2019 GT350 Engine Failure @ 2170 miles

[PRTK350]

Hey Folks, quick, important update: I went to the dealership last Friday to check out the car as they told me they started work on it. I walk into the workshop with the SA and I see her there with her hood removed, and the engine placed next to her with the intake removed. As I peep into the intake ports through which you can see the valves (not sure what else to call them), I see it on Cylinder number 7. The stem of one of the intake valves was clearly snapped in half and the rest of the valve was missing (probably fell into the cylinder)
All the ‘diagnosis’ the dealer did about rod bearing failure letting go of the piston and smashing the top of the piston was probably BS.
It looks a lot more like the valve drop issue that other 2020 350s have been facing lately.
@Tank @pilotgore I think you guys hit the nail on the head in your previous comments!

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[PRTK350]

@Tank @pilotgore I was definitely considering it as Ford’s buyback team has now taken over 3 weeks and still haven’t made a decision yet. Every time I call the CSR, she tells me that the RAV team “couldn’t contact the dealership to get the vehicle’s service history” and without that a buyback decision cannot be made. Been almost 45 days and definitely hit the threshold for lemon law.
However, I contacted a few lawyers and lemon law seems to be a long and expensive process (I’d have to pay a considerable amount of money upfront, to get the process started). It is definitely a process I will pursue if Ford refuses to buy the car back. However as of right now, Ford deciding to buy the car back is the path of least resistance and I’m waiting in them to make that decision.

 

[pilotgore]

@Tank @pilotgore I was definitely considering it as Ford’s buyback team has now taken over 3 weeks and still haven’t made a decision yet. Every time I call the CSR, she tells me that the RAV team “couldn’t contact the dealership to get the vehicle’s service history” and without that a buyback decision cannot be made. Been almost 45 days and definitely hit the threshold for lemon law.
However, I contacted a few lawyers and lemon law seems to be a long and expensive process (I’d have to pay a considerable amount of money upfront, to get the process started). It is definitely a process I will pursue if Ford refuses to buy the car back. However as of right now, Ford deciding to buy the car back is the path of least resistance and I’m waiting in them to make that decision.

Well, sorry you’re going through this, but based off what others have gone through, I think it’s very likely a buyback will be offered when it’s all said and done.

My recommendation .... don’t return the loaner car and don’t pickup your car from the dealership once complete until Ford has made a determination on the buyback. Once you return the loaner car and pickup your car, you’ve lost all remaining leverage. I HIGHLY doubt it’d come to that, but it’s a tactic I’d be ready and willing to use. If the dealership wants their loaner car back, it’d light a fire under their butts to get Ford Corp what they need.

 

[CJJon]

Well, sorry you’re going through this, but based off what others have gone through, I think it’s very likely a buyback will be offered when it’s all said and done.

My recommendation .... don’t return the loaner car and don’t pickup your car from the dealership once complete until Ford has made a determination on the buyback. Once you return the loaner car and pickup your car, you’ve lost all remaining leverage. I HIGHLY doubt it’d come to that, but it’s a tactic I’d be ready and willing to use. If the dealership wants their loaner car back, it’d light a fire under their butts to get Ford Corp what they need.

^This

In fact, no more calls or visits to the dealer. Let them contact you from now on.

 

[PRTK350]

Well, sorry you’re going through this, but based off what others have gone through, I think it’s very likely a buyback will be offered when it’s all said and done.

My recommendation .... don’t return the loaner car and don’t pickup your car from the dealership once complete until Ford has made a determination on the buyback. Once you return the loaner car and pickup your car, you’ve lost all remaining leverage. I HIGHLY doubt it’d come to that, but it’s a tactic I’d be ready and willing to use. If the dealership wants their loaner car back, it’d light a fire under their butts to get Ford Corp what they need.

Agreed! I’ve sort of been doing that with the dealership. I guess I’ll wait for the CSR to get back to me now. I’ve been following up with them twice a week and they’ve been giving me the same repetitive answer “the dealership isn’t responding so we aren’t responsible for the delay”.
The dealership told me last week that the car would be ready by Tuesday. No news yet.
Makes me agree with your point even more. I’m going to shut up now and let them get back to me.

 

[pilotgore]

Agreed! I’ve sort of been doing that with the dealership. I guess I’ll wait for the CSR to get back to me now. I’ve been following up with them twice a week and they’ve been giving me the same repetitive answer “the dealership isn’t responding so we aren’t responsible for the delay”.
The dealership told me last week that the car would be ready by Tuesday. No news yet.
Makes me agree with your point even more. I’m going to shut up now and let them get back to me.

The words "I don't feel safe driving the mustang anymore" may be helpful. "My last engine quit...What happens if this engine quits while I'm on the interstate in heavy traffic?" When in doubt, call safety into question. The safety argument may trump the resale argument, IMO. Just sayin.....

