I think it's time for a new clutch, at 26k miles

altjx said:

yeah i thought that might be the case but they confirmed last tuesday everything was in. not sure what's the hold up now though.

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EF300 said:

aaaahhhhh

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SVTinAR said:

Mechanic is probably searching for a You-tube video on how to disassemble and reassemble a manual transmission.

I hope they did loan you something to drive.

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EF300 said:

aaaahhhhh

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Zitrosounds said:

That's good news!

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DocWalt said:

That's great news. Way better than somebody mucking around inside the trans not knowing what they're doing...

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UnhandledException said:

I read most of the posts and I am confused about one thing.

You seem to have an issue with this car for several months, correct? You are saying 5 warranty claims.

But forget that, you are also saying, your car has been at the shop for the last 4 weeks, correct?

Why are you wasting your time coming here, talking to the dealer, playing ball, if in fact you are serious about selling this car.

1. Tell the dealer you will get a lawyer and initiate a lemon law case. If they give in and initiate a buy back, great, if not, go to step 2
2. Contact your local Ford rep, do the same. Write bunch of emails and letters. If they give in, great, if not go to step 3.
3. Pay $500 for a lemon law attorney and have him send a letter

This is ridiculous. I cant go into specifics because I signed NDAs from BMW, but I did buy backs before for far far far far FAR less serious things, if I told you, you actually literally wouldn't believe me.

Oh and for the record, not a single Ford dealer in a 15 mile radius of my house (and I live in fairly nice upscale town in tri-state area) provides loaners. Yep, you heard it right. Doesn't matter if you have GT350 or GT350R, no loaners. So be grateful you at least have a loaner.

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altjx said:

Well I'm not actually "serious" about selling the car per se, it's just something I'd consider depending on the outcome of this situation. I've talked to Ford about buying the car back -- they won't. I've talked to a lawyer about possibly filing for a lemon (or whatever the correct way to say it is) -- nothing. The lawyer won't entertain this because he claims the car hasn't necessarily meet the criteria for a lemon law case just yet. I've had 5 warranty claims, but 2 were specifically transmission-related. According to the lemon law, I'd have to have brought the car back within a year or within its warranty period at least 4 times to attempt fixing the same issue.

I'm grateful I have a loaner, but I mean really though, lol. Good thing I didn't buy the most expensive vehicle from Ford. I'm sure people would think I'm crazy for spending 6 figures on a car and driving a Ford Fiesta when it has issues. I wish Ford could buy the car back already, but I doubt it until I have much more serious problems and many more trips back to the dealership.

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UnhandledException said:

In state of NJ, if a car has been out of commission for 20 consecutive days (and the 20 days include weekends) you are entitled to file for a lemon law. 20 days! I m sure LA is same as I know many other states have this 20-24 day rule. You are saying it has been 4 weeks. That's 28 days.

Regardless, you don't even need to wait 20 days for this. If I were you, I would start bluffing in day 15. You probably didn't find a good lawyer. Do you know Saul Goodman? Breaking Bad's Saul? Well not as bad as him, but you get the idea. All it takes is 1 letter. Someone high up in the corporate chain reading it. They wont even care as it costs them a lot more money to keep this going thinking you will continue sending letters, than to buy your car back. It costs them 3-4 times more (actual figures) to respond to your letter through their legal department (which they have to do) than it costs you.

You have to play ball my friend, whether its Ford, Chevy, BMW, or Porsche. Doesn't matter. Yes the experience is easier with Germans, but when you start sending letters and leaving voice mails or sending emails threatening to sue, they will listen. I see people complain in car forums all the time. They complain, they complain, and they complain. There are two kinds of people who complain, the one that knows how to play politics, and the one that doesn't.

You dont know much about the cars from a mechanical perspective (not saying this to insult you), so you dont understand what it means for them to get the car on a lift, get under it, remove the exhaust, remove the driver shaft, remove the starter motor, remove bunch of other stuff, drop the transmission, move it around, etc etc. This is very very invasive stuff as far as touching your car goes. If I went under your car with you with a flash light, I'd probably find dozens of scratches or marks they already left. That stuff makes me cringe. They changed my A/C compressor and I know exactly what they did and where they touched.

Dropping the transmission is probably the second most invasive thing you can do to a car next to engine replacement. Not trying to scare you but the thought of that car on a lift for 4 weeks with its guts removed isn't something I would take lightly.

Also when you talk to these people, you need to appear that you know your way around the car even if you are not so they dont fool you. If you start talking about starter motors, flywheels, differential, transmission fluid refill etc, they will get nervous as they will know that you will check their work.

You know what you should do? You should go to youtube now and search for S550 clutch/flywheel replacement videos. There is a few thats 30-40 min long. Watch it start to finish. Then you'll know what's involved. And remember those videos don't have the tremec transmission we do with the transmission cooler. Our cars have additional steps involved for topping off the fluid.

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