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Well Friday on my way home I noticed a leak in the passenger footwell and the windows started fogging up as well as the blower motor started whining. S#!t I thought. There goes the heater core. I turned off the heat and the leak stopped. Confirming what I thought was the heater core. Well I took it into the dealer this morning for them to have a look at it and have it repaired under my extended warranty and...

Well it wasn't the heater core. The trim under the passenger wiper that covers the cabin air filter had somehow become deformed or something (according to the service advisor) and needed to be replaced. So They are covering the blower motor, wiring harness, and resistors under my tri-care warranty. But the trim piece isn't. So I have to pay something like $200. to have it replaced.

But now that I am thinking about it. I didn't notice any leak before my accident and the repair that the body shop did wasn't up to par and I am taking it back tomorrow to have the fenders, hood, and front bumper re-painted and aligned properly. I am going to take them the bill and let them know about the problems I had following their shotty repair work. I have also called and left a message at my insurance company about the poor workmanship on the repair work done previous to the problems this weekend as well as the current problems I am having.

What do you guys think? Where do you think I stand with having this reimbursed from the insurance claim?

If you can bring along the part you have a shot, but it's gonna be hard now that its out of the car :(

NefCanuck

Well I am going to ask the service advisor to write up a paragraph stating what they found and see where that gets me. 60% of the cost was paid by my extended warranty. The only thing that wasn't was the replacement cowl pannel, you know the one that covers where the cabin air filter goes. Beneath the passenger wiper arm. I am taking it back to the body shop tomorrow morning and I will let you know how I make out.

Focus man, Focus.,Apr 14 2008, 02:46 PM Wrote:What do you guys think?  Where do you think I stand with having this reimbursed from the insurance claim?
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THose cowls don't simply "deform" on their own - get Ford to give you their warranty replacements on those and I'll bet close to zero.

So get the dealership to give you a better definition of deformed ... as in "damaged as if involved in a collision" and take that back to the insurance company - I can't imagine that they haven't been confronted with hidden damage found later and paid up.

Well what happened was the plastic was coming away from the window at the base of the windshield and water leaked down into the heater core/blower motor housing and shorted everything out. From what I could remember it was always like that but who knows. I will be submitting the bill to insuance after visiting the bodyshop in the morning.

It sounded like crap to me, but it didn't cost $619 like I would have been charged if I didn't have the extended warranty.

Just a point of interest. IF your heater core was leaking, turning off the heat would not stop it. Hot water flows through the core whether you are using the heat, A/C or neither. All turning your heat off would do is keep the leak (if it is a pinhole leak letting coolant steam out) from getting blown into the cabin and making you inhale glycol mist. It would still leak onto the floor though.

You have to remember this is what I thought was happening. But as it turns out it was something totally different.

i agree with others on here.. that deformation is likely collision related. the seals around that piece wearing out over time i definitely believe (it happened to me!) but your car is way too new for that type of failure to occur. most likely the collision either deformed the piece or loosened it enough so it couldn't form an effective seal