 

[Blwnsmoke]

@Tank @pilotgore I was definitely considering it as Ford’s buyback team has now taken over 3 weeks and still haven’t made a decision yet. Every time I call the CSR, she tells me that the RAV team “couldn’t contact the dealership to get the vehicle’s service history” and without that a buyback decision cannot be made. Been almost 45 days and definitely hit the threshold for lemon law.
However, I contacted a few lawyers and lemon law seems to be a long and expensive process (I’d have to pay a considerable amount of money upfront, to get the process started). It is definitely a process I will pursue if Ford refuses to buy the car back. However as of right now, Ford deciding to buy the car back is the path of least resistance and I’m waiting in them to make that decision.

Many people have gone through the BBB autoline/lemon law dept. It's free to use them and very successful. I'd try that route first before even trying an attorney.

Even with an attorney, Ford has to reimburse the attorney fees back to you so you will be made whole.

 

[PRTK350]

The words "I don't feel safe driving the mustang anymore" may be helpful. "My last engine quit...What happens if this engine quits while I'm on the interstate in heavy traffic?" When in doubt, call safety into question. The safety argument may trump the resale argument, IMO. Just sayin.....

Makes total sense! I’ll bring that up in the future...

 

[PRTK350]

Many people have gone through the BBB autoline/lemon law dept. It's free to use them and very successful. I'd try that route first before even trying an attorney.

Even with an attorney, Ford has to reimburse the attorney fees back to you so you will be made whole.

Somebody mentioned the BBB route earlier in this thread. I totally forgot about it. I will definitely try that. Thank you for bringing it up

About the attorney fees, you’re correct. The lawyer told me that as well - but they think the whole lemon law buyback process will take 6-10 months and they’ll reimburse the lawyer fees after that. Until then it’s out of my pocket and I get to stay without a car.

Either way, I felt that Ford buying the car back on their own is easier for both parties. Let’s see what the RAV team comes back with.

 

[Point45]

Somebody mentioned the BBB route earlier in this thread. I totally forgot about it. I will definitely try that. Thank you for bringing it up

About the attorney fees, you’re correct. The lawyer told me that as well - but they think the whole lemon law buyback process will take 6-10 months and they’ll reimburse the lawyer fees after that. Until then it’s out of my pocket and I get to stay without a car.

Either way, I felt that Ford buying the car back on their own is easier for both parties. Let’s see what the RAV team comes back with.

Not ford but my buddy tried to have gm buyback his corvette and it took over a year to reach an arrangement, part of that was gm covering the lawyers fees.

 

[fpa1974]

If you are set on lemon-ing it the process can be quite long. I have gone through it once with a different brand successfully. In my case it took about 9 months. If you do not want (and have the option) to use BBB find an attorney that will not charge you up front. At least in GA 15 years ago when I did it any good lemon lawyer would not charge you a penny up front. Good luck whatever you decide!

 

[mjhpadi]

Man, I feel your pain but the guys here have given you some great advice and ideas on moving forward. Best of luck in getting this resolved please keep us updated.

 

[stanglife]

Bummer man. About the valve...we still don't know for sure if that is the failure point on a "rumored" bad batch of valves or if the broken valve is the collateral damage from something else. Seized cam, broken timing chain, broken valve, broken valve spring are all someone interchangeable as far as one thing leading to another. WIthout more info from F, we might not know where it started until sometime in the future.

 

[PRTK350]

Bummer man. About the valve...we still don't know for sure if that is the failure point on a "rumored" bad batch of valves or if the broken valve is the collateral damage from something else. Seized cam, broken timing chain, broken valve, broken valve spring are all someone interchangeable as far as one thing leading to another. WIthout more info from F, we might not know where it started until sometime in the future.

Yeah it really sucks. I knew of these valve drops before I bought the car. However I felt they were a relatively low percentage, and I thought I’d be good if I maintained the car and took care of her.

Apparently I was mistaken.

I still think it’s a very low percentage of cars but only Ford will know the true number.

Another crappy thing I heard was from the salesperson that sold me the car. We have a few common contacts, and as they’re a small rural dealership, he called me once he heard of my car’s engine going. He told me that another car he sold (a red GT350, local) came back to them with a blown engine with a dropped valve 4 months ago. As they don’t sell very many of these cars, he was very surprised about 2 of their GT350s going out the same way.

 

[Soulja4187]

I recently went through a buyback, took delivery of the new car on April 7th. I originally bought the car from a Georgia dealer but I reside in Florida. When they first approved my buyback Ford went with the the Florida lemon law after reading the lemon laws for both states I saw that Georgia protected the consumer better with the substitution of collateral than Florida. Now if I wanted to walk away from all this and get my money back then Florida was a better option. As they were refunding me 100% of the add-ons I had on the car including maintenance and monthly payments. Keep in my that you will have to pay for usage of the car if you decide to walk away from Ford but since you barely have any miles I don’t see you paying more than $1500 for usage and you getting everything you have done to the car back. If I was you start compiling all of your receipts.

being that you bought the car from California and now you reside in Tennessee you have both options. I did all this without using BBB or an attorney.

I read a lot of post from CobraJet which helped me under the whole process

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