Questioning Gen 2 voodoo reliability

[dgodshal]

Shanks, I don't own or have experience with a 350 but is there a failure mode of a marginal component or assembly that you could upgrade to begin with? Would be much cheaper than repair later and you could keep original engine.

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[MAGS1]

I’ve driven a few 350’s but don’t own one. Loads of fun and you can tell it’s a special car just by driving it a few times. That said, I met a guy locally here last fall that bought one as a daily driver (excluding winter). He has a roughly 15 mile commute to work and he told me he purposely goes out of his way to get on the interstate just so he can let the car stretch its legs. His commute would otherwise be a lot of stop lights and most of the time speed limits would be 35-40mph. He said he did it a few times and got bored because he wasn’t getting past 3rd gear on more than half the trip. So he goes an extra 5 minutes out of his way each way to jump on the interstate. Take that for whatever it’s worth.

 

[Shanksfornothin]

I’ve driven a few 350’s but don’t own one. Loads of fun and you can tell it’s a special car just by driving it a few times. That said, I met a guy locally here last fall that bought one as a daily driver (excluding winter). He has a roughly 15 mile commute to work and he told me he purposely goes out of his way to get on the interstate just so he can let the car stretch its legs. His commute would otherwise be a lot of stop lights and most of the time speed limits would be 35-40mph. He said he did it a few times and got bored because he wasn’t getting past 3rd gear on more than half the trip. So he goes an extra 5 minutes out of his way each way to jump on the interstate. Take that for whatever it’s worth.

I’m all interstate to work with a loooonngg on ramp

 

[Shanksfornothin]

Shanks, I don't own or have experience with a 350 but is there a failure mode of a marginal component or assembly that you could upgrade to begin with? Would be much cheaper than repair later and you could keep original engine.

I’d be really be interested to hear from owners on this topic too. That’s a good question

 

[wingnutt]

I’d be really be interested to hear from owners on this topic too. That’s a good question

no there’s not…Ford has been very hush-hush about the failures, but the consensus for awhile was the plasma cylinder linings.

 

[pilotgore]

no there’s not…Ford has been very hush-hush about the failures, but the consensus for awhile was the plasma cylinder linings.

You’re right, they absolutely have, and for good reason. Ford tells the dealership to do minimal investigation in order to determine if the engine is trash. As long as dealerships aren’t flagging the reasons for failures and reporting commonalities, ford doesn’t need to issue a recall if a platform wide problem is never identified.

Apparently dealerships didn’t get the memo for broncos….. whoops. https://www.motor1.com/news/689613/ford-bronco-engine-failure-investigation-expanded/amp/

 

[Hack]

I think the Voodoo is reliable enough, but I decided for myself I'd prefer to spend less on consumables. I also prefer the 2017 and earlier GT manual transmission gearing over the later gearing for street driving. 99% of my driving is on the street, and the earlier cars have gears more suited to launching the car in my opinion. That's why I don't have a Mach 1, even though it would have been nice to buy a HP car with coolers already installed rather than doing it myself on my older PP1.

Now that I have the FP PP3 on my GT, the things I miss the most are the sounds, brakes, alcantera and the Cobra emblems. But there are a lot of other things I miss as well, like the transmission and mag ride. Definitely the GT350 is a very special car. If money were no concern, I would own one.

 

[metalmadman]

I'm saying this as a reference, not hi-jack the thread. Here goes. I had a 1995 Beretta with the 4 cylinder and five speed overdrive. I drive the car pretty hard I rack up 170,000 miles in 2007 before the head cracked at a steam hole. I bought the car used with 30,000 miles to boot. I looked around for another head and only found heads with more cracked steam holes. LOL Cracking the steam hole blow the head gasket, of course.
One place asked me, " "How many miles do have on the car?!" I told the man 170,000. He was absolutely shocked. He said and I quote, "You are VERY lucky!" "How in the hell did you get that many miles on the car without cracking the head sooner and a standard at that?!" I replied, "I change the oil every 3000 miles and listen to the engine as I shift the gears." "When the car asks for shift, I shift." "That's if I'm running it hard."

I say this because ANY motor can last or not last based solely on driver. I have had motors last me longer than people with the same motor. Just listen to the car and give it what it wants when it wants it. A car is like a woman. You have to give a little to receive. Treat car like a woman and it will give in return. Yeah, I know some will bash me for saying this, but it has proven true in my 43 years of experience at driving. My uncles Charles, Ernest and my dad taught me this. Get to know your car and know what it wants. Most guys who know this have fewer problems than ones that don't. Buy the car you want and take care of it.

