Driver's Side Lean

4384 Views 20 Replies 10 Participants Last post by captfx, May 20, 2010

jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · Mar 2, 2009

I've got a 2008 Escape, 2wd, 3L, auto. Of course I didn't notice this before I bought it but once I had it home I saw that when standing at the rear of the vehicle there is about a 1/2" lean to the drivers side of the vehicle. Has anyone else run into this before or have any ideas. Took it to the dealer and he's trying to blow me off.

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jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 7, 2009

Problem fixed. Got a Ford engineer involved and found out the following:

All Escapes could have this problem. Somewhere along the assembly line they are supposed to be checked and if the problem is found they are supposed to be corrected but a lot of them are getting through for whatever reason.

The reason there is no TSB's on this is that not enough people have complained about the problem.

The fix is to insert shims in the rear between the sub-frame and the suspension. This is what Ford does to fix the problem on the assembly line.

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jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 17, 2009

Update... Problem not fixed.

After working with my dealer on this problem I've found the following:

1) In my case it's not possible to shim the body both front and rear enough to solve the problem. For example, if you try placing enough shims to solve the lean on top of the front strut you'll run out of threads on the strut bolts.

2) In the rear you've basically got to double the shims for the amount of lean. For example, if you've got a 1/2" lean you've got to place 1" of shims between the rear sub-frame and body.

3) I've found that my '08 Escape is not a rare occurence of this problem. I've gone to 2 dealers and found that the first dealer had six '09 Escape's on his lot. I got out my tape measure and found that every one of them had the lean, from 1/4" to 3/4". I went to the second dealer which had three '09 Escapes, got out the tape and all of them had the lean also. I also called my son who lives in NY and had him measure his '09. He's got a lean.

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?????? From what I've found I can only assume Ford is sending the Escape from the factory with this "defect".

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jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 17, 2009

I've been "researching " this for months now and have taken measurements from every point there is. The end result is that every Escape that I've checked out had the lean both front and rear.

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jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 17, 2009

Part of my confusion is that Ford is obviously sending out these Escapes with this "problem" and there are very few dealers, if any, that are aware of this "problem" and what to do to fix it. I went to look at a new '09 yesterday considering the purchase, and I stood at the rear of the vehicle and looked and there was the lean, on this Escape 5/8". As I said before, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?????

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jeffp_032056

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 17, 2009

Nope, during my "testing" there is no pull to one side or the other. Vehicle tracks straight down the road. Keep in mind that as far as we can tell it's the BODY that has the lean, not the "frame".

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