Hello folks and Happy Thanksgiving. Recently my 2013 Explorer had a check battery charge appear on my dash. Upon driving it to my local Good Year, the steering wheel started to become extremely stiff when turning. Almost like it locks and can only turn a little when giving speed.
Apparently there are lot of issues with 2013-2018 explorers and their water pumps. Especially with how it’s placed in the engine. It’s costed a lot of people money and I mostly paid for labor. I scrapped up some money from my savings, ran my credit card for the remainder of the amount, and drove back home.
2 days later, behold, the light comes back on and the steering wheel is locking up. 2k+ in the hole and now I can’t drive to my mechanic.
Has this ever happend to anyone and if so, what should I do. I’d my mechanic 100% responsible for this diagnosis and fix? I never knew that a car I spent 30k and it only HAS 78,000 miles would cause me this issue today. Please help with any advice. Thanks!
The WP is not what you brought it in for. It’s internal, and not driven by the accessory drive belt like the alternator. That’s electric power steering.
So what was the diagnosis/reason they gave for doing the WP, and not addressing the charge light?
After reading into the WP issue, it 100% needed to be fixed. My mechanic mentioned that both sealants on the WP were done for. It could of been an engine ending scenario as it would overheat. I wasn’t aware of this and originally brought it in because of the check charge light and tight steering. Could it be possible they completely overlooked the charge light? I’m genuinely confused as it why it wasn’t fixed and im having the same issue as before. Its a frustrating situation.
Check charging system / light on is right there on the work order. So you need to answer that question for the customer. Since there wasn’t a charge for that, and the PS issue was not initially addressed, if there’s no charge to get it back in and take another look at it - Maybe it’s just a communication issue.
You don’t have to authorize any additional work. Plus, now that you have this WO, you could use that to get some comparison estimates from other shops. Send an email with the cropped image for just the services, and see if they can/will offer a labor hours / labor rate, if not parts price comparison for X job. Where does 11 hours of labor at that rate fall in the price quote for a “water pump”?
Do you have an electrical specialist shop in your area?