Oh great, another gauge failure.

[Gene Cassone]

I quess if you can make an argument it is a safety issue : class action suit!
I had one of the first NSX's. A class action suit was won against American Honda because of "premature" wear of rear tires posed a hazard! Owners received a coupon for 2 additional set of rear tires
I can't believe I am bringing the possibility of getting attorneys involved (I am a physician)!

 

[Vincent998]

We don't know this to be true.

What percentage of gauges have failed? 5%? 10%? There were 28,266 gauges installed. I'd guess well under 5%.

Enough have failed (I lost boost and fuel) to establish with no doubt that none of them can be trusted to last.

 

[Gene Cassone]

Just to make the point about future replacement costs on modern classics. As we are discussing gauge problems on this forum. On the z8 forum they are discussing replacement costs and issues of the rear lights which are neon. BMW announced there would be replacement parts available for 50 yrs! Though they thought the neon lights would last longer! Of course they are not! Replacement costs up to $10000 for both !!

 

[shelbyelite]

These gauge threads are getting out of hand. Enough is enough. The car is 8 years out of production. It's not Fords responsibility to foot the bill to fix gauges that are 9 - 10 years old. Things fail, they don't last forever. When ford produced the car, they sold it with a 3 year 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty..., a much better warranty then 9 out of 10 super cars came with at the time and they stood behind their product just as they said they would for the time they said they would. If you have a broken gauge and don't want to worry about future failures, BUY the speedhut gauges. If its going to ruin your entire ownership of the car, then sell it. I'm not trying to be harsh, cause believe me, I have spent more than any other person on this forum on gauges..., but at the end of the day, it is NOT fords responsibility to spend tons of money and resources on fixing a problem like this on a car that's coming up on ten years old.

 

[Xcentric]

So how do you really feel?

 

[Gene Cassone]

How many qauges were already replaced under warranty? I think a few! Agree enough said! Dave however I really appreciate your efforts in this matter and "all things GT". I still have hope for a complete solution!

 

[the Wizard]

Shelby,

I agree it is not Ford's responsibility to guarantee that every part works forever. With a special car like this one might have expected them to step up and do more....but they didn't....so be it. But what we are owed from Ford is the ability to go buy a working replacement part.....not a part that has the very same likely failure mode. That's unacceptable. I'd be happy to pony up and just go buy another tach, no matter how outrageous the price, but that also could fail in a week. This is why I disagree.

And while I have sympathy with how many of these damn gauges you must have had to buy the situation is quite different. You buy a gauge, put it in, sell the car, make a profit, and all is good.....you got what you paid for. But we buy a gauge and it just fails again....and we do NOT get what we paid for.

What do you think buddy, does that make any sense?

 

[shelbyelite]

How is it different? They warranty replacement parts. Keep your receipt. If you buy a gauge, and it fails a week later, they will replace it..., I know, I have been there. I do not recall how long the parts warranties are, but they are guaranteed for a certain period. And yes, I buy cars for resale and that is how I make my living, but would I not make more money if the gauge issue wasn't there. For sure! I also own a GT. I have replaced two gauges in it. I'm not lying in bed tonight worried about if more go bad. If they do, I will buy new ones. I have to deal with bad gauges more than anyone. I have shipped cars to customers that all gauges were working when loaded on the truck, and by the time they were delivered just a few days later, a bad gauge presents itself. Do I want a fix? Yes! Do I think the never ending multiple page threads will resolve this problem? No! Do I think mentioning a class action lawsuit will get us closer? Hell no! Best possible thing to do IMHO, is to start a thread and the ONLY thing in the thread is this:
Which Gauge is bad
Vin number to car
Mileage on car when failure occurred
Date gauge went bad
If car had optima or diehard or odyssey battery and if it was know if there was low voltage.

A running list of gauge failures may get someone's attention that can make a difference. Just my $.02

 

[the Wizard]

I guess I would be interested to know the warranty period on a new gauge? But I assume it's much shorter than 3 years. And still the gauge you'll pay dearly for has a KNOWN FAULT, and will likely fail again outside the warranty period. And with the general lack of information I certainly do understand the frustration expressed here. Also, I had a new NSX at the time of the class action suit....and it did get us something....two sets of tires. And quite frankly, that was a much smaller issue to me than this.

