My Car Died on day 2 with 53 Miles on it

needspeed

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Yes this is posted on the other place, but for those who do not go there I post it here

I picked up my car on 12/22 and it died on 12/23 before lunch. I figured I would wait on the details before posting anything.

Just driving car normally as the weather is cold and I know that the tires do not like it, so getting off the highway on a downhill exit ramp. I depress the clutch and coast for a bit and come to a stop at the intersection. The motor was idling the whole time and when I came to a stop the motor just died no odd noise and no indictor lights, nothing.

Try to restart and the car makes a sound as if the battery is dead. So, fortunately, I am only 3 miles from my dealer, so they come out with a charge pack to jump start and to no avail, the motor will not turn over.

So we figure lets just give it a push start. So we get it going and I drop the clutch and the rear wheels just slide. Does not look to good, so time for a flatbed. The guy was great and got the car on and off without the splitter or any of the underbody touching anything.

Get the car to the shop and on the lift to see if the motor will move via a breaker bar on the balancer, it does not move forward or backward. OK, lets pull the plugs and check the cylinders. All plugs look great and cylinders are clean.

Put it back up on the lift and disconnect all accessory belts and try to manually move the motor. Still stuck dead and does not budge.

Time to call ford who says they need to send a field engineer out to look at it. He comes out a week later sees no codes at all and authorizes a new motor as they want this motor back for forensics. He and the mechanic figure spun/seized crank bearing.

A week later and a lot of parts ordered, we have a new motor. Mechanic goes to pull the motor and something unexpected happened. The motor will not easily separate from the bell housing. After a bit of hard work it comes apart and we discover the unexpeted.

One of the bolts that attaches the bell housing to the transmission had come loose and got caught up by the flywheel and froze it in place against the bell housing. So the motor is fine and it was the bolt that froze up everything.

Ford decides that the want the transmission back as is for analysis and is sending a new transmission, flywheel and clutch pack. So if all goes well, my parts should show up and by mid to end next week my car will be running again.

It's been a long months wait but I am so in love with this car........Steve

I did want to add that Ford and my dealer have been great they expedited all parts procurement and shipping.
So this process is going as well as it can and I am happy they have jumped on this for me.

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needspeed

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Nice if that is what caused a bolt to come loose, I rather know it now then on the track or the drag strip. Since unless u drive like a granny all of our cars could have this happen once we are using them to their potential, regardless of my break-in......Steve

I am putting the original engine back in and have the spare on-hand if there is an issue
 

03VertGT

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lol thinking a burnout caused it. If that bolt was loose it was going to come out regardless.
 

Tob

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The inertial forces from the spinning burnouts coupled with the inherent vibrations the 5.2 creates are no doubt the culprit here.



:pepper:
 

black92

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The inertial forces from the spinning burnouts coupled with the inherent vibrations the 5.2 creates are no doubt the culprit here.



:pepper:

Yup and just to make sure, OP needs to do another "break in" with the new transmission to make sure all is fixed! :coolman:
 

GT Premi

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Hmm... I wonder if that bolt could also be the culprit to the rattle that a few others have posted about? Will have to watch this item carefully.
 

bretlasalle

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I've been made fun of by some car buddies for being pretty gentle for the first 500 miles in this car, I will not own this GT350 forever and I want the next owner to have a well sorted car. I've heard that being a bit tough on these cars during break in is the better way to go to get a stout car... It's posts like these that remind me to follow the recommended break in procedures. If you think Ford's costs on this issue won't be passed on to the consumers you're kidding yourself. Perhaps the donuts with 5 miles on the odometer didn't have anything to do with this issue, perhaps not. Gotta pay to play, glad to see that Ford is stepping up as they should especially considering build quality on some of the cars - but it makes you wonder whether or not the OP is responsible for his actions.

Feel bad even posting this viewpoint, but I don't want to live in a world where we all get 100 mile cars because the factory needs to "break in" our cars for us.
 

AustinSN

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I've been made fun of by some car buddies for being pretty gentle for the first 500 miles in this car, I will not own this GT350 forever and I want the next owner to have a well sorted car. I've heard that being a bit tough on these cars during break in is the better way to go to get a stout car... It's posts like these that remind me to follow the recommended break in procedures. If you think Ford's costs on this issue won't be passed on to the consumers you're kidding yourself. Perhaps the donuts with 5 miles on the odometer didn't have anything to do with this issue, perhaps not. Gotta pay to play, glad to see that Ford is stepping up as they should especially considering build quality on some of the cars - but it makes you wonder whether or not the OP is responsible for his actions.

Feel bad even posting this viewpoint, but I don't want to live in a world where we all get 100 mile cars because the factory needs to "break in" our cars for us.

Do you think this bolt would have stayed in if he waited till 1000 miles to do a burnout?
 

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