My dad has an 02 ranger, 4 cyl 5 spd, that is just a parts getter truck. It has 89k miles on it and runs great. From day 1 when my older brother bought it new, its been the most reliable vehicle you could ask for.

With it just being a parts getter truck, it only sees MAYBE 5k miles a year. My dad being an old timer, only changes the oil once a year then. Last week was its turn for an oil change, and the oil plug bolt stripped on him. Instead of trying something different, vice grips or anything, he threw in the towel. He decided to let a Ford dealership do the work.

The person at the counter told him no problem, they will change the oil and the plug, and its a common thing on aluminum oil pans for the bolt to be tight. Well a half hour later they come back out and send him on his way. Here is the bullsh*t part.

The next morning their is a rather large puddle under the truck. Dad jumps in his Buick and heads off to work. After he gets home he puts the truck up on ramps and sees the oil pan covered in what can best be described as rubber cement, or some sort of spray adhesive. Under the gunk, a rather large crack in the pan.

Dad then calls Kings Ford to ask what happened. The guy on the phone said that the employee that did the service was not in that day, and they would contact him after finding more out. The next day he calls back to see what had happened and the man on the phone says that "the plug was very tight, and the pan cracked" (NO SH*T) " and that sometimes that gunk will fix the leak."

The only thing they have to say to dad is that they can knock a few hours off of the cost of labor to do the job. It will be over $900 to have it replaced. Now let me make myself clear. We do not want the job done for free! We want you to know what kind of work this dealership does and does NOT tell you until its too late.

We know that things break, big deal. But for them to cover it up and hope its not noticed until later is BS. With the way it was cracked, and if dad didnt notice it earlier we could have been buying a new motor at a discounted price from this dealership.


Cliff notes:
Kings Ford Cracked an oil pan and tried spraying glue(?) on it instead of telling the customer.

That seems like some shady stuff. Why wouln't they tell you while it was in there for service and fix it then?

the only thing i can think of is a temporary fix, then in a month when you notice it they can deny it was them.

Unless they were worried you were gonna try and make them replace the pan for free?

That's total BS.