I think Lionel in general, and Dave in particular, will be glad when the F40PH saga is over. That was not one of Lionel's most shining moments.
As for the hatch, I can tell you why they worked on it, though I suspect they could have been more careful. It was sticking so bad that you couldn't get it off because of the paint thickness. I had fixed mine before I sent it in for the other fixes, and it wasn't further damaged.
I'm still a little suspicious of the F40PH as mine occasionally does something odd out of the blue, but I did verify the wiring is routed away from the flywheel and I fixed the number board lighting on both this one and the cabbage unit so they matched in intensity.