Update on the vibe

[docs03]

News from the rep

Spoke with the service director again about 25 minutes from my last post. Here's what I was told:

1. The field engineer spoke with Bill Franco this afternoon.
Ford/SVT is aware of all the problem with the vibration. The
field engineer said the problem lies in the DS. He felt the TSB
that was used on the 1999 was a "bandaid fix" and really did
not address the problem.

2. Franco had indicated that a completely re-designed DS will be
available to order by the end of the week. They have changed
the specs on the DS. Dealers CAN NOT order the new DS until
the end of this week. For all of you having the trouble please
contact your dealers. My dealer is Huntington Ford in Rochester
Hills, MI. The service director I am dealing with is Daryl Galka.
Your dealer may want to contact him directly 248-299-4591 for
more info.

3. I will be contacted by the service director who is handling my
car now as soon as the DS comes in. All I can do is wait....


doc

 

[sn8k]

Thanks for the posts and the effort to keep us all informed Docs03. I think this is a great step int he right direction - a fix and not just a bandaid.

I personally have been holding off about doing something on my vibe as....
1) It's not very bad... just a slight dronning and rear view mirror shake. Tookt the 03 Cobra up to 110 the other day, and although the "prop noise" was there - it wasn't that bad.
2) No fix... hard to take something into the dealer and expect thm to fix the problem if they don't know how to fix it, or can't get a staright answer from SVT on how to fix it.
3) I knew going in that ordering a first run production vehicle had risks. One of them is haing the bad luck to have bought a problem vehicle, then living with a problem until it has been documented and recognized as a problem by SVT, then waiting for the cause to be pinpointed, and then waiting again until such time that a fix can be done.

Anyway - besides "the vibe", I love the Cobra... I'm in this for the long haul and hope everything gets worked out soon. It certainly is an awesome car .

Thanks again Docs03 - you gave us all a little view of the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Jim S]

Re: News from the rep

Originally posted by docs03

1. The field engineer spoke with Bill Franco this afternoon.
Ford/SVT is aware of all the problem with the vibration.

2. Franco had indicated that a completely re-designed DS will be
available to order by the end of the week. They have changed
the specs on the DS. Dealers CAN NOT order the new DS until
the end of this week.

I wonder (hope) the new DS will be put on future production '03 Cobras. Mine is due in October.

 

[POINTCOVER]

Re: News from the rep

Originally posted by docs03
Spoke with the service director again about 25 minutes from my last post. Here's what I was told:

1. The field engineer spoke with Bill Franco this afternoon.
Ford/SVT is aware of all the problem with the vibration. The
field engineer said the problem lies in the DS. He felt the TSB
that was used on the 1999 was a "bandaid fix" and really did
not address the problem.

2. Franco had indicated that a completely re-designed DS will be
available to order by the end of the week. They have changed
the specs on the DS. Dealers CAN NOT order the new DS until
the end of this week. For all of you having the trouble please
contact your dealers. My dealer is Huntington Ford in Rochester
Hills, MI. The service director I am dealing with is Daryl Galka.
Your dealer may want to contact him directly 248-299-4591 for
more info.

3. I will be contacted by the service director who is handling my
car now as soon as the DS comes in. All I can do is wait....


doc

DOCS03 -
Hey Doc I hope you don't mind but I told the guys over on stang.net about information that you obtained. I quoted you and gave them all the information. They've had the same problems as us.
Thanks for posting all the information. Please keep us updated.

 

[docs03]

Pointcover

No problem about the stangnet post. I couldn't log in yesterday to the site otherwise I would have posted there too. Please tell everyone to contact their dealer to check on the DS. I will be calling my guy on Friday.

thanks

doc

 

[Mowgli]

Re: News from the rep

Originally posted by docs03

...
2. Franco had indicated that a completely re-designed DS will be
available to order by the end of the week. They have changed
the specs on the DS. Dealers CAN NOT order the new DS until
the end of this week. For all of you having the trouble please
contact your dealers. My dealer is Huntington Ford in Rochester
Hills, MI. The service director I am dealing with is Daryl Galka.
Your dealer may want to contact him directly 248-299-4591 for
more info.
...

Ugh, the story continues.

Just talked to SVT on the 800 number. Jesse, who answered the phone said when I quoted the above to him that "no, catagorically, they did not re-design the DS". He "knew that for a fact".

Some more info on the call itself. At first he said he didn't know the TSB had been posted yet for the vibration problem (he did know of the problem). When I said this wasn't a TSB it was a quote from Bill Franco (he knew who Bill was), thats when he came back with the "no way" (paraphrasing).

He may have been confused and thought I meant the DS for the production run had been redesigned, and he meant negatory to that.

But regardless I just wanted to pass along what the phone-bank monkey at SVT said to me.

