I understand your frustration, and I agree that it was silly for them not to replace the spark plugs, but...
Ford does not call for the spark plugs on these cars to be replaced at 75K miles. The service schedule says 100K miles for spark plug replacement.
Warranties never cover scheduled maintenance. (There are service plans that do.)
If your specific extended warranty doesn't cover plug replacement with coils, then the dealer would be giving away the spark plugs for free, and the mechanic would not be paid for the time it took him to replace them.
Except that the Ford TSB for diagnosing bad coils says to pull the plug and inspect it for damage. They never pulled any of the plugs cause "Plug replacement wasn't covered under warranty". I would have GLADLY payed the scandalously gouged price of $9 for a spark plug if they had called me. The only time they called was to say it was done. Then the service writer just kept saying "it wasn't covered under warranty". He did offer to charge me $85 to take everything back apart and put two new plugs in. yay. About 10K miles ago they changed a different coil and called to ask me if I wanted a plug while they were in there. $9 later it was done and I was happy. No clue why they couldn't do that again.
The only good thing I can say is that they replaced two coils this time. So at least my $100 deductible covers parts cost on two OEM coils and I didn't have to put them in. So 3 out of 8 were changed. Going to buy 5 more coils and 8 plugs and just take care of it all. I know #7 and #8 are new, so hopefully it will be obvious which one the third coil is when I replace them.
He also refused to stress test the coils and would only refer to the data charts in the diagnostic tool.
Yeah, they tried to tell me there was no stress test. Just the onboard computer test and a resistance test with a multi-meter. I tried to explain that Ford did have a stress test for the coils but they weren't having it. Here is a youtube video with a retarded text to speech voice explaining the ACTUAL Ford TSB for stress testing coils. According to my dealer this is all make believe:
Ford F150 Coil On Plug Stress Test - YouTube
At least at the local mechanic, if I tell him to do something due to me unable to do it myself, it gets done or he don't get paid.
Never had a car/truck that had a warranty.
It's a matter of wanting to do it not able to do it. This is the first car I've ever had a warranty on as well. When I was buying it I kept thinking to myself how nice it would be to just throw it at the dealer whenever it hiccups and driving it fat dumb and happy. All I've found out is that I still haven't broken even on what I paid for the warranty and it's just been such a nightmare to get the damn dealer to actually diagnose anything that doesn't involve the computer spitting out a code. I fought with them for 3 months, went through 2 dealers, and they kept trying to sell me tires for a vibration that ended up being a failing wheel bearing. I took it to a dealer for the brakes when they were squealing and they said that they couldn't find anything wrong and wanted to sell me everything from the knuckle outwards. I've told them not to mess with the air filter cause it was a K&N and they threw it away and put a factory filter in it. I drop it off for their $40 semi-synth oil change which includes airing the tires, topping off fluids, and other piddly things and they give me the car back with 20-psi in the front left tire.
They pretty much ignore anything I ask them to do and do whatever they want. The sad part is it's almost always wrong the first time around unless it's something they do everyday like oil change or tires. What is even sadder is that this has been my general experience at 3 dealers (2 ford, 1 Linc/Merc). I know there are awesome mechanics that work for dealers, I've met a few. But damn if it isn't mostly people who just change parts.
Bottom line is I'm never going back to them. I've had to fight with them too much to get things worked on. This isn't my first rodeo with them, just the final straw. I'll just go back to my old mechanic that I used on my SHO and other cars whenever there is something I don't feel like doing (like oil changes). This weekend i'm going to go tear apart the storage garage and find my tools. As much as I don't like working on a car that I have to drive daily, it's so much nicer when you know things are being done how you want.
Maybe I'll view this as the appropriate time to buy that Navigator or Explorer i've been thinking about and turn the LS into my weekend warrior. I do have that collection of parts in the garage that would like to be put in.
