Lord Plye Wood Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Posted this in the "General Automotive" forum, but thought I'd put it here as well. Here's the scoop: I own a 2008 GT500, bought new from Walnut Creek Ford in the San Francisco Bay Area in October of '08. After 12300 or so miles, my clutch exhibited slippage. I went immediately to the nearest Ford dealer, Serramonte Ford in Colma, CA. on the southern border of San Francisco. They are also an official Shelby parts and service dealer. I was told that my clutch was gone and that it wasn't covered under warranty because I was just 300 miles over the 12000 mile warranty on the clutch. $5000 later, a new clutch was installed and so far works fine. I've been driving manual transmission cars for (hold your breath!) 51 years here in San Francisco. I don't hot rod the car as I did with cars when I was much younger than my current 67 years. I don't commute anywhere, as I'm retired. I do drive up and down the Coast from San Francisco to San Diego once every 6 weeks or so. There are a lot of hills here (in case you haven't read about San Francisco), but I know how to operate a clutch on hills. The only problem I've ever had with clutches was on my '86 Mustang SVO (also bought brand new), which wore out three clutches in 15000 miles. After Ford denied my claims, I did some detective work and with the help of an engineer from SVO it was determined that I had (in his words) a "mismanufactured car." It seems that the wrong clutch pedal had been installed. Ford paid for all my new clutches and flywheels, for all the rental cars I'd needed during my previous clutch problems. Drove that clutch for another 60K miles before I sold the car. In other words, I do know how to handle a clutch. What I'm wondering is, has anyone else out there had premature wear on their GT500's, who don't race their cars and who drive them like this old hot rod grandpa? I'd love to be able to find out if my problem is one that others have had, so that maybe I (we?) could go back to Ford and get some relief. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabber Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Welcome to TS. This is a known problem. There is a TSB on it. Read up a bit. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...c=35706&hl= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabber Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 This one too. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...c=32271&hl= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabber Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Then this one. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...c=42534&hl= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regalt87 Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 I hope you can get your money back, it shouldn't have cost you anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Plye Wood Posted June 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Then this one. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...c=42534&hl= Thanks a lot! I will be printing out all that information from the links you gave me. I will bring them back to Serramonte Ford and lay them on the Service Manager. When he says that they don't apply to me (which he will), I'll take them to the General Manager. When he gives me the same BS, I'll leave and return next day with the same paperwork, PLUS a summons to Small Claims Court. Like I said, I'm 67. I'm retired, I've got nothing but time, and this'll be entertainment to me, even if I don't win. They'll have to send someone to Small Claims Court to answer the charges, so it'll cost them money no matter what. Stay tuned, and thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabber Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Sorry to hear that they treated you like this. Now you can go in all schooled up and ask them why they did this to you. Good luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vette Killer Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Posted this in the "General Automotive" forum, but thought I'd put it here as well. Here's the scoop: I own a 2008 GT500, bought new from Walnut Creek Ford in the San Francisco Bay Area in October of '08. After 12300 or so miles, my clutch exhibited slippage. I went immediately to the nearest Ford dealer, Serramonte Ford in Colma, CA. on the southern border of San Francisco. They are also an official Shelby parts and service dealer. I was told that my clutch was gone and that it wasn't covered under warranty because I was just 300 miles over the 12000 mile warranty on the clutch. $5000 later, a new clutch was installed and so far works fine. I've been driving manual transmission cars for (hold your breath!) 51 years here in San Francisco. I don't hot rod the car as I did with cars when I was much younger than my current 67 years. I don't commute anywhere, as I'm retired. I do drive up and down the Coast from San Francisco to San Diego once every 6 weeks or so. There are a lot of hills here (in case you haven't read about San Francisco), but I know how to operate a clutch on hills. The only problem I've ever had with clutches was on my '86 Mustang SVO (also bought brand new), which wore out three clutches in 15000 miles. After Ford denied my claims, I did some detective work and with the help of an engineer from SVO it was determined that I had (in his words) a "mismanufactured car." It seems that the wrong clutch pedal had been installed. Ford paid for all my new clutches and flywheels, for all the rental cars I'd needed during my previous clutch problems. Drove that clutch for another 60K miles before I sold the car. In other words, I do know how to handle a clutch. What I'm wondering is, has anyone else out there had premature wear on their GT500's, who don't race their cars and who drive them like this old hot rod grandpa? I'd love to be able to find out if my problem is one that others have had, so that maybe I (we?) could go back to Ford and get some relief. Thanks! This other post by Grabber will also be very helpful for your upcoming discussion. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...ic=36724&hl Good luck! Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INDYSHELBY Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 My wife and I were out driving the GT500 last night its the first time I told her about the clutch problem. The best way I could explain it to her was it will fail sometime just dont know when I hope were not on a long trip away from home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Plye Wood Posted June 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Thanks for all the great stuff, Grabber and others. Whether or not I can get any monetary satisfaction from the dealer is really secondary. I'm lucky. I'm pretty well fixed in my old age. It's just the damn principle of the situation. After I went out of my way to resist the temptation of buying either a BMW M3, a Lexus IS-F or a Mercedes C63 AMG, all of which are - all things considered - faster, better handling and better braking than the GT500, I still went with the domestic hot rod and, even with the clutch problems, I'm really glad I did. In my part of the country, those imported hot rods are a dime a dozen. No one gives 'em a second glance when they pass by. However, when I drive my Shelby GT500, in its traditional FIA American racing livery (white with blue stripes) down the street, there's not a day goes by that at least two or three people give it the thumbs up, a big smile, or an enthusiastic "WOW!" Yesterday I got one from a guy my age who was driving a brand new Porsche Carrera 4. "I used to have one