Found On Road Dead...

GJC: What VIN do you have? Does anyone have an idea of VINs affected?
Albofaz: Did Ford say that they or Ricardo have *fixed* this problem? Only a batch of cars are/will be affected? Newly designed bolts or just torque 'em correctly? Info appreciated! Thanks all!

Replacement parts are on their way to my dealer now. The service manager is directly involved. My car is still in my garage. VIN 1657. I will be present when they take the car apart to try to determine if the bolts were too tight or they backed out. I can see the bolts sticking out of the trans output shaft at least 3/8". There seems to be alot of thread showing which would indicate to me that the bolts may have backed out?? The dealer has agreed to replace the bolts on both sides.

I beleive there could be grave danger under the right set of circumstances. It the half shaft were to fall out during heavy acceleration around a curve and all power was lost the result could be bad. Even at high speeds going straight if the half shaft dropped it would continue to flop around and turn until the vehicle was stopped. I suppose there could be a chance that the wheel could lock up!!

The GT "hotline" is a joke and has been NO help. All they could to is tell me where my closest dealer is. They won't even recommend a dealer. 24 hours later I'm still waiting for a call back. The people answering the phones know far less than we do about the car.

The exploded view of this area in on page 308-03-04 of the GT workshop manual.
GJC

GJC said:

Replacement parts are on their way to my dealer now. The service manager is directly involved. My car is still in my garage. VIN 1657. I will be present when they take the car apart to try to determine if the bolts were too tight or they backed out. I can see the bolts sticking out of the trans output shaft at least 3/8". There seems to be alot of thread showing which would indicate to me that the bolts may have backed out?? The dealer has agreed to replace the bolts on both sides.

I beleive there could be grave danger under the right set of circumstances. It the half shaft were to fall out during heavy acceleration around a curve and all power was lost the result could be bad. Even at high speeds going straight if the half shaft dropped it would continue to flop around and turn until the vehicle was stopped. I suppose there could be a chance that the wheel could lock up!!

The GT "hotline" is a joke and has been NO help. All they could to is tell me where my closest dealer is. They won't even recommend a dealer. 24 hours later I'm still waiting for a call back. The people answering the phones know far less than we do about the car.

The exploded view of this area in on page 308-03-04 of the GT workshop manual.
GJC

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Can anyone upload that diagram to this forum? GJC, can you upload any pics of your problem with the bolts in view? Anyone else have any pics of the halfshafts problem?

So far it looks like VINs from '05 early 15xx to 17xx have had halfshaft bolts problems. Anyone know if Ford did a "fix" during production, or do you all think that *any* car, including the '06 might at some point be "found on road dead"? Seems like a safety issue that Ford ought to do a recall on. NHTSA doesn't look into these things?

Photo available in the photo gallery. Keyword search: sheared bolt. The remaining portion of the bolts are visible coming out of the trans output shaft.

GJC

Thanks, GJC.

This information is scaring me away from this car. I am in the final negotiations for a new 2005 model for less than MSRP, and this maybe why the dealer is willing to talk less than MSRP? Because I have to say, this kind of trouble and poor service form Ford is making me have major second thoughts. This is my first post, and I have been a lurker for the past few days to see how you owners feel about your cars. It is clear you all love them and you should out of respect for the car's beauty and performance. But if I am going to have to suffer these kind of reliability issues, I may as well buy a high quality replica where at least I expect problems of this sort. If this information goes major public, I would think you (we) can expect some negative impact on value retention as well?

How about some help...how many other issues have you folks had with your cars? I really hope this is just an isolated thing, but is it? Please advise, as I don't want to pull the trigger tomorrow, and have the car be dead on the road in 700 miles. Should this be a show stopper? If you knew this before you bought your Ford GT, would you have bought it?

