2019 Mustang GT clutch defect?

[Reid6ix]

Okay so where to start with this. Bought a brand new GT back in April and it was great. I’m 22 so as you can assume I drive the car hard. Has very simple mods but nothing engine wise. So back in November I had a issue with the clutch and it locked me out every gear. Got it towed to ford and they call me a week later and say they took it apart and it was complete clutch failure. Said specifically that there was no material left on the disk. The 19’ has a twin disk. Should be able to hold stock power well beyond the 11,000 miles the car has. Okay so they quote me 1900 and some change to replace it with a ford factory clutch. Nope, so try to warranty it and they obviously won’t but I was told that if it looked like a factory defect or failure, they he would warranty it. So kept putting it off and wouldn’t let me see it with my own eyes. You could hear material in there when it let out. So clearly something serious broke. Well this is all just in time for McLeod to have a 20% off sale on their RXT twin disk for my car so I bought it and ford put it in. Crazy they did that but they did and charged 850 for labor so came out just over 2,000 said and done and have a clutch that won’t break. Cool. So get the car back and I kept the OEM clutch to keep. I’ve attached some pictures of it. The disks are fine. Still plenty of material left and so that was a lie. From what it looks like a rivet broke off and the bands for the pressure plate separated and broke. Now has any one ever seen clutches like this break? I don’t know much about twin disks but I have never seen any clutch break this way. Opinions? I’m looking for some information before I go after ford to refund the labor cost. Because in my opinion, this looks like a factory defect or warrantable issue. Thanks.

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[Cobra Jet]

1st:
There’s not jack wrong with the clutch discs, plenty of material left and even someone who has no eyes in their head would say the same if they felt it with their bare hands.

2nd:
Based on your pictures - that is a defect IF the securing rivet head prematurely snapped due to weakness in its design or materials. Whether you want to call it a defect of actual materials of the rivet composition or QC defect by Manufacturer of the part, in the end yes that is a defect IF the rivet failed based on it’s design specs and purported strength in that aspect of its intended role.

3rd:
Did the pressure plate rivet fail due to a defect as noted in #2 above OR did it fail based on “abuse”? That right there is totally subjective and most likely why Ford denied it as a Warranty Claim. Now most would look at your images and say “yes it was failure due to defect” ... but from a Warranty aspect via Ford and Ford Engineering, that clutch system and associated parts were tested to withstand X load and tolerance specs from “normal” use - NOT sustained “abuse”. Now, even “abuse” is subjective - would it be constant 5k-6k clutch dumps and slam shifting or was it 2k clutch dumps with the occasional slam shifting, or was full throttle WOT blasts grinding every gear, or was it weekend drag racing.... blah blah blah... you get the idea...

As a side note, if ANYONE were to read their Owners Manual regarding warranty work - AND it’s clearly stated in the Ford Policy & Warranty Manual that the Dealerships have to adhere to - any type of “racing” that results in the breakage or damage to any parts is not covered under Warranty, period. Get this too, even though the GT350/350R and GT500 are totally designed as hard core track cars and Ford KNOWS they will be whooped on, the same verbiage in their Owner’s Manuals and warranty statement applies (believe it or not).

4th:
If you want to try and push the “failure by defect” you could call the Ford 800# and get a Regional CSR Rep who can open a Claim for you. What I would do in this instance is explain the situation as you have outlined here - AND tell the CSR Rep what you were told; that the Service Center told you that the warranty was denied and the failure was due to the clutch discs having “no material” on them. Then tell the CSR you will send hi-res photos of the factory parts clearly showing (A) the absence of clutch disc material is not true and (B) the failure looks to have been the result of the pressure plate rivet failure. When you send the images of the rivet failure, circle the failed area and head in red; also include an image of the same securing parts opposite on the pressure plate that have not failed and circle those in green to show the differences...

Tell the CSR Rep that you believe that the parts and labor should have been covered under warranty, because the Service Center Tech misdiagnosed the repair claim. All your seeking is fair compensation.

When talking to the CSR, remain professional and polite - don’t go off the deep end, it won’t get you anywhere.

Again, totally subjective as to why or how the rivet failed and under what circumstances - BUT in the end, the failure definitely was not caused by clutch disc failure as you were told.

Good luck and post any updates.

 

[Reid6ix]

1st:
There’s not jack wrong with the clutch discs, plenty of material left and even someone who has no eyes in their head would say the same if they felt it with their bare hands.

2nd:
Based on your pictures - that is a defect IF the securing rivet head prematurely snapped due to weakness in its design or materials. Whether you want to call it a defect of actual materials of the rivet composition or QC defect by Manufacturer of the part, in the end yes that is a defect IF the rivet failed based on it’s design specs and purported strength in that aspect of its intended role.

