Ford Can Still Make it Right

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Every single day….”Hey, what’s up with your camper, have you heard anything from Ford yet?”

Unfortunately, the answer is still NO.

After opening a case with Ford Motor Company and working through the normal customer service channels, their Social Media Team also reached out on Facebook and X. They indicated they would be looking into it. I appreciated that contact and hoped it meant we were making progress.

Since then… nothing.

No updates. No follow-up. No decision.

I’m still trying to be patient, and I’m still holding out hope that someone inside Ford will decide this situation deserves another look. However, we’re reaching the point where waiting any longer starts making less sense.

This week I’m going to begin organizing an alternate repair plan in earnest so we can finally get Buttervale back on the road. My hope is that there will be real progress over the next several days, one way or another. I have been advised that at least one vendor could make the repairs in about two weeks. It would be sweet to get back on the road before the end of Summer.

I have to admit that this whole experience has been incredibly disappointing.

For most of my life I’ve been a Ford supporter. During my years with the rescue squad, I defended Ford ambulances as other nearby Squads bought Dodge and Chevy. I’ve always been a Ford motorsports fan as far back as Davey Allison in the Havoline 28 Ford Thunderbird. Our family has owned Ford vehicles over the years, and I’ve generally believed they are an honest, American company who built products they stood behind.

Maybe I’m being naïve in thinking anyone at Ford would care. This certainly isn’t my first encounter with Corporate America.

Still, it genuinely makes me sad that this appears to be where we are.

We’re talking about an engine that catastrophically failed at just 48,000 miles. I understand warranties have limits, and I understand companies can’t repair every vehicle always and forever. Still, aren’t there situations where doing the right thing matters just as much as following the policy?

Making this right would be a rounding error for a company the size of Ford Motor Company.

Instead, it has become a story.

Honestly, I thought Ford would do better. I really did.

What disappoints me the most is that this could have been a completely different story. I could have been writing about a company that looked at an unusual situation and decided to help one retired couple trying to live out their dreams on a fixed income. I could have been praising Ford to thousands of people, telling the story of how they stood behind one of their products even after the warranty clock had run out. I would have been a Ford Man for life.

That kind of goodwill is difficult to buy.

Instead, we’re still waiting.

I also want to make something clear: my disappointment remains primarily directed at Ford Motor Company, not the people at Beach Ford. Throughout this process they’ve been professional, courteous, and extremely helpful. They diagnosed the problem, communicated honestly, and have treated me with respect every step of the way.

I’m grateful for that.

Unfortunately, it looks like our paths may be parting soon as I move toward repair solution. That decision isn’t about Beach Ford. It’s simply about getting Buttervale back on the road as quickly and reasonably as possible.

I’ll continue to share every step of the process, whether Ford eventually responds or not.

Hopefully the next update will include some real forward progress.

Tomorrow the adventure continues.

Our Trip is Over – What Questions Remain?

Image showing a broken down camper van with text overlay expressing frustration about its engine failure, asking for advice on what to do and how Ford might respond.

I want to provide a quick update on the RV engine situation and ask the Internet for some advice from those of you who may have been down this, or a similar road before. Consider this my Phone a Friend.

Our 2018 Coachmen Orion, built on a Ford Transit 350HD chassis, suffered what appears to be a catastrophic engine failure while we were traveling across country this summer. The engine has only about 48,000 miles on it, has been fully maintained and not modified or abused in any way, but because the vehicle is 8 years old, it is outside the time portion of Ford’s 60-month/60,000-mile powertrain warranty.

The RV has now been thoroughly inspected by Beach Ford here in Virginia Beach. I want to publicly thank them for the way they’ve handled this. Beach Ford and especially my service advisor Catie, have been professional, communicative, and have even found several thousand dollars in discounts to help reduce the repair cost. Unfortunately, while very much appreciated, those savings only make a small dent in what remains a very significant repair bill.

A beige and grey recreational vehicle (RV) parked on a trailer, showcasing its side view, with two windows and a front cab visible.

I’ve also opened a case with Ford Customer Care and am waiting for their decision on whether they are willing to offer any goodwill assistance and participate financially in the repair. I absolutely appreciate Beach Ford making a huge effort, but shouldn’t Ford Motor Company be stepping up here?

I’ve reached out to a well-respected,trusted, independent, and certified repair shop for a third opinion and have their quotation. It is still significant money, but more managelable.

Still, before making a financial decision of this size, I want to gather as much information as possible.

What would you do?

How Outraged should I be for an engine to die at 48,000 miles?

Should I just suck it up as the cost of having fancy toys and be grateful?