Thanks

Roger Vincent said:

This information is scaring me away from this car. I am in the final negotiations for a new 2005 model for less than MSRP, and this maybe why the dealer is willing to talk less than MSRP? Because I have to say, this kind of trouble and poor service form Ford is making me have major second thoughts. This is my first post, and I have been a lurker for the past few days to see how you owners feel about your cars. It is clear you all love them and you should out of respect for the car's beauty and performance. But if I am going to have to suffer these kind of reliability issues, I may as well buy a high quality replica where at least I expect problems of this sort. If this information goes major public, I would think you (we) can expect some negative impact on value retention as well?

How about some help...how many other issues have you folks had with your cars? I really hope this is just an isolated thing, but is it? Please advise, as I don't want to pull the trigger tomorrow, and have the car be dead on the road in 700 miles. Should this be a show stopper? If you knew this before you bought your Ford GT, would you have bought it?

Thanks

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Read throught the threads - no one is that unhappy with the car. Some "character" to them - small issues here and there, just like any new car. If you can't live with it, look for something else. If you can, you will make a choice that you will never regret. Maybe 1 percent issues, 99 percent the ride of your life. You decide. :thumbsup

Thanks AZGT,

I like the one percent number!

Roger

abolfaz said:

DONT BE STUPID!

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Ahhhhhhh, the subtle - gentle touch :biggrin

abolfaz said:

DONT BE STUPID! The faults the car has (allthough some are a real pain in the ass) are nothing compared to the overall enjoyment I get from driving the car. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE ON THE ROAD THATS LIKE THIS CAR!

Find the right dealer that can work on the car and I promise you won't regret the purchase.

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Roger,

I've had my car for ten months and been a member of this forum for about the same time. During this period I can't recall meeting or reading about a single owner who has regretted purchasing this car. Yes there have been a couple of owners who have been unhappy about specific incidents that needed attention however check out their posts after the problem with their cars were solved. They all rave about the car. This really says something about how good these cars are!

Buy one, you won't look back.

Rob

Gierkink said:

Roger,

I've had my car for ten months and been a member of this forum for about the same time. During this period I can't recall meeting or reading about a single owner who has regretted purchasing this car. Yes there have been a couple of owners who have been unhappy about specific incidents that needed attention however check out their posts after the problem with their cars were solved. They all rave about the car. This really says something about how good these cars are!

Buy one, you won't look back.

Rob

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Well said

And Roger if you are scared or concerned don't buy the car its that simple. But then don't second guess or regret that decision. Nothing is perefect and nothing is guaranteed except death and sometimes taxes..

Dave

Thanks guys. I went to the dealer today and asked about these problems and they ran an OASIS report on the car, VIN # is 1490, and nothing showed up. However they went on to reveal that they had replaced seals on the transaxle and made some kind of suspension replacement as a result of factory identified issues. The car has less than three miles on the odometer. The miles that are there are the ones that accumulated from taking it to the service area for the above issues. I was also given some great literature on the car and a DVD: Ford GT Highlights DVD with Rick Titus, Dealer Handbook, the OASIS report, and the 2005 brochure. Wonderful information.

As for price, they are offering MSRP, minus a couple thousand. I hate to admit it, but I am in love with this car. If everything works out, and I can convince my wife, I am going to pull the trigger next Wednesday. Do you all think that the price is a fair one given the market for the cars today? And I am very well aware of the early prices paid for the 2005 models...ouch. And by the way, I hope I didn't offend anyone with my earlier post regarding buying a replica and all that. I happen to own an SPF Cobra 427 S/C, and on our owner's group, we have had problems similar to the axle pull out; I was just surprised to see this as an issue with a production model such as this one. Once more, thank you VERY much for your comments.

Roger

Roger

I have an 05 with 3700 miles the only problem i have had is the window seal.
What you are not seeing here is all the trouble free miles that most owners experance.

abolfaz said:

Whats wrong with your window seal? My passenger side window seal (from interior) fell off and my drivers side door seal leaks.

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my outside rubber seal pulled out dealer will replace it soon.
No big deal.