2018 GT Clutch Chatter

[CDM77]

I just picked up a brand new 2018 GT Premium Performance Pack with manual trans. The car was transferred from a dealership a few states away (300+ miles). We went to look at the car when it first arrived to check for any damage, but were unable to take it for a drive. I went to pick it up and noticed right away that the clutch chattered when first taking off. Once moving it was fine. I figured it was because it was new. I drove it a while this weekend making sure to hit areas with a lot of stop signs and lights. It has not improved at all. We contacted our sales person, who is a personal friend, and let him know what was going on. He agreed that it does not sound normal, but is not a mechanic. In looking at the dash I found that launch control was set to 5000 and had a 1.86g left turn recorded. I am thinking that at the previous dealer someone had been joyriding with this car and possibly damaged the clutch or flywheel. I am heading back later this week and I'm going to have them inspect the clutch and flywheel for damage. Has anyone else had this chatter on a new clutch? I don't believe this is normal.

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[BLU2DSKY]

My car had 6.7 KMs at pick up and I have chatter. It's annoying as hell. I drove a manual for 13 years before this, so I'm not a noob. But I took it to a performance shop who stated I probably broke the car in too hard. However I am one of those who wanted it to push it a bit during break in, but I NEVER smelled any clutch burn at any point. I honestly think the clutch is not strong enough for this car. If I remember correctly, Ben Calmer (not sure how you spell it but the dude who rebuilds MT-82s) stated as such to LS_Eater and he mentons it in a video.

 

[Kong76]

I don't have an 18 with the dual mass fly and twin disc clutch but when I had my clutch replaced the new one chattered a bit in first and reverse for about 600 miles. After that it slowly went away. Problem is the first 500 or so is the break in period where you gotta baby it. No telling what they did in that first 300. The launch control and Gs is no bueno though in my opinion.

 

[99Zeus99]

Drove my car home at highway speeds with no crazy launches for 520 when new. It's at 1850 now and no clutch issues. Break in proper is important.

 

[CDM77]

I have an appointment Friday to have the service manager take a ride. Just from my description he said that it was either abused or has a bad clutch right from the start. They should be able to tell with an inspection. He assured me that they will get it right for me (I'm a long time customer and we bought 2 new cars from them this past week). The service manager sounded pissed when he heard about launch control being set so high. He said "I sure hope nobody at that dealership was effing with your car". My wife and I are on vacation next week so I told the service manager that they can keep the car for the week to get everything right. There were some rattles and a spot above the windshield where paint was either missed or the surface was dirty during painting. Hopefully they find something wrong with the clutch/flywheel and replace it. I just hope this is the only problem if someone at the previous dealer beat on it. Maybe an extended warranty should be added for my inconvenience.

 

[CDM77]

I picked up my car after it sat at the dealer for the week. The service manager drove it and confirmed the clutch shudders badly from a stop. He contacted Ford and they told him that they would not authorize a repair. They want more miles on the car before doing anything. There were a few other 2018 GTs on the lot and he drove them. None of them had any clutch shudder. They were all smooth engaging. Once I got the car home I gave it a quick wash. This is the first time it has been washed by me. When drying I noticed some light spots in the paint that could only be seen on an overcast day, not in bright sunlight. They were sanding and buffing marks. I checked further and it looks like the entire drivers side rear quarter has been repainted. All the way up to the roof. There is some dirt in the paint and sections are really smooth where they wet sanded. I took a paint depth meter and checked the paint thickness. It was 2-3 mils thicker from mid way up the roof down to the gas cap. The quarter window also looks to have been replaced. The rubber molding is not seated correctly. I contacted my dealer the next morning and he was really concerned. They brought in this car from another dealer and had not gotten any damage disclosure.

Now I have clutch and paint problems. These along with the g readings and high launch control settings lead me to believe that someone was messing around with this car at the other dealership, wrecked it, and covered it up. I'm not sure what, if anything we can do about this now. We did check the car over at delivery, but didn't notice the paint damage in the bright dealership delivery room, but let them know right away when it was found. The cosmetic issues can be fixed, but do I really want a new car with at a least the quarter and roof repainted. If someone was launching a new engine at 5500 RPM what kind of damage could they have done to the engine/transmission. If it was wrecked, what other parts are damaged that we can't see. I've only driven the car about 50 miles since purchased 3 weeks ago, the dealer put another 50 or so on doing clutch diagnosis and fixing various rattles. I paid around 48k for this car and it is in much worse condition that my 2015 that I traded in. We had a lot of excitement when we picked up this car, but now, honestly, I want it gone. Too many issues and "coincidences" for this car not to have been abused.

