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2018 GT 6MT Grinding Noise When Releasing the Clutch

Nanashii

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This is a continuation of this thread since the OP disappeared and the current title is of no use if someone else is looking into this problem. The mods can merge the threads and edit the title to be more relevant if they see fit. From what I found, there are ~10 people on this forum with this issue.

This afternoon I recorded a video to demonstrate the issue in more detail. Essentially there is a grinding noise coming from the bottom front of the car as the clutch is being released following an up-shift above 4K RPM. This happens when shifting in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear and beyond that I haven't tested for obvious reasons. I can also feel some vibration through the clutch pedal. There is some noise when releasing the clutch below 4K RPM as well but it's very faint. I can only hear it in the morning when the car is cold and I am driving slowly through the neighborhood. As I mentioned in the other thread, I completed a road test with my dealer's shop foreman who confirmed the noise, wrote a repair order and opened a ticket with Ford's Hot Line. He also checked the system and didn't find any documentation for this problem. This happened on Monday. I took the car home with me and currently, I am waiting to hear from the dealer which should happen as soon as Ford gives them instructions on how to go about diagnosing and fixing whatever is causing the noise. I am hoping to hear something tomorrow or on Thursday at the latest and drop off the car. I am also planning to open a case with Ford's Customer Service by the end of the week.

[ame]

Toward the end (4:55-5:30) of the video, I also captured the rattle which a lot of people are discussing in the other thread.


Update 5/2: Dealer called and requested that I drop off the car. Ford wants them to pull the transmission and inspect it along with the clutch.

Update 5/3: Dropped off the car at the dealer. They plan on inspecting the entire clutch assembly closely and sending pictures to Ford. The waiting game has begun. Also opened a case with Ford's Customer Service.

Update 5/7: Had a missed call from the dealer on Friday, so I stopped by this morning on the way to the office. The car was just sitting up on a lift. It looked like they hadn't done any work on it yet. The service rep said they've kept going back and forward with Ford. Ford thinks it's the clutch. The dealer thinks it's the trans (odd since the shop foreman thought it was the clutch as well after the road test). I think it's the clutch. I'll give them a couple of more days to get everything apart and inspected and if it's still not done, I'll have to start making calls and sending emails to Ford CS and the dealership management.

Spoke with the dealer once again and they were able to pull the transmission today. They found hot spots on the flywheel and think the flywheel was defective which is causing the grinding noise when releasing the clutch. They will be replacing the flywheel and the pressure plate but the flywheel is on back order from Ford until mid June. Waiting to hear from their Ford rep regarding expediting a new flywheel.

Update 5/8: Went to the dealer today and talked to the service adviser, trans tech, shop foreman and the service director. The tech showed me a picture with hot spots on one side of the flywheel. He also showed me a video where you can see a good amount of play in the fly wheel assembly which shouldn't be there. I am guessing that is where the noise was coming from. They are going to be replacing the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. The case has been escalated beyond the dealer's rep so hopefully I'll hear some good news on the parts back order soon. I requested the picture of the flywheel and the video showing the play. I'll post them on here as soon as I get them.

Also spoke with Ford's customer relationship center again and the case will be escalated to the regional customer service manager.

Update 5/17: Not much in terms of updates. Last week Ford was able to source a flywheel which should be at the dealership by now. The clutch is still on back-order. A few units should be shipped next week from the packager, but it's unclear who will be getting them since there are more orders than the number of clutches getting shipped. The next shipping dates are in June. The CS rep will touch base with me next Wednesday and if there is no update on the clutch, the case will be submitted for buyback review. Apparently there is a new part number for the clutch. There was some talk here on the forums that Ford was making revisions, so there may indeed be a revised clutch out there now for the 2019-.

Update 5/25: Clutch assembly is still on back order possibly until mid-June. The dealer reinstalled the drive-train and released the car back to me earlier this week. They'll hold onto the new flywheel and I'll bring the car in once they get the clutch and the rest of the parts from Ford. The service manager told me that there are more than a dozen people with this problem nationwide. Everyone is waiting on parts, so Ford is definitely warrantying this issue. I am pretty sure Ford has been aware of this problem for some time since they told the dealer exactly where to look and what to look for when the techs opened a ticket with the Ford hot line.

