Thread: I think we might have sorted the Ranger...

Originally Posted by BRADS

While under warranty none of the new utes will cost ya 10 though.
You obviously love ya ranger that's very clear but you've dropped 10k on 25k ute once you've got that mindset you keep pouring money at it until one day you realise you've spent 30k on a 25k ute
Reminds me off a john deere I had.
If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Well said. A lemon is a lemon and lemons can be horribly expensive in the long run if you don’t get rid of them at the first available opportunity. The flipside to this is that there are literally thousands of lemons hiding in the used car market, because owners that understand this principle get rid of them to unsuspecting buyers. You can never be too careful.

Regarding Ultimate Ford and dealers in general. You already know that I am a Toyota man. Based simply on high mileage in numerous LC, Hilux and other models in crazy places around the world. I bought two brand-new Toyotas for me and the wife in Australia in Perth, both did high mileage in their first two years all over the place, so I got to experience a lot of different dealerships for in-warranty servicing.

I’ve just looked through the service book for my Hilux and reminded myself that only 2 of the first 10 dealership services were satisfactory. The rest were half-assed shoddy efforts, including two where they blatantly lied about what they had actually done.

For example, I had been forewarned that the Alice Springs dealership was notorious. I put a little bit of clear sellotape on the back of the brake fluid reservoir cap, and filled the differential drain plugs with wet mud which was rockhard by the time I handed the vehicle over. Took photos of all the places I expected them to go according to the service schedule, noting that everything was covered in mud, dust and cunning bits of tape. I had a fantastic row with the service manager about all the things that have been ticked in the book but not even fucking touched by the “technician”. He was a bit taken aback by the measures I had gone to to catch them out. I caused a big stink right in the middle of his reception. I won.

In Mackay in sugarcane country the dumb cunt drained the sump without removing the ARB underbody bash plates. When I turned up in the evening to collect the vehicle there was a big puddle of oil underneath the truck, it was still fucking dripping! I’ve got photos of that somewhere. I had a look in the engine bay and blow me down he hadn’t even changed the oil filter, it was the exact same one that I had marked on the corner… and taken a photo of. I blew my stack and nearly thumped the guy but luckily the service manager was a GC and sorted it out, making the technician fix there and then after hours,b with me standing right next to him, growling. That was fun.

There were other annoyances along the way but those were the highlights. But also we’ve encountered really good bastards, usually in much smaller dealerships, like the guy in Devonport in Tasmania who went out of his way to help me fit some accessories and mods on a Saturday morning just because he was enthusiastic. When he gave me the bill it was a fraction of what I expected. Our local dealer in Paeroa has been fantastic and the young service manager who’s been there for years regularly helps me out with diagrams, suggestions and advice now that I do everything myself. Plus I get all my parts at trade which helps.

Unfortunately dealerships are a law onto themselves and I’m a firm believer that it very much depends on the culture and attitude of the leadership team. Bigger, generally iffy, smaller, not so bad. Not many of them pay the respect to the brand that they should and we are the ones that pay for that.

Originally Posted by No.3

What are you going to get that won't have the same risk of costing you 10k out of the current crop of new utes? Not being a smart arse, serious question.

Me mate has gone off Toyota after his last one - this guy is or was one of Barry Crumps kids. The latest Fords aren't proving completely reliable, the Mazda Isuzu mix has issues, the mitsi new model is only a few months in and Nissan, well yeah. Nice but not work trucks.

Sometimes the devil you know... Add to the replacement vehicle price circa $6k suspension sort out that the current ute has already and changing out for someone else's cast off is the same risk or worse in a new wrapper...

2012 70 series. 200000 kms not one mechanical or electrical issue. A lof these kms are towing. Maybe Ive just had a really good run, Maybe its just my maintenance efforts. Who knows

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Well said. A lemon is a lemon and lemons can be horribly expensive in the long run if you don’t get rid of them at the first available opportunity. The flipside to this is that there are literally thousands of lemons hiding in the used car market, because owners that understand this principle get rid of them to unsuspecting buyers. You can never be too careful.

Regarding Ultimate Ford and dealers in general. You already know that I am a Toyota man. Based simply on high mileage in numerous LC, Hilux and other models in crazy places around the world. I bought two brand-new Toyotas for me and the wife in Australia in Perth, both did high mileage in their first two years all over the place, so I got to experience a lot of different dealerships for in-warranty servicing.

