Clutch went out. Ford not covering it?

[04SloSnake]

Yep, here's a cut and paste from the Ford warranty pamphlet. Only thing is, what was the cause of the failure? Was it just normal wear and tear, or was there some other problem that led to this major failure. By the looks of the photos, it looks like maybe more than just "normal wear and tear" unless it was at the drag strip every weekend since new.

Maintenance/Wear
The New Vehicle Limited Warranty does not cover: (1) parts and labor
needed to maintain the vehicle; and (2) the replacement of parts due to
normal wear and tear. You, as the owner, are responsible for these items.
See your Owner’s Manual. Some examples of maintenance and normal
wear are:
• oil changes
• oils, lubricants, other fluids
• oil/air filters
• tire rotation/inflation
• cleaning/polishing
• clutch linings
• wiper blades*
• wheel alignments and tire balancing*
• brake pad/lining*

Ummm...where did you get that idea? The car has 33k/3 year bumper to bumper warranty. That includes the clutch.


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Read above.

Wrong. No clutch should wear out in 6400miles. Buddy of mine(15 GT) had his replaced under warranty with a chatter issue.

Someone was even nice enough to post it for you in black and white. The clutch shouldn't go out, but nobody knows how this car was actually driven.

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[Excelerater]

Your best bet is to call the dealer you purchased it from, explain your clutch went out and this dealer is refusing to warranty it.

Dealers who sell you the vehicle will be more likely to work with you in "gray" areas such as this.

Did your mods cause the clutch to fail? Hell no.

Can a dealer use your mods to deny warranty coverage? With the tune, yes, that is enough for them to put up a fight and tell you to take a hike.

Its at their discretion , my dealer did cover me when my diesel lifted the heads
but i did return it to stock and did a lot of tap dancing,if you brought your car to the dealer modified its on you..


I would drop in an aftermarket unit and learn from the experience . DONT go to the dealer with mods

 

[yellowragtop]

92 posts and NO ONE has said anything yet about his hydraulic clutch pedal.

If for any reason, when he lets his foot off the clutch, if the throwout bearing for whatever reason it is, is "stuck" such as there is air in the line, and the throwout bearing is still pushing against the pressure plate, then what may have happened is he is out driving around, and unknowingly it is as if his foot is pushing on the clutch pedal all the time.

If something like this occurred, then his clutch disk would wear down.

Older cars have a clutch pedal where when you first touch it, you can feel "free play" and you don't feel resistance for the first 1" or 2" of pedal travel.

Right now, what if his car does not have this free play. He needs to remove the clutch return spring. Then push the clutch pedal. If it already was very hard to push then it is possible that there was some issue with the throwout bearing.

I am just "throwing" this out there only if the OP genuinely drove his car normally for the most part when he drove it.

I just looked up a photo from a 2013 mustang GT throwout bearing. I am seeing it has only One single hydraulic line. I am now a little curious how you bleed air out of this line. I don't see a 2nd line or fitting anywhere to bleed the system.

 

[mustang_guy]

I didn't mention it because youd have seen actual glazing on the flywheel too. Not just the pressure plate. However there isnt a lot of light in the flywheel picture. Maybe it wasnt picked up in the picture because of it.

 

[Glenn G]

92 posts and NO ONE has said anything yet about his hydraulic clutch pedal.

If for any reason, when he lets his foot off the clutch, if the throwout bearing for whatever reason it is, is "stuck" such as there is air in the line, and the throwout bearing is still pushing against the pressure plate, then what may have happened is he is out driving around, and unknowingly it is as if his foot is pushing on the clutch pedal all the time.

If something like this occurred, then his clutch disk would wear down.

Older cars have a clutch pedal where when you first touch it, you can feel "free play" and you don't feel resistance for the first 1" or 2" of pedal travel.

Right now, what if his car does not have this free play. He needs to remove the clutch return spring. Then push the clutch pedal. If it already was very hard to push then it is possible that there was some issue with the throwout bearing.

I am just "throwing" this out there only if the OP genuinely drove his car normally for the most part when he drove it.

I just looked up a photo from a 2013 mustang GT throwout bearing. I am seeing it has only One single hydraulic line. I am now a little curious how you bleed air out of this line. I don't see a 2nd line or fitting anywhere to bleed the system.

Nah. If the clutch was not clamping properly it would slip, that would generate tons of heat and the fly wheel and cover would show it. The only wear I see on both is where the disc rubbed without any friction material when it failed. Nothing at all in the pictures indicates even hard use, let alone abuse.