I know it doesn’t work this way in real life, but shouldn’t Ford be embarrassed to have a commerical engine that they put in ambulances and police cars blow up at 48,000 miles? Or does this happen all the time?

If you’ve experienced a catastrophic engine failure outside of warranty, but at relatively low mileage, I’d love to hear your story.

Did the manufacturer offer any goodwill assistance?

Did you simply wait for a decision, or did you keep pushing?

Did you decide it was time to involve an attorney or a consumer advocate? At what point?

Did you repair it, replace the engine, or move on from the vehicle altogether?

Looking back, is there anything you wish you had done differently?

I’m not looking to start a pile-on against Ford, I legitimately love this truck. I’m not interested in speculation or rumors. If Ford steps up and helps, I’ll be the first to say so. If they don’t, I’ll share that honestly as well.

For now, I’m simply trying to make the best decision I can with the information I have.

If you’ve been through something similar, we’d truly appreciate your advice. Sometimes the most valuable thing the internet can offer isn’t outrage…it’s experience.

I’ll continue to share updates as this story unfolds. Hopefully, the next one brings a little more clarity.

Tomorrow the adventure continues.

Close-up of the rear of a camper showcasing a smiley face sticker with the text 'slow down and smile', alongside two light fixtures

You Say Potato, I say Potato

Still we are waiting on Ford to decide what, if anything, they’re going to offer regarding the catastrophic engine failure in our RV. Waiting is uncomfortable. I like addressing problems, making plans, and moving forward. Instead, all I can do is tend the things I can control and let time do its work. I DO believe that not rushing the process is the correct play. Right? We’ll see, I guess but there is no rush at this point so we practice our patience.

Which leads me back to potatoes, of course.

First, it was the sweet potatoes that were forgotten in the RV, left for dead, only to sprout and become the beginning of a new crop. Now it’s the more standard baking, boiling, mashing sort of potato.

Maybe potatoes have something to teach me.

When people think about a Victory Garden, they often picture shelves full of canned tomatoes or rows of corn. Those have their place, but to grow real calories, potatoes rule. They’re inexpensive, surprisingly nutritious, and produce a lot of calories in a small space. Entire civilizations have depended on them.

The Irish Potato Famine didn’t just devastate and change Ireland it also helped reshape America as millions crossed the Atlantic looking for a new beginning. It’s amazing to me that class struggle and societal evoloution can be so wrapped into something as ordinary as a potato. One of the many plants that have changed the course of history.

Thought I’d take a crack at growing some potatoes.

This year was my own first serious attempt.

I got some seed potatoes from Walmart. They looked good to me with some sprouting. I did maybe leave them in the bag a little longer than I would have liked.

I planted Yukon Gold, Red, and Early potatoes in grow bags. I had visions of overflowing harvests. Mountains of potatoes. Enough to make every gardening YouTuber proud.

Instead, I mostly grew beautiful potato plants.

When harvest day finally came, there weren’t nearly as many potatoes hiding beneath the soil as I’d imagined. Gardening has a funny way of humbling you.

But here’s the thing…

I don’t remember being disappointed.

I remember time with two of my grandkids.

Watching little hands dig through the soil like they were searching for pirate treasure. Every potato, even the marble-sized ones, was greeted with excitement. “There’s another one!” became the soundtrack of the afternoon.

The harvest wasn’t measured in pounds.

It was measured in smiles.

The plate sitting on my counter won’t feed the neighborhood, but every one of those potatoes represents something I didn’t know a few months ago.

Next batch I’ll do better.

I have some larger grow bags now. I’ll adjust the soil. I’ll add more soil at the right times. I’ll experiment with different varieties. I’ll probably double the number of grow bags. That’s how gardening works. Every season teaches you something if you’re willing to pay attention.

They say, gardens are good for people like me.

They force patience.

You can’t argue with a potato into growing faster. You can’t tug on the leaves to make the harvest bigger. You plant, you water, you feed, you fight with the rabbits, you shake your fist at the squirrels,  you wait, and you trust that today’s investment will eventually become tomorrow’s harvest.

Sometimes the reward is a plate full of potatoes.

Sometimes it’s a few minutes with your grandchildren.

And sometimes it’s simply learning that not every season is about abundance. Some seasons are about preparing you for the next one.

Tomorrow the Adventure continues.

The Parable of the Microwave Sweet Potato

Once upon a time, there were two sweet potatoes.

Their fate seemed certain.

Not an actual Sweet Potato but representative of the fate of these Sweet Potatoes.