I’ve just looked through the service book for my Hilux and reminded myself that only 2 of the first 10 dealership services were satisfactory. The rest were half-assed shoddy efforts, including two where they blatantly lied about what they had actually done.

For example, I had been forewarned that the Alice Springs dealership was notorious. I put a little bit of clear sellotape on the back of the brake fluid reservoir cap, and filled the differential drain plugs with wet mud which was rockhard by the time I handed the vehicle over. Took photos of all the places I expected them to go according to the service schedule, noting that everything was covered in mud, dust and cunning bits of tape. I had a fantastic row with the service manager about all the things that have been ticked in the book but not even fucking touched by the “technician”. He was a bit taken aback by the measures I had gone to to catch them out. I caused a big stink right in the middle of his reception. I won.

In Mackay in sugarcane country the dumb cunt drained the sump without removing the ARB underbody bash plates. When I turned up in the evening to collect the vehicle there was a big puddle of oil underneath the truck, it was still fucking dripping! I’ve got photos of that somewhere. I had a look in the engine bay and blow me down he hadn’t even changed the oil filter, it was the exact same one that I had marked on the corner… and taken a photo of. I blew my stack and nearly thumped the guy but luckily the service manager was a GC and sorted it out, making the technician fix there and then after hours,b with me standing right next to him, growling. That was fun.

There were other annoyances along the way but those were the highlights. But also we’ve encountered really good bastards, usually in much smaller dealerships, like the guy in Devonport in Tasmania who went out of his way to help me fit some accessories and mods on a Saturday morning just because he was enthusiastic. When he gave me the bill it was a fraction of what I expected. Our local dealer in Paeroa has been fantastic and the young service manager who’s been there for years regularly helps me out with diagrams, suggestions and advice now that I do everything myself. Plus I get all my parts at trade which helps.

Unfortunately dealerships are a law onto themselves and I’m a firm believer that it very much depends on the culture and attitude of the leadership team. Bigger, generally iffy, smaller, not so bad. Not many of them pay the respect to the brand that they should and we are the ones that pay for that.

Attachment 250260

That is a terrible photo FB. I would have gone ballistic.

Yeah, I like dealing with the Richards boys at Valley and TR Toyota. Good parts men, not the cheapest, but they will stand behind their product. I had a previous Hi lux that the alternator crapped out just after 100, 000kms. Out of warranty, but still replaced no questions asked.

These little things keep you going back.

Originally Posted by 308

Jaysus what a farkin nightmare

I hate modern electronics - I have an utterly spastic Isuzu DMax that brakes randomly when it senses someone in front, would cheerfully brick the accelerator and film it driving off the top of the Remutaka Hill but it's a work vehicle and free diesel is hard to pass up

Good to hear that someone is actually winning against these things

Yeh modern electronics/sensors are 5hithouse in my book.
I think I've shared this story before, but my wife driving the xtrail in Turangi halfway round the round-a-bout and the whole thing shuts off, instant loss of power-steering. She did well to hang onto the steering wheel. A bit stop start after that. The garage in Turangi was good to deal with. Turns out it was a timing sensor that was playing up. Great idea Nissan. Cut all power instantly just to be on the safe side. Not sure how safe it'd be on the open road on a sweeping bend if you suddenly had the power steering play that trick on you.

Originally Posted by BRADS

While under warranty none of the new utes will cost ya 10 though.
You obviously love ya ranger that's very clear but you've dropped 10k on 25k ute once you've got that mindset you keep pouring money at it until one day you realise you've spent 30k on a 25k ute
Reminds me off a john deere I had.
If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Sent from my SM-S916B using Tapatalk

I think you missed the point that the dealer service crew threw their hands up and walked away from the problem - twice in fact with issues with this vehicle. It would likely have been a case of swap an entire vehicle piece by piece around the faulty part until the entire thing expired - I can't think what the downtime alone would have cost on that process so at least with the approach we've taken the downtime and cost (apart from the actual injection system clean and replacement of injectors) has been virtually nothing. I note that most sources are recommending replacement of these piezo injectors at 120-150,000Km now which this vehicle is bang in the middle of mileage wise.

