dabsevo

Just bought a 06 mustang GT today. Love the power of it and the looks.

I have a few questions, been reading the forums for a few hours now and still learning.

1) Is there a known problem where the "miles to Empty" on the dash is inaccurate? My fuel gauge was at 1/3 full and it was telling me 45 miles until empty. WTF. Decided to drive anyway and went more than 50. So clearly it's not accurate but why? Is this a known problem? Or is this something that may be due to the different driving habits from the old owner (seller) and myself? The previous owner got 8 MPG. Yes, you read that correct. On the dash it says 8 MPG. He stepped on it, did not shift early and lived in a hilly area. There's nothing wrong with that. I just shift very early like 2k RPM and coast all the time to save gas. I put on about 75 miles today on the new car and reset the trip meter as well as the MPG calculator. Got the MPG up to 25mpg on the highway but the "Miles to Empty" is still saying it's very low miles.
I dont care about it except it keeps beeping and warning me and I have to press reset.

2) Clutch pedal is EXTREMELY hard to press. From what I read from searching, this isn't normal. Well some s197 owners seem to have this but most do not. I have owned 00 and 01 Mustang GTs and those were cable clutches and were extremely hard to press. My 06 is harder to press down. It's literally like a leg press. I test drove a 05 Mustang GT yesterday at a dealership and that clutch was SUPER light. So either my car or the one at the dealership is aftermarket maybe? Any ideas?

3) Hard to press brakes and gas. I dont think it's because I'm used to imports because I used to own two 99-04 GTs. The gas pedal is very hard to press. It's very hard to rev match down shifts because I won't be giving it enough gas and if I step on it, it will blip up too high. Very hard to press.
Brake pedal is also hard to press, it squeaks on the way down when I'm depressing the pedal. Would going to stainless lines help with this issue? How hard/costly is it to do?

4) Handling is very poor. Lots of body roll. Should I get lowering springs and eventually sways or should I go for coil overs? I dont know if I can afford coilovers, maybe if I find a deal on used ones. Car is my daily driver and will be a weekend warrior and occasional track/autocross days. I can't stand bad handling cars (doesn't have to be a gocart either) that wobble and feel very unstable. So far the mustang is very rocky and all that weight is sloshing around from body roll. I'd like to firm everything up.

Any thoughts?

flash_xx

The clutch pedal could be aftermarket on yours, but since you say the brake pedal is also hard It could be a problem with the hydraulics. Have the system looked over and change the brake fluid while you're at it.

As far as the gas pedal goes, the only thing I can think of is that someone disassembled it and maybe didn't install the return spring right, because it's just a potentiometer, there's no cable attached to it. If anything it's too light.

The handling is a complex issue, so I'd suggest going to the handling section of the forum and start reading. Too many choices and compromises to sum up.

shinerttu

I was thinking new or aftermarket clutch too. I don't understand why all three pedals would feel hard, seems like a rare coincidence.

vixr

I agree.

dabsevo

Yeah i agree with you guys there. there's no way it would be heavier than the previous generation cable clutches. The 05 i test drove was light as a honda clutch. But i have the service records and nothing about a new clutch. It looks like a very few number of 05-09 owners have a hard clutch. not sure why.
But the brakes are hard to press too. They squeak when depressed so maybe I'll give it a shot bleeding the lines. Any recommendations for a cheap but good stainless steel braided cables? maybe that and a fluid change will fix the hard pedals.


I'm not sure about the gas though, the gas requires a lot of muscle to get it to rev. From a stop it's not bad but if I try to get it up to 3k+ (i.e rev match downshift) I have to literally stand on the gas which makes for an inaccurate rev match. The previous owner did tell me that he cleaned the throttle body and stuff a few months ago.
Is there anyway to check if the throttle cable or sensor is the issue?

Nuke

The "miles to empty" is a useless data point to use; ignore it. It's value is based on prior driving data so if you babied it previously and are now driving maniac (or vice versa), the miles to empty will be off with respect to what's really in the tank. If the gas gauge works, us it.

