High Mileage GT350 Next Steps - Recommendations

[Tomster]

Was going to suggest a “spare “ Engine .
Have one for sale ,if OP or anyone else is interested send me a PM.

How much?

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[olaosunt]

Here is the link . I am motivated .

How much?

I will send you a PM so as not to hijack OP’s thread .

 

[CANTWN4LSN]

I didn't say it would be less than 4k. It would go a long way towards a refresh. My guess would be 6k or so. An all out refresh for racing would be probably closer to 10k. But this is where Kevin has a better idea. That is why I recommended he contact him.

As long as the engine is still serviceable, there is no need for a long block. Valves, pistons, bearings, etc are all it would probably need. I would certainly upgrade the OPG to a billet gear.

I think this is good advice. However, given oil usage I wonder as long as you are going this far, wouldn't it make sense to replace the engine block as well since there may be an element of blow by responsible for the oil consumption dependent on the cylinders rather than just the pistons and valve seals, and the fact that the upgrade exists given the build date of his car?

 

[Tomster]

Us

I think this is good advice. However, given oil usage I wonder as long as you are going this far, wouldn't it make sense to replace the engine block as well since there may be an element of blow by responsible for the oil consumption dependent on the cylinders rather than just the pistons and valve seals, and the fact that the upgrade exists given the build date of his car?

Usually the oil consumption problems are the valve assembly. I know Kevin chased this ghost around and I dont know what was the final verdict.

This is his expertise. I refer to him.

 

[UnhandledException]

Well, it looks like god of marine fires have other plans because the ship my SUV is on caught on fire in the middle of atlantic. Remember that scene from god father : “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”? Its like that, GT350 isnt done with us yet as a daily driver. This is so bad. I waited 10 months for this car and spent 6+ months prior shopping/test driving. Covid supply issues is just unreal.

My only choice now is to sell this car and buy another GT350 with warranty. Or keep driving it.

 

[br_an]

Well, it looks like god of marine fires have other plans because the ship my SUV is on caught on fire in the middle of atlantic....

Whoa, that's unfortunate! sorry to hear it.

My only choice now is to sell this car and buy another GT350 with warranty. Or keep driving it.

Are you past the point where you can get an ESP on the '17?

 

[UnhandledException]

Whoa, that's unfortunate! sorry to hear it.



Are you past the point where you can get an ESP on the '17?

Yes

 

[Tomster]

Yes

I just read another story where a guy with a 17 thinks he blew his engine on the track.

I'm not one who believes in buying extended warranties, but these GT350s really should have the longest duration warranty with commensurate milage. Matt, your car has done well. If you are dumping the car, I suggest now is a good time before something goes. To everyone else, if you plan on keeping your car for any time after the warranty ends, you really need to have a warranty in place. If an engine should grenade itself or you seriously damage the engine beyond repair, you are looking at a 25k bill.

Why, especially with the way these engines let go sometimes, would anyone not buy an extended warranty???? especially with what we know.

 

[ecoboost321]

I was at this crossroads with my 2007 911 Turbo. I sold it at 78,000 miles. Was out of warranty and has concern on continued use as a daily driver, occasional track day car. I bought my GT350R to replace it.
You have a tough decision as there isn’t really much upgrades you are getting by trading for a 2019 model, other than a new color and the factory warranty. since you don’t plan on tracking your car anymore, probably a good idea to trade up. If you were planning on track use, the money you would put towards a warranty would go long way to rebuild you’re existing engine, or replace with upgraded one like L&M provides.

 

[Bluelightning]

Honestly, if you don't have to rely on it daily anymore I would do the maintenance that it needs such as brakes, etc, and then drive the crap out of it. What's the worst that could happen? You toast the short block because opg or something fails, but so what? Just build a new one and drop it in. Rebuilding the engine, if you have to do it, would be in the price range of the 2019 but would be built with better than factory parts. You've owned the car since new, you have a history with it, you obviously love it, drive it hard and then fix it if it breaks. You owe it that much.

 

[s2ms]

Well, it looks like god of marine fires have other plans because the ship my SUV is on caught on fire in the middle of atlantic. Remember that scene from god father : “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”? Its like that, GT350 isnt done with us yet as a daily driver. This is so bad. I waited 10 months for this car and spent 6+ months prior shopping/test driving. Covid supply issues is just unreal.

My only choice now is to sell this car and buy another GT350 with warranty. Or keep driving it.

That totally sucks, sorry to hear it. I assume this is the incident? Sounds like the crew is ok.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a39120715/cargo-ship-with-porsches-and-vws-burning/

Still waiting for the main wiring harness rats chewed up on our Cayenne at Christmas to arrive from Germay, hope it wasn't on that ship...

 

[jdsfly]

Sell it and buy a Mach 1.

 

[DaveB]

Well, it looks like god of marine fires have other plans because the ship my SUV is on caught on fire in the middle of atlantic. Remember that scene from god father : “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”? Its like that, GT350 isnt done with us yet as a daily driver. This is so bad. I waited 10 months for this car and spent 6+ months prior shopping/test driving. Covid supply issues is just unreal.