No particular love for this vehicle (especially after the shite tricks it's pulled) - but looking at all of the issues and factors and weighing up the "issues and factors" list objectively - $10K is the saving in fuel burn alone in the first 100,000km. If I was going to replace the vehicle, it would be a low mileage or new option and it would cost a lot more than 10K. As I said, business decision and to get something brand new to do the job of this one is currently not easy, will cost something like 85K+ and take months to arrive and back to the previously mentioned issues with servicing and the like. Something had to be done in the meantime either a second hand replacement vehicle which might have other issues or fix what we have and also factor in for a business asset R&M is 100% deductible so it's not someone spending on a toy situation.

Also, not many vehicles have such an interesting failure of the powertrain control module which has taken out a shopping list of other sensors and parts (which actually served to hide the actual problem) - and not many have such a "I'm going to brick myself" instant reaction to a replacement module getting powered up in the vehicle in place of the original with the failure. Also, I could have gone cheaper and only replaced what needed replacing and done the repair half arsed for about $2000, instead of the full set of five injectors and EGR delete instead of repairing that bit too. That would have been an option if I was flogging the thing to be fair.

And I'll make another point as I sit here after being woken up by a soaking wet cat (bastard). With the fault the vehicle wasn't actually useable/saleable and not worth $25k - it was basically parts use only (unknown fault). So in effect it was a business asset that was no longer worth anything and with IRD rules on work vehicles, even disposing of it for parts would likely require a large chuck of cash to sort the depreciation etc before replacing it as it wasn't able to be traded and disposed of in the usual fashion (I might have been able to write it off dereg but the accountant was not completely sure).

It was one complete clusterfluck to be fair! Didn't have many choices and none of them were great...

The only way to roll... is when the Hilux came without AdBlue!

Your a lot more patient then me, I woulda cracked the shits and burnt it and just called it an expensive life lesson… glad I have a hilux 😂

our d-max which is still under warranty needs a new starter motor.
6-8 months ago the factory battery died despite my view (and testing it) that it was stuffed the issue continued until they agreed, and yes i do own the correct test tools
we got a flat tyre (yeah ok it was a nail thru it), took it to local tyre place who showed me all 4 were so worn on the inner they wouldn't get a wof. isuzu went "you must have hit a pothole etc", maybe but on all 4 wheels?
now we have an intermittent video display that sometimes gets stuck between the gps and audio screens. just photo'd it to show them.
on the plus side its a nice ute to ride in compared to most and came with an anti car theft unit installed (manual gearbox)

Funny, a guy at work has a D Max. He's already having chassis issues with it. Rust and cracking.

I dont think Isuzu are being very helpful either by the sounds of things.

No good.

Yikes, that's scary... I'm not hearing a lot of reassuring things about the current selection of ute models. It seems they all have particular things popping up that are frequent across many owners, in car electronics and drivers interface seem to be one of the ones that are cropping up everywhere as a problem. Probably those systems all come from one or two suppliers who supply to every manufacturer.

I was near first to get the PX2 version of the last model ranger, waited for it with the 3500kg tow rating (earlier version 3250kg). That by today's standards wasn't that full of electronics but it's still given a hell of a lot of trouble - all core operating electronics and the same gear goes across many models (bosch) so those knocking Ford the issues with mine are all contract supplied parts just fitted by Ford. High chance the pressure sender arrived assembled by Bosch as well so likey that wasn't even ford's fault. This could just as easily been a hilux, Mazda etc etc but yes it was a very close run decision to just write it off and wear the hit to the books.

Got a customer with a colorado. 147k and it leaned out on 2cyl and fried its self thats his second one thats done it. ( we just do his tyres)

Makes you wonder if there's room in the market for zero rebuilt late 1990's SUV's. Half a million km's, nothing but oils and filters and tyres and brake pads. Almost 30 years old: No rust, same door hinges, same injectors and pump as it came out of the factory with. Won't break any speed records.......but the speed limit here in NZ is 100, so no real need for a speed demon for the average punter. And with the ever deteriorating condition of our roading system, 70 profile tyres are a real boon. Have to laugh when you cruise past 2wd Hiluxes changing punctures on 15 profile tyres

Originally Posted by caberslash

Attachment 250297

forgot the cyber truck