UPRSharad

1) IIRC, there was a TSB about the fuel level sender. In my 06 GT it could be anywhere under 1/2 tank, and if I hit a corner too hard, it would drop down to empty for several minutes.

2) my clutch was too soft

3) my gas pedal was also too soft (throttle by wire)

4) Yep, my 06 GT had horrible handling until I upgraded to all UPR Products suspension. Then it handled GREAT. (and still worked well in a straight line)

If you look up my forum stats, I posted lots of upgrade threads on my 06 GT. You should check them out.

white08gt

did you not drive it before you bought it? did you run a carfax? sounds like someone unloaded their troubles on you. clutch is hydraulic, should be easy and smooth, drive by wire on accelerator. brakes should be firm, pads maybe glazed over, i would just replace them. probably needs shocks and struts depending on miles. does it have any mods such as CAI, tune, TB replaced? are you resetting the mpg's after each fillup? good luck, hope everything works out.

dabsevo

I could just be over reacting. I'll post back in 2 weeks time and see if what I come up with because I am still not used to the car. I am coming from a Honda S2000 and most recently, a Nissan 350z. Driving those cars and then coming back to muscle domestic cars could just be a change that I'm not used to. But I do know that the clutch is much harder than the 05 I test drove. Not sure what that's about.

There's nothing wrong with the car, I mean it drives fine. Actually drives great, came with a stack of records and paperwork, came with top of the line stuff. Borla exhaust and AirRaid intake for Cali legal smog. Other than that everything else is stock. I test drove the car and checked it out, all around exterior, interior, undercarriage, suspension, bumper and bumper mount, made sure it drove straight, no whining from differential, checked AC/Heat. Everything is 100%. Only thing I have to do is probably bleed the brake/clutch lines and see if that makes it softer. That or the master cylinder is jacked up? But there are no leaks and a weak master cylinder would actually cause the clutch pedal to feel light and stick to the floor due to the loss in pressure. (I know cause my 350z cost me $500 in parts and labor to replace the master and slave)

I will have to figure out the gas, this is bothering me. Maybe it's just the way domestic cars are but I don't remember the gas being so unresponsive in my two previous new edge mustangs.
Best way I can describe it is this: When you drive a v8 truck or a SUV, you can step on the gas and it will have some "resistance" before the RPM shoots up. Like a second before the torque kicks and you feel it move. I had a chevy 2500 and f150 and that's the best way I can describe it. The truck and SUV accelerators that kind of "lag" when you press on it.
Then compare it to a toyota camry or a honda prelude where you get in and even moving the pedal 1/2 inch will shoot up the car to 3000 RPM. Maybe it's because my s2k and 350z were very sensitive throttles but my mustang feels like I have to move the pedal down about 2" to get to 3000RPM. That's quite a bit of travel.

Car has no error codes and since the gas is drive by wire, maybe it's just normal then since it's all electronic.

Anyway love the car. The bloated wobbly feeling is still unsettling, especially the turns on the highway at 80mph but I just picked up suspension parts!!
Picked up tokico adjustables with steeda springs and Gt500 strut mounts, BMR panhard bar. That HOPEFULLY will make the car handle much better and get rid of the wobbly feeling. Probably install it tomorrow or friday.

flash_xx

ok, the throttle lag I think we can all relate to. There are a few things things you can try. One is to get a SCT or predator and a custom tune. Another is to disassemble the pedal and try to adjust it to get rid of the dead space:

https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...-must-see.html

And, the easiest one is the pedal reset procedure:

1) Turn your key to the ON position (not just ACC), wait for the various dash warning lights to go out - but do NOT start the car.

2) Press your throttle all the way down in one smooth motion - just do it at a normal speed (take about 2-3 seconds to hit bottom).

3) Let it up, as soon as you hit the bottom.

4) Turn off your ignition and wait 3-4 seconds.

5) Start the engine up normally and drive.