I got a call from the regional customer service manager at Ford on this afternoon to let me know that the new clutch assembly for my car has shipped. If all goes well and the dealer has it in their hands early this week, I just have to drop off the car in the am and should be able to pick it up the following day with the new flywheel and clutch in there.
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Nanashii

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That sucks [MENTION=11611]Nanashii[/MENTION] that you had to drop off your car already. Last night I did a full throttle run from 40 MPH to 110 MPH with a 2nd to 3rd to 4th gear shifts at 7000+RPM and I got no grinding noise but earlier in the day I got about half a grind noise on a shift or two. Hopefully Ford finds a solution. I do think some cars are worse than others.
Yeah it does. If you have any grind at all something is off imo. I actually don't hear any noise when shifting near 7000 RPM. It's around 5000-6000 where its most audible and especially if you don't release the clutch very fast. The longer the release (in terms of what's normal for driving a manual), the more grinding. You can actually see that in the video. Hopefully the dealer can figure it out when they take a look at the clutch. I've driven 3-4 other 2018 GTs and none of them had this issue. I was actually able to significantly reduce the grind by releasing the clutch a lot quicker which another member on here told me about. I've also opened a case with Ford's Customer Service department. The dealer said all findings need to be documented, photographed and sent to Ford before moving forward.
 
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Nanashii

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Per my update in the original post, the dealer pulled the transmission today and found hot spots on the flywheel. They think the flywheel was defective and that's what's causing the grinding noise when releasing the clutch. Has anyone experienced anything like that before and does it make sense to those who have a heavier technical background? They plan on replacing the flywheel and the pressure plate.
 
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Nanashii

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That's the theory. My question is why that would cause the grinding noise unless the flywheel has started failing internally (causing the noise) which in turn caused contact issues and hot spots. I'll try to speak with the techs tomorrow and take some pictures of everything.
 
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That's the theory. My question is why that would cause the grinding noise unless the flywheel has started failing internally (causing the noise) which in turn caused contact issues and hot spots. I'll try to speak with the techs tomorrow and take some pictures of everything.
Thanks again for taking point on this one. I want to take mine to the dealer soon. The supposed back order of parts is making me hold off a little.
 
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Nanashii

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I went to the dealer today and talked to the service adviser, trans tech, shop foreman and the service director. The tech showed me a picture with hot spots on one side of the flywheel. He also showed me a video where you can see a good amount of play in the fly wheel assembly which shouldn't be there. I am guessing that is where the noise was coming from. They are going to be replacing the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. The case has been escalated beyond the dealer's rep so hopefully I'll hear some good news on the parts back order soon. I requested the picture of the flywheel and the video showing the play. I'll post them on here as soon as I get them.
 

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Not sure with all the issues Ford seems to have had with the Getrag, why they don't just put the Tremec in the GT and be done with it. I had the T56 in my GTO with a JHP short throw and LS7 clutch. It was bullitt proof for me at 420 rwhp and a lot of spirited driving.
 
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Nanashii

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Yea that's my hold up too. My car only does the noise once a day or so but I don't want to bring it in and lose it for a couple weeks or more since there is a parts back order.
I thought about this too but decided to just bring it in and get it fixed right away. With a car like the Mustang, I can see Ford trying to blame it on me and not even authorize the dealer to pull the trans to investigate if I had brought the car in a year later with 10,000-15,000 miles on the clock. At the very least I'd take it in and have them document the noise and create a repair order now, so you can have some kind of a paper trail showing that the issue was present from the very beginning.

I also called back the customer service line and the case is getting escalated to the regional customer service manager. Hopefully this will speed things up but I doubt it.
 

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I have a March 12th build date. From time to time, I have noticed vibration in the clutch but could never pinpoint when it happens. Also, I always drove with music and windows down so didn't hear anything. After watching your video, I took it out yesterday, no music with windows up and anytime I shift up or down past ~6000 RPM, I feel vibration in the clutch and hear a grinding noise. I was able to replicate it shifting up into 2nd and 3rd, as well as down shifting into 2nd. It almost feels like the clutch is slipping.