 

[TeamGomez]

Now that I've owned my first Ford product for a couple months, a GT-350 wouldn't be my first choice as a DD for the simple fact that when I want to get somewhere, idling in my garage for 3-5 minutes to get the oil up to temp in a non-starter. Couple that with somebody wanting to race every damn time I go for a drive and I'd either end up in the hospital or jail (or handcuffed to a gurney...).

That said, when I do unleash the ponies, I never take the quickest way home. Suffice it to say that the FPC 5.2 tops the list of desirable features for me and the risks involved with a mechanical issue is part of the 'pay to play' equation (same goes for the quart of oil she burns every 1,500 miles).

I have yet found any opportunity to see 8,250 rpm in all gears...definitely on my 'to-do' list and while I believe a track day would rock my world, I don't want to see any 'track patina' on this girl. Which may lead to a 350R at some point for me so we'll see what the future holds.

Good luck with satiating the desire for performance while fulfilling the need to get to work.

 

[metalmadman]

I have put over 100,000 miles on engines that other people blew up way before. PT Cruiser had 190,000 miles on it. I bought it with 164,000. I don't "baby" my cars. That said, I don't over rev the engines either. I have a lead foot. I love shifting gears and running the car. Do change the oil regularly and have everything check when I do. I'm having my oil changed and the tires rotated Wednesday at the local Ford house. 142 dollars. is what they quoted me. I had Walmart do a oil change on a Mazda 3 GT. They screwed the oil plug up and it cost me. Since the Coyote has a plastic oil pan and drain plug I'm taking my car back to Ford. "Pay a little now, then a lot more later due to the mistake" comes to mind. Either change the oil yourself or have a professional do it. NEVER go cheap when it comes to something like changing oil. I learned my lesson.
The drain plug on the 3 had a washer on it. The idiot forced the washer off and stripped the threads a little. I took it to Mazda dealer and they rethreaded the hole and put a new drain plug in. Never again will I go cheap.

 

[metalmadman]

I stay in the torque band of my 5.0 GT and let the car do the work and tell me what it needs, I listen to the car. I shift at about 5000 to 5500. Just let her have what she wants, when she wants it. The car runs like dream.

 

[Tomster]

According to a friend (who I won’t name but is well known on this forum) who has deep connections to ford racing and their engineers, said they ditched the flat plane crank in the racing program as soon as they were contractually able to due to reliability issues. The first year of CPC 5.2 was the 2017 season. Apparently they were having to rebuild the voodoo after every single race which wasn’t normal. At the time, other teams were only rebuilding every 4-5 races. They said the engine was shaking itself apart….

https://www.allfordmustangs.com/thr...ith-5-2l-v8-flat-plane-crank-missing.1090035/

Ha! I know who that person is that you speak of. That story is true. The car was a GT350 RC. Reliability was the issue.

 

[Tomster]

I've owned 4 GT350s. 1 track pack and 3 Rs. I still have 2 Rs. They are special. Think of them as an exotic mustang. They are impractical, but never designed to be so. What they are good for is delivering a particular experience. They do that very well.

Many touched on the majority of the pros and cons of the car and its reliability. This car has way more pros than cons and I have never had any reliability issues with any of my GT350s.

Stop counting the beans and go buy the car if it makes you happy. Put aside 10K for an engine refresh for sometime in the future. That 30K number you are throwing around is for a complete long block replacement. The odds of a complete catastrophic failure requiring a new long block are pretty slim.

 

[ice445]

I've owned 4 GT350s. 1 track pack and 3 Rs. I still have 2 Rs. They are special. Think of them as an exotic mustang. They are impractical, but never designed to be so. What they are good for is delivering a particular experience. They do that very well.

Many touched on the majority of the pros and cons of the car and its reliability. This car has way more pros than cons and I have never had any reliability issues with any of my GT350s.

Stop counting the beans and go buy the car if it makes you happy. Put aside 10K for an engine refresh for sometime in the future. That 30K number you are throwing around is for a complete long block replacement. The odds of a complete catastrophic failure requiring a new long block are pretty slim.

I second this. The majority of them have been fine. Buy one and enjoy it. Anything can break. It's not like a 5.0 long block is cheap either.

If you have the means and the desire, put one in your driveway and stop worrying about things that probably will never happen.

 

[Angrey]

Not for nothing, if you end up needing a replacement and it's coming out of your pocket, for the love of all things holy, please don't have Ford do it. "Hey, the guys that built the last motor that failed wanna build another for you." Not only will it cost a fortune, it'll be virtually the same.

Replacing or repairing a motor on these cars generally isn't $30k if you don't use Ford. Plenty of engine builders that can give you a brand new, upgraded short block for around $10k, an upgraded one with all the bells and whistles for $15k. Even if you assume you have to replace the oil pan and some components, the cost to replace (parts) for stock level stuff is probably more in the realm of $10k-$15k.

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