Advice on some common 21' issues

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Kronos2300

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Hey all, I wanted to get some advice on a couple of issues I’ve been encountering with my "new" 2021 Raptor. I’ve done my research through this forum (and other sites) and it looks like most of them have a solution, but I would like to hear from people that had some (if not all) of these issues on their Gen 3, an how they handled them with their respective dealership.

For context, I bought my Raptor from a dealership that’s 4.5 hours away, so I can’t get it serviced/looked at there. Instead I went to my local Ford dealership which is 10 mins away, however when I talked to one of the service managers (who wasn’t really helpful at all), they said they would need 7-10 business days before they even get to look at the truck (not to mention how long it would be to get parts/fix it), which I think it’s crazy.

Here's the list of the issues I currently have (for context, my Raptor has a build date of 08/21):

1. Power Onboard Fan issue: As some have mentioned, I have the "always-on" fan noise coming from the power onboard located under the rear seats, and it only shuts off if I manually turn off the Power Onboard when first hopping on the truck. I’ve read here and there that a reprogramming of the "DCACA module" would solve this. Has anyone had this solved by their dealership and noticed a difference afterwards? Want to make sure I reference the correct fix here (so that they don’t say it’s expected).

2. Rear window/passenger door rattle: When listening to music (and not too loud by any means), in certain songs/frequencies, there's a rattle that seems to be coming from the back of the cabin, and I believe it’s from the rear window. Did some research, and found this from a different forum (Rear Window Glass Sliding Panel Rattles When Open And Music Is Playing - B And O® Audio System). For me, it happens regardless if it’s open or closed. I’ve made sure that the jack and other stuff are correctly bolted back there, but I wanted to see if anyone has had this fixed by their dealership, and if it made any sort of difference.

I'm also having the passenger door rattle, and I found a thread in our forum talking about it. In my case, it sounds to be coming from the actual grill itself, but I don’t have the heart to rip the panel open to find out and potentially make the problem worse.

3. Clunking/Thumping Noise from suspension: Saved the worst one (and probably the most common one) for last. While riding at highway speeds, the truck drives amazing. But the moment I’m going at slow speeds or going over small bumps or regular speed bumps, I hear a clunking noise mostly coming from the rear. I’ve read as much as possible regarding the issue from this thread in our forum, but while I see some people getting their issues fixed promptly and having the parts to replace them, I’ve seen some where the dealership says it’s "normal". I know there’s SSM 50972 covering this, and I believe it applies to my truck since it was built in 08/21 (SSM mentions "built on or before 16-Jun-2022".

How do you guys consider I should handle these with the dealership? The truck is still under its original warranty, and I also have the PremiumCare extended warranty through Ford. I just want to make sure that if I do have to leave the truck for so long at the dealership, that they at least fix all the issues (since there seems to be a fix for all of them).

Also, if anyone has any recommendations of a good Ford Service in South Florida, I’m all ears. I’ve checked several around me and they all seem to be "backed up" in terms of taking a vehicle in and actually inspecting/fixing things. I don’t care about a loaner or having to wait for parts, I just don’t want them to have the truck parked in their backlot for weeks without anyone actually looking at the issues.

Thank you in advance for any help/feedback you can provide, and apologies in advance if I should have done something else differently! Second time posting here (and first time Ford owner), so still learning!
 

LayinWatts69

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Welcome to the forum.

I don't think 7-10 days is too crazy, I had to wait a month from when I made the appointment to when I dropped my truck off. I called a few dealers around me and all of them had around a month wait.

Only thing I can speak on from experience is the suspension clunk. From what I've read and heard, it's varies dealer to dealer how they handle it. Thankfully my dealer didn't bat an eye and agreed the noise was coming from the shocks. They ordered 4 new shocks 12/22/23, hoping they show up any day now.

While it was in the shop they went through my truck looking for any other potential issues. They found my windshield wiper motor was from a bad batch and ordered a new one while they were at it. Thankfully I haven't experienced any other issues, truck is a '21 built in February '22 and has 21K miles.

If I were in your spot, I would try to find a dealer that seems interested in Raptors or Ford Performance. You can usually tell in the first minute or two if you're going to be another number at the dealership or if they want to make sure your very expensive truck is operating as it's designed.
 
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Kronos2300

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Welcome to the forum.

I don't think 7-10 days is too crazy, I had to wait a month from when I made the appointment to when I dropped my truck off. I called a few dealers around me and all of them had around a month wait.

