In my previous article (Trapped in Toronto), I detailed the misadventures my wife and I went through, trying to get home from Toronto after a two-week vacation in Hawaii. In our sad attempt to bring my poor car back home, we had no idea what lay ahead of us. After finally having the Edge towed to Dixie Ford in Mississauga, I thought we would be able to pick it up on my next day off. Oh, no-ho-ho-ho! As it turned out, a driveshaft for a Ford Edge is about as easy to find as a selfie of Bigfoot at the beach! It’s the one Ford part that’s nearly impossible to locate in Canada or the USA. My brief article about this experience soon began to turn into a Russian Novel.
To make a very long story short, after piling up over a month of rental car charges with Thrifty, a driveshaft was eventually found and delivered to Dixie Ford. My car was finally ready for pick up! My wife and I made the trip back to Toronto in my trusty rented Hyundai Elantra. After arriving at Dixie Ford and having a new battery installed (which we had brought with us), we were ready to hit the road. Yeah, right. My first mistake was to let my wife drive the car out of the Toronto area. Since she had never driven the Edge before, she didn’t notice it was very hard to steer at low speeds. When I hopped behind the wheel, I felt it right away. Diagnosis: Power Steering Pump. As my friend Dawn likes to say, “Shoot me now!”
Since the car was still drivable, I spent a week turning my forearms into replicas of a certain spinach-loving, one-eyed sailor. Then, I took my car into Suburban Ford for the power steering repair. Thankfully, they were able to complete the repair in only one day. However, the next day I discovered that the steering wheel was slightly crooked. So, I am heading back to the dealer again today. Hopefully, for a quick fix. It’s really sad after two months, when your new car has spent more time at the dealership than in your garage! It’s also never a good thing when you’re on a first-name basis with your service manager.
Now that the Edge is back on the road (mostly), the real battle begins. Trying to recover the balance of my associated costs, not reimbursed by Ford of Canada. As well as somehow regaining trust that my car won’t breakdown, and leave me stranded in rural Kentucky, or some other garden spot. It’s now up to Suburban Ford to make that happen. I’ll keep you updated!
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