Jones Automotive, Inc. They do not honor their warranty Omaha Nebraska

Dear Jones Street,

 When considering people to take my car to in order to have the heater core replaced you sold yourselves as the best in the business and provided a 1 year warranty.  I did take my car to you with a nonfunctioning heater core  after 11 months and you refused to replace it within that warranty period.  After leaving your shop for the last time with you guys refusing to stand by your warranty I call Ford and asked them why a heater core would not work after having it replaced a year earlier.  Their statement to me was that when it was replaced sediment was knocked loose and is now clogging up the heater core.  They said that the technicians that replace it should have made sure that everything was thoroughly flushed out and no sediment remained before the new one was put in.  With you guys selling yourselves as the best in the business I would have expected you to have done this (especially with you guys doubling up the cost for the replacement).  Since you did not do this when replacing the heater core ford suggested we do it again but have them do it this time.  What they said is that the heater core is bad and needs to be replaced.  What they would have done differently than you is they would have done it right the first time and know they would stand behind their warranty if they didnt.  When I tell people of the situation I have had with you they are in shock that a company would treat a customer the way you have treated me.  You guys should have done the job right the first time and you didnt and now refuse to honor your warranty.  You guys have broken the law by not standing behind your warranty and if I had the time I would take you to court to have the situation resolved.  Its a shame a company like you gets away with things like this.  Since I do not have the time for court I will let as many people as I can know how I have been treated by your company and let them make their decision on if they think you stood behind your warranty or if your company is the right place for them to take their car to.  As far as I am concerned you are not a A+ company and I will never take another vehicle to your shop to have broken again.

You are asking that Jones Automotive "stand behind our warranty and replace the heater core" in your 2001 Lincoln Navigator.
The original heater core was installed 11/26/11 at your request. Yes we warranty all parts and labor for a period of one year from date of the repair in cases of defective parts or negligence by our technicians during the repair process. In the case of the heater core in question there is nothing to indicate that the heater core was defective and the Jones technician replaced the heater core according to specifications.

It is not fair in all honesty to expect Jones Automotive to warranty a repair job that obviously was not caused by our parts or our negligence. The problem with the heating system in your Navigator from the beginning has been extreme amounts of "sludge" or sediment in the cooling system. You have told our Service Manager, Russ that you “googled” the sediment problem for Ford engines as he recommended and read the same “hits” that he read. Some of them referred to the sediment as “sand like pieces of rust”. Certain engines, including the Ford 5.4 V-8 are more prone to sediment build up because of the rough surface inside the engine that begins to rust and break off.
A new heater core cannot cause sediment!

On 11/06/12 you returned to Jones Automotive just over 11 months from the original date of repair. You said that the heater was not working again but that “it had been working well for the 11 months”. Jones Automotive techs thoroughly flushed the cooling system which extracted a lot of sediment. Once sediment begins to build up in an engine it is virtually impossible to extract all of it due to the number of crevices in the engine where the sediment becomes trapped.

There are several factors that can cause sediment in a cooling system. The two most common are:
1) The coolant is allowed to get low in the system which introduces excessive air in the system. Air in a system is known to cause sediment to build up because air is a major factor in the creation of rust.
2) Mixing two different types (colors) of antifreeze in a system.

Jones Automotive shop has, in good faith, tried to clean the cooling system. We power flushed it on 11/06/12, 05/31/13, 08/01/13 & 08/05/13 all at no charge to you not because we felt responsible for the sediment problem but because we hoped to go the extra mile to help solve your problem. In each case substantial sediment was flushed out. (See attached pictures)
There is additional evidence that the heating problem could be caused by sediment:
 --most engine thermostats operate at about 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Your engine heater core is only at about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Evidently the heat from the cylinders is being held in the engine block and not being transferred to the engine coolant because the engine coolant is not heating to the normal 190 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. This can be caused by sediment building up on the inside of the engine block which can inhibit the transfer of heat to the coolant chamber.

The heat that is not transferring to the coolant and then to the heater core could also be dissipating through a crack in the engine block or through a break in the head gasket.

The heater hose and upper radiator hose were registering 160-165 degrees. Therefore, the thermostat would never open. This factor was probably what prompted you and your previous mechanic to replace the thermostat 8 times,
as you told our service manager.

There are many factors that can come to bear on the heating problem but the heater core that we installed did not (could not) cause this problem! The Navigator engine needs to be checked carefully for cracks or broken gaskets.

Jones Automotive has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau because we are an honest company and have never cheated any customer. We have worked sincerely, Tom, at NO CHARGE to you to try to solve your engine’s sediment problem which existed long before you brought the vehicle to Jones Automotive.

If you look at the entire situation with an honesty and open mind you will hopefully agree that the heating problem in the engine of your Navigator did not start when we replaced the heater core.