I would think if there were a lawsuit it wouldn't be based so much on the initial failure of the gauges, but on the fact that Ford is now selling KNOWN DEFECTIVE GAUGES......

 

[THamonGT]

This discussion has got completely rediculous with on this subject of class action lawsuits. What ever help we get on the guage issue from Ford or the manufacturer will be appreciated by me. No company can warrant product forever. Be sensible guys, there's never been a free ride forever on anything , enough said, I'm out of here on this issue!

 

[the Wizard]

Shelby,

Is there any downside to getting the direct reading boost gauge from SpeedHut?

 

[RALPHIE]

My only take would be that I think that Ford would like to know the failure mode, in order to not have it occur on a highly produced vehicle, e.g. F-150, where a recall might cause a significant expense and embarrassment. As with our transaxle bolt issue, Ford discovered and learned from the experience (remember, "experience is a wonderful thing, it lets you realize your mistake quickly when you make it again"). I think this is important for Ford, and I also believe they now know the cause and solution.

How they deal with a small group of disenchanted owners must be left to the various offices of their organization - for it may set precedents which might influence future legal issues. As it is not a safety issue, which may have been important with respect to the transaxle bolts, I think we should just wait until we hear what offer they might make.

If I was in a hurry - I'd purchase the Speedhut solution. Otherwise, I suggest we wait for whatever offer is given to us - which we have been promised, and make our individual decisions from there.

 

[fjpikul]

Take it from me, AutoMeter will not talk to you about this. I worked an hour away from them and tried many years ago. Their contract with Ford precludes it.

 

[paul b]

I think the problem is at the end of the day, ignoring the problem is the most profitable solution for Ford. The only stink for them comes from this forum. The gauge problem probably hasn't stopped anyone here from buying another Ford product.

 

[MTV8]

Offering a solution for only some of the gauges does not make much sense. Either do it right or do not bother.

 

[the Wizard]

Yes, because what that means is that they know how to produce the gauges without the defect, and will do so on the little gauges, but the tach and speedo they will continue to manufacture knowingly with the defect.....that's bad.....

 

[analogdesigner]

Gauge failure theory

I’m going to stick my neck out on this one. I personally feel that the majority of these gauge failures is due to a voltage transient on the electrical system. This momentary voltage transient can be high enough in magnitude to damage (blow) the main controller IC (integrated circuit) and/or voltage regulator that’s on the internal circuit board. This transient could also be a reverse voltage pulse. I have not seen the inside of one of these damaged gauges however a few persons have described it as a burned up IC package. I feel that corners were cut in the basic electrical engineering to save a few cents.

When time permits, I am going to design a plug-in voltage transient clamp with emphasis on protecting the +12 volt line that supplies power to the gauges. If my theory is correct, this would be a cheap trick.

More later, Jay
www.fastanalog.com

 

[Gene Cassone]

Analogdesigner good to hear from you! Always enjoyed your technical posts years ago! This is why this forum is great! So many bright people from diverse backgrounds! If the manufacturer can't help us someone from this community would figure it out!!

 

[SaskGT]

I completely agree with the well thought out response of Shelby Smith. I have only recently purchased this amazing car and still find it hard to believe that Ford actually manufactured it. I replaced all the gauges with Speedhut
units because of the labour involved in replacing individual gauges. I would of course like to stay with the original Ford gauges and will so if the problem is fixed in the future. The fact that the factory is still committing resources to this problem on an older limited production car is amazing and shows Fords commitment. I could have purchased a Ferrari and the routine maintenance would cost more than the maintenance on the GT even including the odd gauge. I can not understand any talk of legal action against the people who built this car, it is an incredible vehicle. Perhaps because it is built so well that people get fired up over what I see as not a particularly important problem. Ford needs to be made aware of this problem, which obviously they are. If someone can come up with a solution for this problem it would be great. Just my opinion.

 

[SaskGT]

Ford's warranty on parts is 12 months/20,000 kilometers, whichever occurs first (from the back of a parts invoice).