Vibration between 50 & 70 mph

[MikeD1]

Took the car to a dealer that has an analyzer and left the car for two weeks. They replaced the rear end and gave the car back. The vibration was gone and I only felt a small vibration coming on when the car is up over 65 mph. I now have a large vibration that comes on as the car slows down from 70+ mph to about 65 mph. I am at a crossroad with what to do, put up with the vibration, take it in again or lemon law it. It has already had the road force balance, new driveshaft, driveshaft reindexing and a new differential. Any advice would be welcome, I do not need a lot of stress dealing with this problem.

Sounds like your car is like mine. I got tired of the constant down time, trips to the dealer etc. and just lemon lawed it.

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[keltymd]

So here is a question. When your car is at the dealer how often do you expect them to call you with updates or how often do you call to get updates?

 

[shahram72]

My dealer was great, they called me almost daily with updates. If I ever replace mine, I'll try to let them match a deal first. They can make money on the trade.

 

[keltymd]

My dealer was great, they called me almost daily with updates. If I ever replace mine, I'll try to let them match a deal first. They can make money on the trade.

man I wish we had a good dealer in middle Tennessee. They have not called me once. I called Friday and they said they were going to try to swap my DS with one from another car this week. I called today and they are talking about balancing it. They have still not looked at the knocking engine or the drivers window that hangs when opening the door.

 

[speedfrk]

man I wish we had a good dealer in middle Tennessee. They have not called me once. I called Friday and they said they were going to try to swap my DS with one from another car this week. I called today and they are talking about balancing it. They have still not looked at the knocking engine or the drivers window that hangs when opening the door.

Most states have a 30 day out of service limit for an automatic lemon law buy-back. Check your state's law and file through the BBB. They are very helpful.

 

[keltymd]

Most states have a 30 day out of service limit for an automatic lemon law buy-back. Check your state's law and file through the BBB. They are very helpful.

Yeah we do have that. My issue is I have had mustangs since I was 16 and I am 43 now. In all the years of having them I have never had any issue until my 14 and now my 16. I wish Ford would get back to "quality is job 1" and actually build them to run and function like they did in years past. It would also be nice if they would hold their dealers feet to the fire a bit on service.

 

[keltymd]

well the dealer called and said she is ready.
1. Re-indexed driveshaft and rebalanced tires (BS I re-indexed it to every position myself)
2. engine knock is normal. BS unless it is a diesel you can hear it loud in the oil pan
3. window hanging when opening door they could not replicate. BS it does it every time

man these dealers only care about the sale.............

 

[speedfrk]

Yeah we do have that. My issue is I have had mustangs since I was 16 and I am 43 now. In all the years of having them I have never had any issue until my 14 and now my 16. I wish Ford would get back to "quality is job 1" and actually build them to run and function like they did in years past. It would also be nice if they would hold their dealers feet to the fire a bit on service.

I know, I bought this car feeling the nostalgia for all my old Mustangs- everything from my 66 GT coupe to about 10 Fox bodies. But it has been a nightmare. Ford has a level of caring and it is not set very high. As I've said before, if you are used to premium brand service, you will be very disappointed with most Ford dealers- and they are selling cars in the premium price category now. A GT premium can easily be 40K and a F150 is typically in the 40's too.

 

[keltymd]

how about this for a kick in the balls..... The vibration is the same I looked under the car they didnt do anything but balance the tires again. The engine knock. the tech said he could not duplicate it but the service director put on the ticket he heard the knock???????????????????????????????????????????????

Oh and they didnt fix my window. Man if someone wanted to open a customer-centric Ford dealer in middle tennesseetehy would clean up on these other dealers.

 

[shahram72]

Yeah we do have that. My issue is I have had mustangs since I was 16 and I am 43 now. In all the years of having them I have never had any issue until my 14 and now my 16. I wish Ford would get back to "quality is job 1" and actually build them to run and function like they did in years past. It would also be nice if they would hold their dealers feet to the fire a bit on service.

I feel ya. This is my first Mustang and my 3rd Ford. I don't expect Japanese perfection but this is unacceptable. A V6 Mustang should run an drive like an Escort, it's not an exotic. I am 44. Mine is fixed now, but 95% and I fear I will post an "it's back" post sometime in the future. They design awesome cars and then the bean counters ruin them. I work in a union company so I know how this happens. It's not the workers. They just do what management tells them, even when the workers know it's a failure.

 

[Blaster]

I've been following this thread from the start, but can't recall if the "vibration" is evident to any notable degree in the convertibles. No way I can read it again :eyebulge:

 

[BlackGT]

I just took mine in today for this reason. I am having to play the trial and error diagnostics right now. They are going to swap my aftermarket wheels with some off of a new car just to eliminate that possibility. I have no problem with that though. I did take the service manager for a ride and pointed it out to him between 70-80. I let him drive it back to the dealership and he noticed it really bad around 60. He even thinks its the drive shaft. He made the comment that the drive shafts have card board inside them for noise reduction and that it sometimes comes loose and can cause issues. He said they send the DS to have the ends cut off and the card board removed, reattached, balanced and the problem goes away. I am not sure if this is the issue I am having but it is def. noticeable and it is not the wheels and tires because it was doing it before but I figured it was the wheel spacers and said oh well.

I'll post what the determination is.

 

[Blaster]

Wow! Shifting packing material in the DS Live long enough and you realize anything is possible.:eyebulge: Looking forward to the results and your mileage.

When you did your exhaust work did you re-install that large rectangular brace under the car? It had 8 large bolts. Or is that thing on coupes as well. I was hypothesizing that if the vibration did not occur on verts then that brace might have something to do with it.

 

[Wriggly]

I've been following this thread from the start, but can't recall if the "vibration" is evident to any notable degree in the convertibles. No way I can read it again :eyebulge:

Yes, it occurs in the convertibles as well. Mine sat for a few weeks and when I next took it out and got up to around 50 mph it started vibrating so bad I thought the windshield was going to break from the dance it was doing.

I ended up swapping wheel/tires with a buddy that has an S550. Mine still vibrated and his with my tires and wheels was smooth as glass.

Long story short, I wasn't inclined to start the Merry Go Round with Ford over it. Mine had a tick in the engine, the a/c was warm on the drivers side the last two days I had the car and I didn't care much for the 6 speed auto, nor the sound of the coyote exhaust. I tried two different aftermarket cat back systems.

I got a good number in a trade for a new Chrysler Pacifica. I needed a new van and I have two other performance cars so the Mustang stayed with the Dodge dealer.

It saddens me, because I've owned a bunch of Mustangs over the years going back to a 69 Sportroof and I had very high hopes for the S550. I had bad experiences with Ford the last three Mustangs I bought. You know what they say about three strikes.

I'm done with them for now. I will not say for good, because one never knows what might come down the pipe to get me hooked again.

 

[gov cheese]

I have been driving my car for two days to evaluate the on car DS balance the dealer just completed. I would say that 85-90 percent of the 50-70 mph vibration is gone. Have to really be looking for it to feel it. Hope this holds until Ford comes up with a better fix than putting a hose clamp on a new car.

SSM 45938 helped a lot when trying to convince a dealer that this is a real issue. For those going thru the "Ford" process of troubleshooting be patient.

BTW- There is one hose clamp on the DS. To completely remove the vibration a second hose clamp would have to be added. Not sure that last 10-15% is worth the extra time the car would have to spend at the dealers.

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