They had been purchased, already wrapped in plastic and labeled Microwave Ready. Tossed into the RV pantry before we left home. They would become dinner. 6 – 8 minutes in the microwave, a little butter, maybe some cinnamon, and that would be the end of their story.

While we had been worrying about engines, towing companies, repair estimates, and what to do next, the sweet potatoes had been quietly doing what sweet potatoes do in the dark.

They started reproducing.

What looked like neglect was, to them, opportunity.

The very thing that had spared them from becoming dinner had given them the chance to become something entirely different. Instead of feeding us for one evening, they now have the potential to be planted and grow pounds of sweet potatoes.

One meal becomes many.

It struck me as a sort of loaves and fishes moment. The multiplication of blessing in the face of disaster.

We map out the route.

We label things “microwave ready.”

Sometimes life still leaves us sitting on the side of a Texas highway wondering what just happened.

Those sweet potatoes never fulfilled the purpose for which they were purchased.

Instead, they found a better purpose.

Not every interrupted plan is a failed plan.

Those two sweet potatoes were destined for a microwave.

Instead, they’re headed for the garden.

They went into grow-bags today.

And if all goes well, they’ll feature at our family Thanksgiving this year as “those Sweet Potatoes”.

Tomorrow the adventure continues.

Survey Says…

A quick update on the RV…

As previously reported, the Orion made it safely back home to Virginia Beach, and then, made the trip to Beach Ford so we’ve now had it evaluated by the commercial truck team at Beach Ford. I do want to take a moment to thank them for the professionalism they have shown throughout the process so far. They took the time to perform a thorough diagnosis, answer my questions, and help document what appears to be a very unusual engine failure at just 48,000 miles. Honestly, Karl Klement Ford in TX was sadly accurate in their initial analysis. I just didn’t want to believe them.

That said, it is officially bad and then a little worse with a second opinion and deeper dive, we are still looking at a significant repair bill. It would be fair to say that the original assessment that we “need a new engine” is an accurate description.  

There are still more conversations to have and reviews to complete before we know exactly where this story ends, so I’ll save the details for another day but we do think we know what actually happened in the engine. For now, I’m grateful to have a clear direction and to be working with people who have been willing to help. For now, we are awaiting a review by Ford Corporate.

The adventure may be on pause, but we’re not giving up on getting back on the road.

Back to the Future

Jump back in time about an hour ago. I am planning and plotting and gathering data for a Root Cause Analysis.

I have the template in my head for that sort of process.

I have written a clear timeline of events leading up to our demise.

I have collected maintenance records for the RV from a variety of vendors.

I have compiled a list of questions for which I need answers.

I have set a budget for those diagnostics.

I have set an appointment with a commercial Transit-capable Ford shop later this week.

As I am doing my research, I have the ChatGBT open and for fun, I ask what it would take to convert it to a an EV RV? Right? That would be cool. Fancy. But No, was the conclusion. Very bad idea. It would be a ” one off science experiment”.

OK, I really wanted to buy a diesel truck when we got this RV, so can I take this opportunity to put in a diesel engine. Long story short, horrible idea. “would almost certainly be a terrible financial decision”.

I knew both of those answers, but it was a fun thought experiment. So, and this is what I really want to record, it is now that I genuinely found an appreciation for the AI sense of humor. I actually laughed out loud in a room by myself at this exchange:

Could we get a flux capacitor and convert it into a time machine

Absolutely.

Given your current situation, I calculate that the optimal repair strategy is:

  1. Install a flux capacitor.
  2. Accelerate the Orion to 88 mph.
  3. Return to approximately June 10, 2026.
  4. Buy a lottery ticket.
  5. Skip Texas entirely.
  6. Replace the engine before it fails.
  7. Invest in NVIDIA.
  8. Return to the present.

The only technical challenges are:

  • Acquiring 1.21 gigawatts of power.
  • Finding a suitable plutonium supplier.
  • Modifying a 2017 Transit to reach 88 mph while towing 10 national parks worth of souvenirs.
  • Explaining to Susan why you’re suddenly obsessed with sports almanacs.

I am not sure what I was expecting as an answer, but getting to the end and discovering that my ChatGBT is on a first name basis with my wife just made me laugh until I cried – twice (now three times as I was proof reading.). Too funny.

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL”

Not much else to report. We have been unpacking the camper before the meeting at the Ford Dealer on Wednesday. I have gathered as much documentation as I think might be useful. I know these things often start with, “Did you ever change the oil?” so I have that documented as well as other service done along the way.

We’ll see how it goes, I guess. Generally speaking, we have been given the worst case scenario already. Anything other than replacing the engine is a win. Not much we will know until Wednesday.

Tomorrow the Adventure continues in the Garden.