3rd:
Did the pressure plate rivet fail due to a defect as noted in #2 above OR did it fail based on “abuse”? That right there is totally subjective and most likely why Ford denied it as a Warranty Claim. Now most would look at your images and say “yes it was failure due to defect” ... but from a Warranty aspect via Ford and Ford Engineering, that clutch system and associated parts were tested to withstand X load and tolerance specs from “normal” use - NOT sustained “abuse”. Now, even “abuse” is subjective - would it be constant 5k-6k clutch dumps and slam shifting or was it 2k clutch dumps with the occasional slam shifting, or was full throttle WOT blasts grinding every gear, or was it weekend drag racing.... blah blah blah... you get the idea...

As a side note, if ANYONE were to read their Owners Manual regarding warranty work - AND it’s clearly stated in the Ford Policy & Warranty Manual that the Dealerships have to adhere to - any type of “racing” that results in the breakage or damage to any parts is not covered under Warranty, period. Get this too, even though the GT350/350R and GT500 are totally designed as hard core track cars and Ford KNOWS they will be whooped on, the same verbiage in their Owner’s Manuals and warranty statement applies (believe it or not).

4th:
If you want to try and push the “failure by defect” you could call the Ford 800# and get a Regional CSR Rep who can open a Claim for you. What I would do in this instance is explain the situation as you have outlined here - AND tell that Tep what you were told - that the Service Center told you that the warranty was denied and the failure was due to the clutch discs having “no material” on them. Then tell the CSR you will send hi-res photos of the factory parts clearly showing (A) the absence of clutch disc material is not true and (B) the failure looks to have been the result of the pressure plate rivet failure. When you send the images of the rivet failure, circle the failed area and head in red; also include an image of the same securing parts opposite on the pressure plate that have not failed and circle those in green to show the differences...

Tell the CSR Rep that you believe that the parts and labor should have been covered under warranty, because the Service Center Tech misdiagnosed the repair claim. All your seeking is fair compensation.

When talking to the CSR, remain professional and polite - don’t go off the deep end, it won’t get you anywhere.

Again, totally subjective as to why or how the rivet failed and under what circumstances - BUT in the end, the failure definitely was not caused by clutch disc failure as you were told.

Good luck and post any updates.

The car was driven. But no clutch dumps or anything too rough. No track use or anything like that. So I guess the next step is to call the 800# and go from there. See what happens. That’s for your input!

 

[Cobra Jet]

The car was driven. But no clutch dumps or anything too rough. No track use or anything like that. So I guess the next step is to call the 800# and go from there. See what happens. That’s for your input!

Understood about how it was driven. I’m just trying to lay it out there as to how or why Ford may have denied the repair from a warranty review aspect of those specific parts. I do think their Tech AND Service Writer need to be retrained, because clearly the failure was not because of the clutch discs as it was portrayed to you.

You’re also smart enough to ask for the factory parts back (not many people do ask for parts back or even question their repair orders) because again, those factory parts don’t align with what you were being told as far as the “failure”.

See what the Regional CSR says and tell the CSR you definitely want to send your hi-res pics to prove the failure was NOT associated with the clutch discs.

Curious - exactly what was the statement left on your Ford invoice/work order for the repair? Did the Tech note that the repair was due to absence of clutch disc material?

 

[Reid6ix]

Understood about how it was driven. I’m just trying to lay it out there as to how or why Ford may have denied the repair from a warranty review aspect of those specific parts. I do think their Tech AND Service Writer need to be retrained, because clearly the failure was not because of the clutch discs as it was portrayed to you.

You’re also smart enough to ask for the factory parts back (not many people do ask for parts back or even question their repair orders) because again, those factory parts don’t align with what you were being told as far as the “failure”.

See what the Regional CSR says and tell the CSR you definitely want to send your hi-res pics to prove the failure was NOT associated with the clutch discs.

Curious - exactly what was the statement left on your Ford invoice/work order for the repair? Did the Tech note that the repair was due to absence of clutch disc material?

well they said a week into it that they took it out and I said I’m on my way to come see it and they said okay. That’s when they told me no material etc. so I get there 20 mins later and they can’t have it back out and show me until Monday, this was a Wednesday. Okay. So you’re telling me you pulled everything and neither service tech or service manager physically saw it. Only the mechanic who “took it apart”. Yeah okay. And he did this, full disassembly and reassembly in 3 hours time? I’m sure he’s good but not that good.

so I tell them I want to be there when it drops to see it. Obviously they didn’t call me and I never saw it before the car was back in my hands fixed. I’ll go out and get the invoice in a few mins and send some pictures of it and see what it says.

Also went at it with them about using a NEW factory throw out bearing. McLeods clutch is designed to work with factory hydraulics. Okay. Went round and round with ford for 3 days trying to convince them of this. I understand wanting to upgrade it for a stronger heavy duty one but if you go looking, for 18’ and up cars there’s no option. Not from McLeod or lethal or any of those top brands that would be okay to pair with a 800hp McLeod clutch. So ford knows something about what they’re doing but I feel like I was taken advantage of because of my age. I gave them hell but did my best to work with them and play the game. And I didn’t end up too bad until I realized that it very well could have been defective. First thing they said was my tires were bald so I was racing etc. R compound kuhmo ps-91 tires are soft so they work. No shit they’re worn. 11k on soft tires, do the math.

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