14 replies to this topic

[mcate]

Well, I called & logged a complaint to Ford (Lack Of) Customer Service about just how bad the clutch shudder is in my recently-purchased 09 GT500 with only 4400 miles on it. The car has about 2 weeks left on the 3 yr, 36k warranty left. I requested an upgrade to the 2010 clutch that many other 07-09 GT500 owners got under the old TSB. The new TSB says shudder is a "normal operating characteristic". It may be normal for a poorly designed clutch, but not a properly designed one. I reminded them about the 15 new Fords I've bought since since 1985, as well as the 14 used Fords I've bought. Their rep, Kimberly, informed me in a rather terse & cold manner that "There's nothing we can do". They gave me no reason for their decision. To them, & Kimberly in particular, let me just say "I fart in your general direction".
Now that I've got that off my chest, the sales manager at my dealership (who actually knows something & cares about keeping a loyal customer happy) told me that whatever clutch I decide to go with they will install free of charge. That made me feel a little better, but I'm real upset with Ford. In 27 years, I've never felt screwed until now. I buy a lot of cars, & there are plenty of other manufacturers out there to buy from.
I never expected to have to buy a clutch right away when I bought a car with 3900 miles on it.

[Helix]

That's a shame Sorry for it man, sometimes people are just idiots. I'm sure, for fear of my own anger, not everyone there is that disregarding.
As for that fart, well said sir.

[Snoopy49]

Is your dealer on your side? If he is, have him escalate your case. If he can help prove your case, it would be hard for Ford to ignore.

[mcate]

Yes, the dealer definitely agrees. Between the wife & I, our kids, & my in-laws we've bought 20 cars there. They take real good care of us. Plus, they've driven the car. It's not too bad now that it's cooler outside, but when it's hot out it's a lot worse.

[ingram4868]

MCATE,  Most people on this site are fully aware of your plight and you will find this a great place to find recourse for approaching Ford as well as sources for inexpensive replacement parts to cure your clutch problems with the new 2010 kit.

The 2007-2009 GT500 have had these clutch issues since day one.  Ford has tried several fixes and they thought that the 2009 model was "the" fix.  The 2009 turned out to also have shortcomings.  It appears that Ford finally got it right for the 2010 model.  I have yet to read of a 2010 clutch failure with owners that have stock or slightly higher HP ratings.

If you get the mod bug and want to build serious HP then you will need one of the aftermarket clutch kits that many of our vendors provide.

Stay with us and you will find the answers to your clutch issues from a very large group of Shelby GT500 enthusiasts.

[twobjshelbys]

This is the down side of buying a a low miles car that is out of warranty.    My Ford GT had a bearing go out on the Supercharger.  It was clearly discoverable under warranty if it had had a few more miles on it.

[mcate]

I'm just planning on CAI/tune & pulley, nothing major. I'll deal with the shudder for the time being. It's about to get put up for the winter anyhow. Next year I'll look at the price difference between the 2010 Ford setup, & the McLeod RST & RXT. I'm just really upset that Ford won't do anything. I thought I made an extremely good argument. I've shown them a lot of loyalty through the years, & never asked for anything other than good-driving cars. This is real disappointing.

Edited by mcate, 03 October 2012 - 05:48 PM.

[mcate]

twobjshelbys, on 03 October 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

This is the down side of buying a a low miles car that is out of warranty.  

Ah, but I've still got about 2 or 3 weeks of warranty left.

[SVTSnake]

Well, just because it shudders doesn't mean the clutch is bad, I have an '09 I bought new. Shuddered and chattered from day one. And it was built after the supposed fix for the '09. Now 2 weeks before the warranty expired it began to slip in the upper gears. Dealer had it replaced under the TSB no questions asked. I even took it in with all mods on the car. CAI, pulley, tune, short shifter etc. The '10 clutch I have now is smooth, lighter and I have yet to hear of anyone having issues with this clutch going out.

[twobjshelbys]

mcate, on 03 October 2012 - 05:47 PM, said:

Ah, but I've still got about 2 or 3 weeks of warranty left.

If you get your problem recorded and on OASIS now you should  be covered.  Make sure your dealer (service writer and manger) know your warranty is close so they get it on the system as having been reported   Good Luck.

[Secondo]

The owner's manual clearly states that higher than normal rpms are required to engage the clutch. And that it is a high-performance ceramic dual-disc unit to handle the higher torque. I have the original clutch with no issues. If you follow the instructions in the manual, there shouldn't be a problem. We're talking about 200 ft-lbs of torque more than your average car. It's not going to be the same. No one should be disappointed.

[Texastinlegs]

mcate
- trawl through the various Forum threads in the 07-90 GT500 discussions and you will get some great information that might suggest a different approach with your Ford Serrvice agent.

While the clutch most certainly will give you the SYMPTOMS of something wrong - the ROOT CAUSE is the 07-90 FLYWHEEL. This was too thin causing warpage under heat load and resultant damage to the clutch. I had the symptoms on my bought-from-new 09. Armed with the full knowledge and the right approach (e.g. my flywheel is warped and has damaged my clutch) I was given the red carpet treatment and given the full TSB update - flywheel, clutch, slave cylinder etc.

The main point in this is that the flywheel IS COVERED under the mechanical 5-year warranty and thus repairs by Ford should be relatively easy to obtain.
Simply arguing clutch wear will prompt a lesser experienced service tech who most likely doesn't know any better to simply quote you the "wearable items" clause that covers clutch plate material, brake pads etc.
Hit them with the flywheel story, take a print of the TSB with you and see if this helps.

I think every 07-09 will experience this issue sooner or later if they were unfortunate enough to have the thinner flywheel installed from new.
The update is most certainly worth fighting for as it transforms the cars driveability.

Search posts under user 'GRABBER' as he has posted some excellent information in this forum (including the full TSB) on just this issue and it helped me to smooth the way for a Ford fix.

Good luck!

Texastinlegs

Edited by Texastinlegs, 04 October 2012 - 10:19 AM.

[Grabber]

http://www.teamshelb...-to-pay-for-it/

[mcate]

Many thanx to all above for all the info. I spoke with the parts guy at my dealership, & he said the Tasca price is 10% over cost. Since my dealer is going to install whatever clutch I decide on for free, they'll probably sell me the parts for cost. That'd be $840ish. Not too bad.

Edited by mcate, 04 October 2012 - 11:50 AM.

[thewheelman]

I'd hammer the dealer and the Ford service rep until I got some satisfaction.  The flywheel (which I understand is the root of all evil) is covered under the 5/60.  My dealer didn't hesitate, ran the vin and said it's eligible.  Didn't cost me a dime and I had already had one version of the tsb performed when the car had 8000-9000 miles on it.

Hang in there!