of the old ones," he told me. "I really miss it now that I see you driving that beauty." Like I said, it happens two or three times a day. This summer I'll be driving back to Michigan for a family reunion. I'll be staying a couple of days in the Detroit area, specifically to see the Ford Museum. I'm going to make sure to drop by Ford's visitor center and pass them all my information and the stuff I got from Grabber, just to let them mull over the error of their warranty ways with me. It's going to be fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leepinlen Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I was in WC Ford back in May of last year and I think that I saw your car, I was looking at the vista/white stripes. ??why didn't u bring it back to WC ford?? I think you might have gotten better service there. Anyway, I hope u get some satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relopez98 Posted June 16, 2009 Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thanks a lot! I will be printing out all that information from the links you gave me. I will bring them back to Serramonte Ford and lay them on the Service Manager. When he says that they don't apply to me (which he will), I'll take them to the General Manager. When he gives me the same BS, I'll leave and return next day with the same paperwork, PLUS a summons to Small Claims Court. Like I said, I'm 67. I'm retired, I've got nothing but time, and this'll be entertainment to me, even if I don't win. They'll have to send someone to Small Claims Court to answer the charges, so it'll cost them money no matter what. Stay tuned, and thanks again. Cost of defense is a very viable avenue of recourse, however, you may want to consult a local attorney about the proper party to sue, as this may be bigger than the dealership. Also, look into the limits at the small claims level, depending on the amount of your recovery, you may want to file in a different court. Just my .02; not advice as I do not practice in California. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regalt87 Posted June 16, 2009 Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 I feel like if he went in there calmly and educated them about the TSB that many others have had performed at a 100% cost to FMC and reasoned with them he would have some sucess. Another thing is to contact the Ford reginal or division rep (what ever they call them) and explain the situation to them and see where it goes. This seems pretty clear cut, the rest of us didn't have to pay for the TSB so there is no reason you should have to. Call another dealership and see if they have done one under warranty and then have your dealer call and hear it from another service writer with more knowledge on the subject. I would not mention legal action as it may put them on the offensive and negotiations are even harder after that. If you take legal action don't say any thing just hit them with it and don't give them a heads start or heads up. Litigation is a last resort, labor intensive, stressful, time consuming and costly and ofton times the winning party still ends up shorted some way or another. After reading your innitial post I would also like to see documentation of which clutch they put back in. Chances are you didn't get the full TSB because if they had know about it and the correct parts to order you would have had it covered under warranty like the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsfdiver Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Thanks for all the great stuff, Grabber and others. Whether or not I can get any monetary satisfaction from the dealer is really secondary. I'm lucky. I'm pretty well fixed in my old age. It's just the damn principle of the situation. After I went out of my way to resist the temptation of buying either a BMW M3, a Lexus IS-F or a Mercedes C63 AMG, all of which are - all things considered - faster, better handling and better braking than the GT500, I still went with the domestic hot rod and, even with the clutch problems, I'm really glad I did. In my part of the country, those imported hot rods are a dime a dozen. No one gives 'em a second glance when they pass by. However, when I drive my Shelby GT500, in its traditional FIA American racing livery (white with blue stripes) down the street, there's not a day goes by that at least two or three people give it the thumbs up, a big smile, or an enthusiastic "WOW!" Yesterday I got one from a guy my age who was driving a brand new Porsche Carrera 4. "I used to have one of the old ones," he told me. "I really miss it now that I see you driving that beauty." Like I said, it happens two or three times a day. This summer I'll be driving back to Michigan for a family reunion. I'll be staying a couple of days in the Detroit area, specifically to see the Ford Museum. I'm going to make sure to drop by Ford's visitor center and pass them all my information and the stuff I got from Grabber, just to let them mull over the error of their warranty ways with me. It's going to be fun! Other than the clutch flywheel issue I think your gt 500 has the potential to stomp most of the cars you just mentioned with very little (respectively) cash input. 10 years from now you'll be driving your GT 500 and will have forgotten all about those other cars. You'll be pushing 900+ HP with a suspension that will handle over a G. Have a blast, read the TSB info from Grabber and others here. I have 13000 miles on my 2007 June build and every once in awhile at the track it doesn't go into second, I don't know if it is operator error or what. I am conscious of the TSB issues and am always on the lookout for the symptoms but so far nothing to go to the dealer with except a warning to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me32 Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 sorry to hear about that. seems like the Ford you went just wanted to Rip you off even thoe Ford pays them to do the work. seems like those guys could give a rat ass about looking out for there customers. i believe anytime a customer bring a car in to get something Fixed they should go into there data base an check out to see if there is a recall or TSB out related to the customers stated problem. but alot of dealers dont so, its just a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regalt87 Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 sorry to hear about that. seems like the Ford you went just wanted to Rip you off even thoe Ford pays them to do the work. seems like those guys could give a rat ass about looking out for there customers. i believe anytime a customer bring a car in to get something Fixed they should go into there data base an check out to see if there is a recall or TSB out related to the customers stated problem. but alot of dealers dont so, its just a shame. What if the Ford dealer knew about the TSB and also charged FMC for the repair as well? Bad Bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlloyDropTop Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 What if the Ford dealer knew about the TSB and also charged FMC for the repair as well? Bad Bad. I personally busted a heating repair man for the same deal. He wanted to charge me for a control board, that I knew was a "program" replacement. So I challenged him, he seemed surprised, called the shop, and said "you are right, no charge". You think a dealer of a brand, on a main line product, would have been up on that 6 month old fact. Made me wonder how many customers paid for the same repair over and over, all while the manufacturer paid the bill, too...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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