Rear Diff Cooler Lines popped off on 3rd track lap

[Trackaholic]

Man, that sucks! Seems like the dealers just don't want to do warranty work. A track day should definitely not be a problem for the vehicle or for the warranty. Ford needs to realize that this car is attracting some enthusiasts who expect a different level of service and should be using this opportunity to create a good impression, rather than squandering the "halo effect" of this great car and just pissing customers off.

I don't know why this makes me so mad, but I guess it is the feeling of a faceless bureaucracy keeping the customer running in circles because the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

Sorry you are getting the shaft, but as you say, $150 isn't much and its probably much better to deal with it yourself. What a bunch of clowns.

-T

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[Zitrosounds]

Go to another dealer!!!! Do not use racing to describe HPDE, its not racing. Infact, no need to mention anything other than the cars is driven hard. A dealer tried to negate warranty on my track pack because I had my helmet in the back seat. LOL. Needles to say, warranty maintenance was executed.

 

[Bossing]

That is nuts... we all know it's technically not a racing event. Your factory warranty should be honored.

Heck my C7 Z06 was "HPDE'd" 16x and GM bought it back from me.... they knew I tracked it and even asked me to use a data logger for their root cause troubleshooting.

And my Focus RS was tracked 6x and even got a new long block put in due to that head gasket issue... then I tracked it again and eventually traded it in w/ 8k+ miles.

The Ford dealer never gave me problems. As stated, I'd take it up the chain....

 

[Hack]

I'm a big time Ford guy, but sadly this experience doesn't surprise me.

I like the car, but the local dealers, Ford customer service and Ford performance have not been good when I have issues with my car.

I may or may not switch brands. The other option I have is to never buy a new Ford again and just go with older vehicles from now on. Then I will have no expectation of good service from a manufacturer or a dealer. I will just take care of everything myself - kind of like I had to with the splitter on my car.

 

[Sl13cobra]

"We do not recommend modifying or racing (for competition or time)"

"and at least 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before performance or competition conditions"

"or any similar situation in which abnormal stress is placed on the vehicle or its components"

This is why we have multiple lawsuits going on the car.

Intentional mixed messages. Ford can handle it on a case-by-case basis, their legal staff against your legal .... guy.

Baloney.

 

[rushca01]

"We do not recommend modifying or racing (for competition or time)"

"and at least 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before performance or competition conditions"

"or any similar situation in which abnormal stress is placed on the vehicle or its components"

This is why we have multiple lawsuits going on the car.

Intentional mixed messages. Ford can handle it on a case-by-case basis, their legal staff against your legal .... guy.

Baloney.

I feel the exact same way...definitely contradictory language.

 

[tracktardicus]

I wonder what modifications will present a problem and cause your local dealership to deny warranty work...non-Ford Performance oil separators? Aftermarket track wheels? Running slicks? MGW shifter? Camber plates? It seems like there is no consistency between dealers, or a consistent policy from Ford Performance, so YMMV. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst...

 

[Austinj427]

I wonder what modifications will present a problem and cause your local dealership to deny warranty work...non-Ford Performance oil separators? Aftermarket track wheels? Running slicks? MGW shifter? Camber plates? It seems like there is no consistency between dealers, or a consistent policy from Ford Performance, so YMMV. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst...

By law they have to prove that whatever you changed caused the malfunction.

It also largely depends on the dealer. Many of them will look the other way.

When I worked for Honda, we charged the customer 1.5x the rate that warranty paid. I have a feeling the majority of these dealers would prefer to look for any reason to push it to a customer pay because that cuts out half the work of getting it warrantied, and it pays more.

There is a lot of value in finding a good dealer with your interests in mind and sticking with them. The unfortunate part is they seem very sparse anymore.

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

When my motor blew Ford replaced it no problem. I told them I was doing an HPDE and it let go.

They told me and I quote “this is what Ford designed the car to do, just don’t touch the motor and we will take care of it if it happens again.”

 

[rushca01]

When my motor blew Ford replaced it no problem. I told them I was doing an HPDE and it let go.

They told me and I quote “this is what Ford designed the car to do, just don’t touch the motor and we will take care of it if it happens again.”

That's how it should be, was the dealer or Ford direct stating that? Did you get any push back along the way?

 

[czaustin]

That's how it should be, was the dealer or Ford direct stating that? Did you get and push back along the way?