Only thing I can speak on from experience is the suspension clunk. From what I've read and heard, it's varies dealer to dealer how they handle it. Thankfully my dealer didn't bat an eye and agreed the noise was coming from the shocks. They ordered 4 new shocks 12/22/23, hoping they show up any day now.

While it was in the shop they went through my truck looking for any other potential issues. They found my windshield wiper motor was from a bad batch and ordered a new one while they were at it. Thankfully I haven't experienced any other issues, truck is a '21 built in February '22 and has 21K miles.

If I were in your spot, I would try to find a dealer that seems interested in Raptors or Ford Performance. You can usually tell in the first minute or two if you're going to be another number at the dealership or if they want to make sure your very expensive truck is operating as it's designed.

Thank you! Interesting; I guess it’s not as bad as I thought in terms of wait. Particularly I just want to make sure the dealer just doesn’t keep the truck forever while they wait to just perform the inspections. It feels like making an appointment guarantees nothing nowadays, so one might as well should just show up at the dealership whenever.

I’m happy to hear your dealer ordered those shocks for you; I’m hoping I get lucky as well even if the parts take a while to get here. It’s not preventing me from driving the truck, it’s just an annoying thing to have on a $80k+ truck. Out of all the issues, I feel like that’s the one I’d like to get fixed the most (but probably the one that will take the longest).

My truck currently has 25K miles, so except for those issues I mentioned above, it’s amazing. It was a Ford Certified Gold when I purchased it, so it’s in excellent condition otherwise. I guess dealers aren’t in forums like we are to even go and take a look at these issues we've encountered (especially that clunking noise... I don’t get how some dealers say that’s normal).

I appreciate your feedback! That’s exactly how I felt when I went to this dealer near me to just ask about these issues (just another number). Unless one gets lucky when one shows up at the dealership and gets a service manager that actually cares, it’s pretty much a gamble.
 

LayinWatts69

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Thank you! Interesting; I guess it’s not as bad as I thought in terms of wait. Particularly I just want to make sure the dealer just doesn’t keep the truck forever while they wait to just perform the inspections. It feels like making an appointment guarantees nothing nowadays, so one might as well should just show up at the dealership whenever.
When I made my appointment I told the dealer I was leaving town the next day (I was, but flying not driving. Minor lie) to ensure my truck wasn't sitting at the dealership. They made sure they got everything done same day.

Fingers crossed you have a good experience!
 
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Kronos2300

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When I made my appointment I told the dealer I was leaving town the next day (I was, but flying not driving. Minor lie) to ensure my truck wasn't sitting at the dealership. They made sure they got everything done same day.

Fingers crossed you have a good experience!
Smart.gif

Very clever. I think I’m going to try that method as well; will probably wait a bit for the year to start (since I’m sure these dealers are heavily backed up because of the holiday season) and just try to get it all done at once (as well as the regular maintenance).

Thanks again for your feedback and help!
 

new raptor

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I have had all those issues and more with my 21 it just got out of the service department for my instrument cluster going out they had to replace the whole instrument cluster. everything usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. I also was able to call Ford customer service and they’re gonna give me an extended warranty to 150,000 miles.
 
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Kronos2300

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I have had all those issues and more with my 21 it just got out of the service department for my instrument cluster going out they had to replace the whole instrument cluster. everything usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. I also was able to call Ford customer service and they’re gonna give me an extended warranty to 150,000 miles.
Ah man, I’m sorry to hear that; sounds like we got bad apples (although yours sounds even worse). I’m glad you’ve been able to fix most issues though; to confirm, you dropped off your truck at the dealer and they took 2-3 weeks to fix everything you reported? Or did you have to go several times to fix issues separately?

I had purchased the extended warranty up to 100,000 miles, but depending on how it goes with getting these fixes I might have to call them too. I was debating if waiting until it’s time to take it in for regular maintenance (oil, filters, etc.) and just have them keep the truck to fix and do everything at once. This way, if any new issues arise before that, I’m able to just bring the long list of issues to them lol.
 

new raptor

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I had to take it in multiple times each time they fix something new. so if you tell them everything to fix it in one shot, you should be able to do it within 2 to 3 weeks..
 

Raptorbert

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I'd love to share my video I made for Ford. This went through an exective, a chassis engineer and a FSE before they finally sent the oil change tech to my house to hear it while I drive him. 85 miles they had it, no noise. 2 minutes with me and the kid goes, "yep I hear it."

that was November 23rd. Im still waiting for the last backordered shock.

SMH

 
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