that, I extend my middle finger & say F*** YOU at the top of my lungs. HORSESHIT! Don't believe a damn thing you see on the news anymore. Not a damn thing.

Unfortunately, the Focus we (the U.S.A.) ended up with was only a mere shadow of the "real" European Focus that everyone else got. Ford did a GREAT job taking a very nice car and turning it into the bastard step-child of the Escort. The European Focus competed on the level with the VW Golf for interior quality, fit, finish and handling. Torquey turbo-diesels were available and the one rental I drove even had and electrically defrosted FRONT windshield! The wires were so tiny you could barely see them up close. Sure beats using your credit card on some frosty morning!

When Ford brought the design to N. America, they figured nobody would pay for a "premium" small car and turned it into the crappy, plastic-filled econobox it was. At the time, it was the truth. I paid $20,000 new for my 2002 VW Jetta TDI wagon. It has cloth seats, a 5 spd, and the only option was heated seats/mirrors. I think an equivalent Focus wagon was barely $15,000 (not diesel) at the time, and it sure showed. Not very people back then would spend money like that on an "econobox", so Ford knew it wouldn't ever sell a $17K-$20K Focus. On the flip side, I'm just about to turn 200,000 miles on my TDI and it remains as tight and rattle free as Day 1. I do all my own work and have had to keep on top of a few "VW-isms", but overall it has been stone-axe reliable.

Remember when most cars from other countries were odd looking?

http://www.ecarsflow.com/5293-citroen-ds.html

http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/105e/Timeline

When I was a kid, when driving around with my dad we used to laugh at foreign cars. They were tiny, and funny looking. Now their mopping the floor with our fleet.

Amazing how things change when you take being #1 for granted.