Shenanigans flash back, just inspected Ford

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Shenanigans flash back

I enjoyed the comments and feedback from the last Shenanigans.  I was cleaning up our digital photo file when I came across these pictures from a couple years back. OMG this vehicle was Shenanigans at its best/worst!

Look at the inspection sticker on the windshield.  Notice the white block in the center of the sticker?  That is the first sign of Shenanigans.  The white is the backer you’re supposed to peel off so that the inspection month will show.   The second sign was while driving the vehicle into the shop the brake pedal was low, brake warning light was on, and there was a rubbing noise coming from the rear of the vehicle.

Good reason to be concerned

As you can see, the issue date of the sticker was December 20th, 2014.  The day the vehicle was brought  into the shop was January 6th 2015, and the vehicle had traveled 158 miles since the sticker was installed at 170,100 miles.  If you look closely at the first image you’ll also notice that the windshield has a big crack right in front of the driver. That could have happened in the past 158 miles…. but it gets better.

The 1st what!

As we walked under the vehicle up on the lift we could see a drip coming from the rear.  Looking up, we found a rusted and leaking brake line.  That explains the low pedal. Brake line inspection for rust is part of a State Safety Inspection! No way this brake line rusted out in 17 days!  There are 2 brake lines to the rear brakes and the other, right beside the leaker, was just as rusted.

Just keeps getting better

You gotta check this out this image in full size.  See that rusted and broken bar?  In the aftermarket we call this a track bar, Ford’s calls it a Lateral Stabilizer Rod.  The job of this bar is to keep the rear axle from shifting to the right or left.

What happens when the track bar breaks?  Now the tires are trying to stop the rear axle from shifting…. but man oh man this rear end was shifting.

A new use for inner fender wells

Without a track bar the rear end of the vehicle would shift so far that the tires would rub on the inner fender well.  Turn right one side rubs, turn left and the other tire rubs. As you can in this image this had been happening for awhile.  The side wall of both rear tires was worn from rubbing on the inner fender wells.  It was like something you would see in a Three Stooges show.

Story gets better

Whoever put the inspection sticker on this vehicle should have his inspection station license pulled and fined. We called the Department of Safety and asked if they had anyone in the area that could stop in and see this vehicle, no one was available.  We went on to explain what we had found on this vehicle and if we could take pictures and email them to them.  The reply we got, oh we can’t receive attachments for security reasons.  Write a letter with what you found and send it to us.  Really?? Yes really, that is what they said.  In my mind I was asking what century is this?

Well, we decided we had better take some pictures and document all this… to cover our rear bumper.  The customer was told our findings and the vehicle was not safe to drive.  We even had him sign a copy of his invoice with that documentation.  He took the keys and said he’d make arrangements to have the vehicle towed.  Short time later, looking out at the shop parking lot we noticed that the vehicle was no longer present. Any tow truck diver would have had to check with us before he took the vehicle, and we hadn’t even seen a tow truck, even though the vehicle was parked in clear view of our very large office window.   The customer had obviously returned and driven the vehicle away.

Just more Shenanigans