My only choice now is to sell this car and buy another GT350 with warranty. Or keep driving it.

Or......forget the porsche, now that it's possibly not going to make it to you, and keep your current 350....and buy the 19 as well!!!

 

[Cobra Jet]

I'm at 75,600 miles with my 2017 GT350. I have an incoming Cayenne GTS and my initial plan was to sell the GT350 but I think I am too attached to the car at this point as I have had it since 4 miles. Car has been pretty bullet proof other than A/C replacement at 8,000 miles, diff pinion seal leak around 20,000 miles. The hood was replaced under warranty due to rust (this was a disaster but not Ford's or car's fault).

The only out of warranty repairs were the replacement of the main fuse (because my wife hooked up the jumper cables to the fuse box terminals instead of battery terminals - yeah I know) and a front control arm. These last two repairs cost me total of $240.

So total sum cost of GT350 to me in almost 76k miles is $240.

Car does burn 1 qt of oil every 1,000 miles since new. It gets a little worse in winter due to extremely cold starts every morning (this morning was 6F) and it gets around twice of that (2,000 miles) during highway driving/long distance driving.

It has the traditional piston slap (since brand new) and it has the typewriter tick (since brand new). By the way, people who worry about those two things should take notice that my car lasted this long with them.

For the last 30,000 miles, oil sample reports have been showing fluctuating lead levels. I am assuming this is from the bearings. I read about these OPG failures. I start my car (have to right now as I have no choice) in very cold mornings. Crank turns fine (in those very very cold days, starter sounds like its struggling) but I fear OPG will fall apart.

Now I am at cross hairs and have two options:

1) Buy an aftermarket extended warranty for $4,000. Once my Cayenne GTS comes, I am going to use the GT350 as a "fun" car only rather than a "daily driver and a fun car - but I must be careful as it's my only car that can carry the family). Which means I will drive it harder - now I dont drive it that hard at all. I also need to do some maintenance on the car if I will keep it such as rotors ($1000), pads ($500), belt, transmission and diff oil flush, radiator flush. Some of these will need to be done at a dealer.

2) Sell the car and buy a 2019 GT350 with warranty and extend the warranty with flood ford so that this warranty lapping never happens (was a big mistake I did this with my GT350). The cost of this will be around $20-25k (I am getting $40-42k for my car).

On one hand I think I have too many miles on the car and too much maintenance and that I should "cash out" and not push my luck. This car has been good to me, it never let me down but eventually if you keep overplaying your hand, you may lose big time (good poker players are the ones who know when to stop).

On another hand, I think I got a "good copy" of a GT350 and that if something was going to fail in 75,000 miles, it would have done so.

You know, at least you're enjoying the car and driving it as intended - 75k, that's nothing these days - post back when the car has 200k on it and let us j ow how it's going.

Seriously, the car is paid off - you're enjoying it by the accrued miles - keep it. Buy the Warranty for piece of mind, make sure it covers the most expensive components. Even if you put it on a collector car insurance and drive it sparingly, just keep it.

You've owned it since new, you know what you have as far as how the car is maintained, it's quirks, it's positive mechanical ownership, and it's been a good overall car. You know the minute you relinquish the keys to it, you'll be back on here saying "I wish I never did that" and will be looking for another to replace . . . what you can't replace...

I say keep it - regardless of what the current market is, more so if there is no financial impact OR hardship where you definitively NEED to sell.

 

[UnhandledException]

Just an update. I have been doing some further research on extended warranties in order to try and come up with an accurate final figure of cost of owning the car.

First and foremost, there isn't an extended warranty that covers beyond $15,000 of liability out of the box - which obviously does not work for GT350 as the engine alone is $29,000. I have found two companies (Endurance and Carchex) that have extra coverages that can cover up to $50,000 and their cost is about %70 higher. Of the two, Endurance has the best coverage for $5,600. It covers an additional 5 years and 100,000 more miles.

While that's good, the concern is the amount of exclusions. I am attaching the relevant pages of the contract that outlines the exclusions. Some of which that are of concern are:

1. Body panels, including paint
2. Headlights
3. Seats, seat frames, seat rails
4. Suspension components such as shock towers, struts, springs, control arms, etc
5. Oil consumption or compression problems unless a major breakdown occurs
6. Brake systems such as calipers, spindle, etc (not expecting it to cover rotors or pads, but the rest of the system should really be covered)
7. Most failure prone parts of the manual transmission such as cylinder, throw out bearing, etc

So that's the extended warranty side of things.

In addition to the extended warranty cost of $5,600. My GT350 will need new sets of rotors ($1200), new sets of pads ($400), change of transmission oil and differential fluid ($250), change of belts (main and A/C), $50, radiator flush ($400 - Ford dealer's cost), new alignment ($250), fuel filter ($50), new driver's side seat rails ($250). These are immediate items. Then there is a longer term items that I'd need to do in 12-24 months : wheel hubs (I change my wheels multiple times a year due to needing snow tires and my studs are not in good shape) - $1500, coils ($400), motor mounts ($400).

Total cost of everything = $11,000.

Cost of upgrading to a newer car = $25,000 (worst case).

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