 

[Kong76]

I would ask the manager what does Ford determine is enough miles as far as the clutch? As soon as you hit that target take it back. Sounds like you have hot pots on the flywheel caused possibly by the aggressive launching/driving. Once that happens it doesn't go away, you will need a new clutch.

The paint issue if legit is a major problem for sure. Here in Ca if any damage repair exceeds $1000 it has to be reported. If I paid $48k for a car and if these are a result of abuse or damage I would go apeshit!.. Hence my name.

 

[CDM77]

I have a meeting Wednesday afternoon with the sales manager, body shop manager, and service manager to determine what to do with the car. I've logged all the issues and the dates in which I noticed them. The sales manager was going to contact the dealer that they got this car from to see if they have any ideas what happened. I doubt they would admit any negligence, but my dealer wants an answer as bad as I do. We made it know that we don't want the car if there is proof that it was abuse and/or damaged. I guess we'll see what they say on Wednesday.

Ford didn't say what they consider enough miles. It already has around 400 (moved from dealerships). I would think that would be more than enough. The sales manager told me any time I was in the area to stop by so he can log that the clutch still shudders. All he needs to do it drive it around the parking lot to prove it still does it.

 

[Kong76]

Good luck man.

 

[CDM77]

This morning I decided to take the car to work. Shifted from 1st to 2nd at around 4k. Let the clutch out slowly and it made several loud metallic bangs as the clutch engaged. I thought that was the end of the clutch, but it kept going and didn't do it again on the trip to work. This thing is messed up.

 

[MSMStannyl]

This morning I decided to take the car to work. Shifted from 1st to 2nd at around 4k. Let the clutch out slowly and it made several loud metallic bangs as the clutch engaged. I thought that was the end of the clutch, but it kept going and didn't do it again on the trip to work. This thing is messed up.

That may just be the drivetrain "slop". Been an issue since at least 15' which is what mine is. You kinda get used to it. I will say now that I'm at around 50k miles, I don't really notice anymore. Not sure if it's gone away or I'm just so used to it. Lol. I'll have to pay more attention.

Good luck with everything else tho.

 

[CDM77]

Met with the service and body shop managers to address all the issues I am having. The body shop is going to repair all paint defects and replace the rear quarter window that has the damaged molding. They believe the damage was repaired at the factory and they just did a poor job of buffing a polishing the repair. The problem is still with the clutch. The service manager has his hands tied by Ford. They will not authorize any inspection or repair until the car has 1000 miles on it. They sent the dealership a message basically telling me to drive it much more aggressively to speed up the burnishing of the clutch. Ford wants the dealership to re calibrate the crank position sensor since some cases of clutch shudder have been caused by a low RPM engine stall and not the clutch at all. As far as the possible abuse of the car before I got it, there is no way of telling what if anything was done.

 

[Andy13186]

I really would try some hard launches to hopefully smooth it out, like 4k rpm and slip it a bit more than usual a couple times and see what happens. Slow but smooth let out for 2-3 seconds holding 4k-4.5k rpm Might work. GL


1.86g left turn sounds like someone was doing donuts though..

Edit, if it only has 50 miles definitely drive it a few hundred atleast if possible I agree with the 1000 mile thing, just bring it back at 1000 if its still doing weird stuff after you launch it like I described above a few times.

 

[BmacIL]

I just picked up a brand new 2018 GT Premium Performance Pack with manual trans. The car was transferred from a dealership a few states away (300+ miles). We went to look at the car when it first arrived to check for any damage, but were unable to take it for a drive. I went to pick it up and noticed right away that the clutch chattered when first taking off. Once moving it was fine. I figured it was because it was new. I drove it a while this weekend making sure to hit areas with a lot of stop signs and lights. It has not improved at all. We contacted our sales person, who is a personal friend, and let him know what was going on. He agreed that it does not sound normal, but is not a mechanic. In looking at the dash I found that launch control was set to 5000 and had a 1.86g left turn recorded. I am thinking that at the previous dealer someone had been joyriding with this car and possibly damaged the clutch or flywheel. I am heading back later this week and I'm going to have them inspect the clutch and flywheel for damage. Has anyone else had this chatter on a new clutch? I don't believe this is normal.

That car has been abused, and possibly wrecked. The 1.86g would be tough to do without slamming sideways into something.

 

[MSMStannyl]

That car has been abused, and possibly wrecked. The 1.86g would be tough to do without slamming sideways into something.

True. Check Youtube. There's got to be video of that car driven by a dealership tech at a cars and coffee event. Lol.

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