What would you do?

[Yellow_Festiva]

Hello all,

Once again, I'm in a situation that I haven't been in before. I would like to know what is the best option I should take to allow me to sleep at night.

Here is the situation. I bought a LV Focus as a present for my wife a little over 2 years ago. It was near new, with only 7XXXkm on the clock. It was owned by a dealer, and was an employee driven car. The car has only ever been serviced by the one centre. The only time I have ever taken the car to another place was for rear brakes 1 month ago.

The buying experience was hell, and I was given some of the worst service you could imagine at the hands on the 'Salesman'... I hated the car then, and with the help of Ford CRC and a few meetings we came to an agreement we were both happy with.

But, I'm not here for that. I moved along, and both myself and my wife enjoy the car. We do a lot of km, and keep cars long term (10+ years).

The service intervals were done as follows in the 2 and a bit years we have owned it:
Bought with 7846k (minor), Me: 20k (minor), 27.5k (intermediate), 35k (minor), 45k (minor), 52.5k (intermediate), 60k (major).

All done at the same servivce centre I bought the car from.

So here is the problem as it stands now. I started a thread regarding my poor consumption and at the suggestion of the mate I'm staying with did an inspection of the air intake / filter.

The original factory filter was still present in the airbox. Which wouldn't be so much of an issue if it had been installed correctly.

The air filter, from factory was installed ajar. The opening to the air intake has a 3-4mm gap going 1/3 the circumfrence of the join which has allowed a lot of unfiltered air go directly into the engine. Over time, the buckled filter has held it's new position and has obviously got very heavily contaminated..... As a lay person, I assume that the more dirty the filter got, the more air was bypassed by it as there was less restriction going through the gap.

Naturally, I'm very worried by this. I have no clue what damage has already been caused, or if anything will happen down the track. I wiped the air intake on the engine side after removing and trying to re-fit the filter with a rag and it was filthy, black dust / brown dirt and other larger particles mixed in with it.

It is obvious that at no time was the air filter inspected... makes me angry seeing as they had so many chances to find this problem early on. Especially when the 'Pre-delivery' inspection involves a detailed inspection of the filter connection and air intake seals.

It also hurts that I paid for a filter in my last service ($800) and obviously didn't get one. I have greatly lost faith with this dealership, and I get a sick feeling every time I think about it...

This is the icing on the cake to be honest.... I do NOT want to be driving this car and waiting for something to happen. This car has driven many thousands of KM in each direction from Sydney and it is something we will continue doing....

The dealer has suggested I bring it in and they put in a filter and inspect the intake for scoring. I told them that I will consider it but want it in writing.

I think their offer is BS. Another person told me to get a warranty on the engine for failure, but if it is anything like their 'extended warranty' they gave me it will also be useless... (I already had my first knock-back 2 months out of warranty).

Anyway... If anyone has had a dealer stuff them around like this let me know what the conclusion was, either by replying or by PM.

I would also like to know what others think is a reasonable solution to this situation as I'm at a loss to be honest... If we were to keep the car I don't want to be worried every time I hear a noise that's not 'normal' especially when I'm away from home like I am at the moment.....

Thank you,

Jason