Thinking of buying a 2016 GT but....

[James73]

I’ve been looking for a Mustang for a few months and saw one I really liked and have put a deposit down. However having read through the forum I now find it was built during the oil cooler problem period and it’s also just out of warranty.

My question really is it’s fine (up to a point) returning your Mustang to Ford for them to fix all the issues as they occur but what is the answer for those out of warranty? Are Ford just going to say they’re not interested if the water leaks into the engine as it’s out of warranty?

If so, I see four options:

- Cancel the purchase and try and find a later model (although I see a shadow edition has suffered the same problem)
- Buy an after market warranty each year to cover myself
- Buy a Ford used car warranty (presumably this gives you the same level of cover as the new car version)
- Replace the water cooling system with the air cooled one I saw mentioned on here

I’d appreciate any advice. I was really excited when I put the deposit down and I’m just left feeling like I’ve made a mistake.

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[maddog1982]

Don't mean to hijack but what years do they suffer oil cooler problems? Mine was registered Oct 2016 and the panels are stamped July 16 so assume that's when it was built.

 

[hinch]

think its primarily those built before the end of june 2016 which always panics me as thats when mine was built but all good for now.

 

[maddog1982]

Don't mean to hijack but what years do they suffer oil cooler problems? Mine was registered Oct 2016 and the panels are stamped July 16 so assume that's when it was built.

Is there a way to tell when the car was built? What did they do to rectify it? Is there anything I can look at one the car to check if mine is the one that's dodgy?

 

[hinch]

just look up its build date they changed the oil cooler part I believe after 26th or 29th of june 2016 one of the 2 and my build date is on that day so its a lottery whether i have the dodgy one or new one.

i'll be swapping it out for soon just waiting to see what gt101 come up with.

 

[SteveS]

It's important to remember that its still a relatively small number of vehicles that have had the issue compared to how many are out there however that's of no comfort to those affected.
We've yet to see a failure outside of warranty as far as we know so not possible to say exactly what Ford will do but they're fairly reluctant to replace engines within warranty so safe to say they won't be footing the bill for that afterwards. Presumably you're buying from a dealer so it'll come with a warranty of some sort? I'd be investigating the Ford used car warranty for a bit of peace of mind for a longer period then if you're still worried fitting one of the air-cooled conversions.
It was only supposed to affect card manufactured up to June 2016 but there have been later cars affected.

 

[SteveS]

Is there a way to tell when the car was built? What did they do to rectify it? Is there anything I can look at one the car to check if mine is the one that's dodgy?

Stick your VIN in here - https://researchmaniacs.com/VIN-Number-Lookup/WindowSticker/Ford.html
Think that's the site...however it really depends on the manufacture date of the cooler, rather than when it was bolted to the engine and that's harder to pin down.

 

[maddog1982]

Cheers Steve, that is so interesting, Only date I can see is right at the bottom 07 14 16

 

[James73]

Thanks Steve,

They sent me the build card from Ford and it has a manufacturing date of April 16. It comes with 12 months warranty so I guess I just need to check how comprehensive it is.

 

[SteveS]

It's the Blend date you're looking for...ignore the 120 so in this case 21/6/2018...

 

[maddog1982]

It's the Blend date you're looking for...ignore the 120 so in this case 21/6/2018...

Thank you so much! I'll check in a minute in the laptop!

 

[maddog1982]

It's the Blend date you're looking for...ignore the 120 so in this case 21/6/2018...

Ok mine has come back 22nd July 2016. Am I safe lol

 

[SteveS]

Ok mine has come back 22nd July 2016. Am I safe lol

Well yes, as you're still under the manufacturers warranty, but beyond that I wouldn't like to say
2017 cars have had failures likely from being fitted with earlier coolers.
Like Hinch I'm waiting to see what GT101 come up with before choosing between that and JWRs solution.

 

[couragebest88]

Had my 2016 GT for about a month now and only just heard about these oil cooler failures. My neighbour just popped round to tell me his mates cooler went and took the engine with it. Mine has just done 9000 miles and all fine so far, got 2 weeks manufacturer warranty left so wondering if it’s worth getting them to check it over before that runs out, or whether I should just buy an aftermarket replacement oil cooler?

I know the failure rate is low and you only hear from the people who suffer from it, but best to be safe I think.

Sorry to hijack, OP. For what it’s worth they’re bloody marvellous cars and I can’t stop coming up with reasons to drive mine.

 

[Centurion07]

At 9K miles you're likely safe. Mike at Modurstang told me a while back he hadn't seen or heard of one go much over 11/12K.

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