 

[Tofino]

If the engine revs were flaring when he got on the gas due to clutch slip he didn't mention it.
And usually if you have air in the lines the clutch actually will not release properly when you step on the clutch pedal... not cause it to slip.
If I was Ford i wouldn't warranty it.
It is clearly written in the exemptions that the clutch is not covered even if left stock. But he took it in with his after market hop up parts on it to really slap the warranty writers face when asking for it to be fixed.
So I will be either adding a SC or spraying mine this winter.
So if my clutch goes should I then ask for Ford to warranty it as well.
How much modding is too much before a car owner thinks they voided their warranty? Personally I think any mods to the engine void my warranty from engine all the way back to the diff.

 

[redline727]

I am now a little curious how you bleed air out of this line. I don't see a 2nd line or fitting anywhere to bleed the system.

These clutches are vacuum bled through the reservoir. Quite easy actually, you just need a vacuum bleeder like a cheap mighty vac and a #10.5 or #11 rubber stopper with a hole drilled through the center, with a 1/4 fitting in it to connect the vacuum line up to it. Hold 20in of vacuum for 1 min. Release, then pump pedal 10-15 times, then repeat all steps 2-3 more times until you get desired pedal feel back. If it doesn't hold vacuum you have a tiny leak somewhere or the rubber stopper isn't sealing on top of the reservoir. This is the proper way to bleed this system, the way Ford bless the system, and how everyone should do it. Even though many believe pumping the pedal 100+ will do the same, it's a cheap investment to do it the recommended way. Plus knowing the system is holding vacuum is insurance all its own.

 

[wmsky33]

Yep, here's a cut and paste from the Ford warranty pamphlet. Only thing is, what was the cause of the failure? Was it just normal wear and tear, or was there some other problem that led to this major failure. By the looks of the photos, it looks like maybe more than just "normal wear and tear" unless it was at the drag strip every weekend since new.

Maintenance/Wear
The New Vehicle Limited Warranty does not cover: (1) parts and labor
needed to maintain the vehicle; and (2) the replacement of parts due to
normal wear and tear. You, as the owner, are responsible for these items.
See your Owner’s Manual. Some examples of maintenance and normal
wear are:
• oil changes
• oils, lubricants, other fluids
• oil/air filters
• tire rotation/inflation
• cleaning/polishing
• clutch linings
• wiper blades*
• wheel alignments and tire balancing*
• brake pad/lining*

6400 miles is not normal. I think the OP has an uphill battle because it sounds like that dealer is looking for any excuse to not cover it under warranty, but it sounds like the clutch disk is defective, and if it is, a decent dealer could, and should, replace it under warranty.

 

[1320']

The dealer is accountable to Ford Corporate or it's out of their pocket...I would be also.

Tune+aggressive and harsh driving=nuked clutch..that's what FoMoCo will say.

 

[GT Pony]

6400 miles is not normal. I think the OP has an uphill battle because it sounds like that dealer is looking for any excuse to not cover it under warranty, but it sounds like the clutch disk is defective, and if it is, a decent dealer could, and should, replace it under warranty.

I agree that 6400 miles with a major clutch failure is far from normal. But the only way I see that Ford might cover this under warranty is if they can determine if there was some kind of manufacturing or materials defect. I doubt Ford will put that much forensic effort into it.

 

[TorkN8R]

You just nailed it..."Decent" dealer being the operative word!

 

[Reds197]

My tune turned off clutch protection as do most tunes. No way this will be covered if the tune does this. Faulty parts or not they wont cover it.

I would buy a upgraded clutch and be done with it.

 

[mustang_guy]

The dealer is accountable to Ford Corporate or it's out of their pocket...I would be also.

Tune+aggressive and harsh driving=nuked clutch..that's what FoMoCo will say.

They could goodwill fix it. Which every dealer gets a certain amount of money they can use for an instance like this. They are just being asses.

 

[Turbo Ghost]

They could goodwill fix it. Which every dealer gets a certain amount of money they can use for an instance like this. They are just being asses.

I'd like to find one dealer in this country that chose to goodwill something for a customer that didn't buy the vehicle from them and will never give them a dime in future service repairs.

It could happen at his selling dealer, but definitely not a random dealer that he has no ties to.

 

[Tofino]

I'd like to find one dealer in this country that chose to goodwill something for a customer that didn't buy the vehicle from them and will never give them a dime in future service repairs.

It could happen at his selling dealer, but definitely not a random dealer that he has no ties to.

Exactly.
I know if i was the owner of the dealership I would not fix it for free.
Like to think that I am a pretty decent guy.
But not into working for free.
They have wages to pay, shop overhead, insurance. Etc to pay.
I took the clutch out of my viper in less than 1000 miles.
I didn't even try and ask Dodge to fix it.
My mods voided the warranty and I paid for it myself.
Its unreasonable to me to even expect a dealer to repair your clutch for free.
Should I start flying people around for free because they want me to?

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