Initially I got not only push back but flat out was told I was "racing" and was handed a printout of a Ford Supplemental from my local dealer (COVERT). The out of town dealer I purchased the car from initially gave me the same response but I followed up a day later with a phone call to the service manager who said he would take my issue to Ford Performance. At least they are trying to do the right thing even though I had to personally make the call for an appeal.

My call to Ford was going fine until the line went dead and I never heard back from them.

 

[Leroy]

I tracked my R for the first time last weekend. On my first run after 3 laps I saw smoke and pulled into pit lane. Sure enough, diff oil all over the back of the car and dripping all underneath the back. Went to a shop at the track and they dropped the rear belly pan. I was shocked to see that both in/out cooler lines had popped off! These are held on by simple c clamp keepers. Clearly these were not seated properly at the factory. The shop reseated and zip tied the clamps, cleaned up most of the mess and filled the diff with new synthetic fluid. I had no problems the rest of the weekend.

The real problem started today when I visited my local dealer (COVERT FORD) and the service manager told me they would look at it but it is probably not covered because I was "racing". I called Ford Service and lodged my complaint only to be disconnected during my conversation. I called the dealer I bought the car from (RANDALL REEDS PRESTIGE FORD - 3 hours away) and my salesman, after speaking with the service manager, told me they cant help because the supplemental information says they won't cover it because I was "racing".

It will cost me couple bills for COVERT just to look at it. My only requests of the dealer were make sure all is well, clean it up and reimburse me for the money spent at the track getting it cleaned and filled with new fluid ($150). Both dealers pushed back hard on my requests.

I am amazed that the dealers are 1) not apologizing profusely by the embarrassing QC issues and 2) bending over backward to rectify the problem I experienced.

Makes me sad that I bought an American car over many other possible foreign cars because I was proud of an American manufacturer who was willing to build such a track capable vehicle. Whats also too bad is that Ford markets and advertises this car for track use but then fails to offer an minute amount of support when it fails in such a simple manner.

The bottom line for me is that I will never purchase any Ford vehicle again (even though the 350 was amazing on the track).

Such a crazy story. Your selling dealer should step up and take care of the issue. I am sure they made a few bucks on the sale of the car.
Ford Warranty is becoming so tight that the dealers can't get paid on some of the claims, Techs working for free etc. But for that amount of money it would be great PR for them and the Ford community just eat it and say sorry....

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

That's how it should be, was the dealer or Ford direct stating that? Did you get any push back along the way?

Ford and the dealer, zero push back. I had the car back in less than two weeks with a new long block.

 

[AdamIsAdam]

This is not good to read! So the lines that came off, were they on the cooler or the diff cover?

My brand new `18 GT350 with 200 miles is dripping fluid where the line goes into the drain plug fitting on the diff cover. The bolt seems tight. The 90* bung thing pivots. It's going in next week to the dealer.

Did yours ever leak at all before the track day?

Does anyone know how and when that pump works? Does it come on only when temps rise or all the time? If it only comes on during high temps, that would explain why yours didn't leak until track day.

 

[czaustin]

This is not good to read! So the lines that came off, were they on the cooler or the diff cover?

My brand new `18 GT350 with 200 miles is dripping fluid where the line goes into the drain plug fitting on the diff cover. The bolt seems tight. The 90* bung thing pivots. It's going in next week to the dealer.

Did yours ever leak at all before the track day?

Does anyone know how and when that pump works? Does it come on only when temps rise or all the time? If it only comes on during high temps, that would explain why yours didn't leak until track day.

I cant remember exactly but there are two lines that essentially "snap" into place and have a keeper ring that keeps them from popping out. These two lines plug into the diff cover. Both popped out. Clearly it was an assembly line mistake where the person that plugged them in at the factory didn't perform this step correctly.

Mine never leaked a drop before the catastrophic issue. I am unsure how the pump system works. It could be that it does not operate until the temps rise, or it could just be that the higher pump pressure related to the heat caused them both to pop out.

The selling dealer did end up reimbursing me $100 for the service I paid at the track. However, no concessions were made on behalf of the lost track time, car clean up from the smelly diff fluid all over the rear underside and back of the car, Ford service checking that all was operating correctly after the issue, etc. (As a side note, if I was running at COTA, I would have had to pay thousands for track clean up.)

Ford made it crystal clear to me that when it comes to track time, its all about marketing and not about customer support while using the car on the track in which it was advertised for use. Makes me wonder about the "GT350 Track Attack" and what thats all about...

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