Yours seems to be happening at lower RPMs, thats said, I still have the issue. Bringing it in Tuesday morning for a check. I'm in Canada so I do not know if the back order thing affects me or not. Thanks for this tread.
 

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BLU2DSKY

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Yea that's my hold up too. My car only does the noise once a day or so but I don't want to bring it in and lose it for a couple weeks or more since there is a parts back order.
If I remember correctly, we have very similar build dates, I remember you from the orders thread. I would suggest driving it hard, shift up at 6000 RPM, and down shift into the 5k-6k range, see what happens. Mines definitely has the issue, albeit at higher RPMS than Nanashii.
 
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Nanashii

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You get your car back yet?
Haven't gotten it back yet. The dealer should have the new flywheel at this point but the clutch is still on back-order. There are five clutch assemblies shipping out on Monday from the packager, but there are a bunch of orders and the CS rep can't see where my dealer's order is in the line. All orders had to be updated with the new part number due to a revision to the clutch for the 18s so that's part of the reason for the back-orders. The next shipping days Ford is seeing are in June. I think there is one more car at the dealer with this same problem although the noise wasn't as evident according to the service director. I have a follow up call with the CS manager next Wednesday and if we are still waiting on the clutch to ship, they will start the buy back review process and I'll probably go for the same exact build on a 2019. That would probably be the best outcome with all the engine issues the 18s are having.

I have a March 12th build date. From time to time, I have noticed vibration in the clutch but could never pinpoint when it happens. Also, I always drove with music and windows down so didn't hear anything. After watching your video, I took it out yesterday, no music with windows up and anytime I shift up or down past ~6000 RPM, I feel vibration in the clutch and hear a grinding noise. I was able to replicate it shifting up into 2nd and 3rd, as well as down shifting into 2nd. It almost feels like the clutch is slipping.

Yours seems to be happening at lower RPMs, thats said, I still have the issue. Bringing it in Tuesday morning for a check. I'm in Canada so I do not know if the back order thing affects me or not. Thanks for this tread.
Yup, I am in the same situation. In my case the grinding was happening from ~5K RPM all the way to red line. There was also vibration in the clutch as I mentioned in the OP.

When you take the car in, just ask them to go on a road test with the service manager/shop foreman or a tech so you can demonstrate the issue right then and there. Otherwise it's very likely that they'll tell you that they couldn't duplicate the noise and you'll just have to go back do demonstrate it yourself. This way you can just save yourself some time.

This is what my flywheel looks like. For comparison, the clutch still looks brand new. No glazing or anything. There is also a lot of back and forward play in the flywheel assembly which shouldn't be there. I am still trying to get the video showing the play.
IMG_4037.JPG
 
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BLU2DSKY

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When I called, I asked her to document that I want to ride with the foreman, I don't wanna deal with "nothing is wrong" bullshit.

You're right, it's probably 5k and up. Pretty shitty for a car that is built to be high reving. I hope that is the issue and not something else. I already have Xpel on it, don't want to have to go through a buy back process and apparently Canada has no lemon law.
 
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Nanashii

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I hope that is the issue and not something else. I already have Xpel on it, don't want to have to go through a buy back process and apparently Canada has no lemon law.
I'd be out ~$300 for tire mounting, road force balance and alignment. I'd rather just take the car back within the next two weeks (it has already been three weeks), but I have a feeling this will push to mid-June at the earliest at which point I'll just ask Ford to keep it and give me a 2019.
 
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Nanashii

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Would you have to pay for the price increase for the now $1700 cloth recaros?
Not sure but I'd argue very hard that the cloth seats are $1,700 on the 2018s as well and there was probably some mistake on my early order if they actually go by the price on the order invoice instead of the current pricing sheets for the model years. Hopefully the clutch just gets shipped out on Monday.

If I absolutely have to pay for the recaro seats, I’ll just do it for the leather ones and move up to a 401A.
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