Also, regardless of that, I called my dealer and gave him the "orderable DS" update, and Doc's Service Manager's number.

Thanks Doc, for that.

I doubt my SM will call, either him or me, but I'm keeping in touch with my dealer, and it seemed like a good excuse to do so.

 

[docs03]

I hate to say it, but I don't think the SVT people are being upfront. Obviously, there is a problem and for SVT to admit there is one is a marketing nightmare. I too had spoken to this Jessie at SVT and he gave me the run around.

I have a little more faith in what my service director told me than what some idiot at SVT says.

Mowgli

Call my service director and talk to him. He is NOT a service advisor. He is one of the upper management guys that runs the service department. I'll be making that phone call on Friday about the DS. I think that your dealer is very unprofessional. It's a shame that nobody over there cares about their customers.

The wait continues.......

doc

 

[docs03]

SVT CHIEF ENGINEER

Hey everybody,

I was able to obtain the e-mail, phone, and fax number for Mr. John Coletti today. For those of you who do not know him, he is the chief engineer on the SVT program.

I would like to know if he has answers for those of us having trouble with the vibe and pulling issues. All other issues may be addressed to him too I guess. Maybe a mass assault on his e-mail/phone may get things moving along.

What do you guys think???

doc

 

[03DOHC]

Re: SVT CHIEF ENGINEER

Originally posted by docs03
Hey everybody,

I was able to obtain the e-mail, phone, and fax number for Mr. John Coletti today. For those of you who do not know him, he is the chief engineer on the SVT program.

I would like to know if he has answers for those of us having trouble with the vibe and pulling issues. All other issues may be addressed to him too I guess. Maybe a mass assault on his e-mail/phone may get things moving along.

What do you guys think???

doc

:lol: Either that or piss him off and they don't fix it! hahaha!

 

[Blue03Cobra]

Re: SVT CHIEF ENGINEER

Originally posted by docs03
Maybe a mass assault on his e-mail/phone may get things moving along.

What do you guys think???

doc

I think a well written, single item, with every concern and every VIN affected will more likely to get results. Bombard his e-mail and they'll just change it...(and piss him off, probably).

Good luck, either way :beer:

 

[Stalker]

Don't spam the man. A single well written message with links to the message threads that detail known issues would probably have a much greater impact.

 

[Mowgli]

Agreed.

I'm volunteering to proof read any letter scribed to Mr Coletti.

 

[docs03]

LETTER SENT TO COLETTI

Well, I sent an e-mail to Coletti this evening. Nothing to piss him off, but I wanted to let him know the disappointment that is being experienced. I can e-mail an attachment to those of you who would like to view it. I DO NOT want it posted all over these boards.

doc

 

[Mowgli]

Re: LETTER SENT TO COLETTI

Originally posted by docs03
I can e-mail an attachment to those of you who would like to view it. I DO NOT want it posted all over these boards.

doc

Please PM me a copy. Thank you. I will not forward it.

 

[Alfasin]

Good job!

Good for you Doc! Could you please send me a copy, I'd love to know what you said. I won't pass it around as I understand your concerns.

 

[Black2003Cobra]

Just wanted to let others know that there IS a new DS that will be available. My dealer just placed an order for it today. He said that if you try to order the "old" part number, it will say it is not available. The new DS will have different color stripes on it. (You know how they color code everything.) No word as to when they will actually be able to get it, however. The new DS will have to be indexed. They are going to keep me updated. If I learn more, I will post the info.

 

[Hammer]

Originally posted by Black2001Cobra
Just wanted to let others know that there IS a new DS that will be available. My dealer just placed an order for it today. He said that if you try to order the "old" part number, it will say it is not available. The new DS will have different color stripes on it. (You know how they color code everything.) No word as to when they will actually be able to get it, however. The new DS will have to be indexed. They are going to keep me updated. If I learn more, I will post the info.

This is really strange. I called SVT yesterday and asked them about this new drive shaft. I was told that it is complete BS. They said that the next model Cobras would be out before a new drive shaft. They said that it would have to be designed, tested and submitted for saftey regulations and it's just complete BS.

Is your dealer lying to you or is SVT way out in 'left field' on what they told me?

 

[docs03]

DS

My field rep spoke to Bill Franco at Fors who had indicated that a new DS was available to order by on 8-16-02.

I think SVT is trying to cover themselves. Very bad public relations. Do they honestly think we are that stupid????

I will be in touch with my dealer in the morning to check on the DS

doc

 

[92LX5.0]

Hammer, does your car pull or vibrate?

 

[Hammer]

Originally posted by 92LX5.0
Hammer, does your car pull or vibrate?

I have a very mild vibration at 70 to 85 MPH. Dealer told me, "We can't drive that fast so we can't reproduce the problem".

Ever heard of a dynojet? OR, your mechanic can get in with me and I'll break the speed limit.