mail906

I think this is exactly the case with the leak issue. Most owners, in my opinion, do not even know that it could be happening. On this forum, to date, 19 owners out of 150 respondents have the leak. It's obviously not scientific but that's near 13% and that's huge -- and that's from people who are paying attention to their vehicles.

tientran

I strongly believe that after they contact with Ford technician, the problem will be solved. I got the same problem with 2005 Mustang. They changed the driveshatf 2 times after asking Ford technician.DON"T PANIC! Your car might have vibration from day 1 , but you did not notice that because you just drove it for a week.

Stig

Maybe it's not the driveshaft? Have you checked to see if the wheels are mounted properly and the tires balanced? I've heard several times (though it must be said, with aftermarket wheels) that a holding collar gets left on one of the hub studs (this holds the brake rotor on as it goes down the line) causing the wheel to not fit snugly against the hub/rotor face.

May be worth taking each wheel off and checking to see if there's a collar on the studs somewhere.

Just a thought?

richmod

Here's what really irks me about this - why doesn't Ford do this sort of thing in the first place? It's called problem solving, and good companies who respect their customers wil do it for them. Instead you get Ford who basically says what it thinks the problem is without going about proving it, and the customer has to force them to. Example - I have a hum type sound coming from my rear starting at about 28 mph - kinda sounds like a bearing noise, butsince they were all replaced and the noise remains, it aint that.I won't get into the details, but the dealer couldn't figure it out, so the Fordengineer came to town, drove my car, and said "it's the BFG tires and it's normal for high performance tires". Did he do anything to prove that theory? No. I had to call the dealer and demand that they take my tires off and put on a set of 17" from another GT (I have 18"). If it's the tires, the noise should go away. It didn't - thus proving it's not the tires. Took all of 15 minutes. So why didn't the Ford engineer do that? Because they're not interested in problem solving as much as they are finding the least costly way to make a customer go away. I had to spend time and money to problem solve because he didn't. And he was wrong.

Stig's advice is all good, but make THEM do it, otherwise they'll be satisfied if you just give up and don't bother them anymore. No wonder Ford's bankrupt.

(BTW - every GT I drove had the same hum tpe noise as mine, and the V6 I drove didn't. it's obvious to me that the GT rear has some design issues that cause these noises.)

steamfish

I'm almost afraid to post this 'casue I don't want to jinx my car but;

I've had a new GT for just over a month and put almost 3000 miles on it. No vibration, no gear whine, nothing, rides perfectly. So far I've had it up to about 90mph for brief periods.

On the other hand, I drove 5 hours down I95 last weekend thru that big Northeastern snow/rainstorm and when I got home, there's a half inch of water in my trunk under the spare. I think it's related to the convertible, there's a funky drainage system in there. Not too worried though, should be easy enough to find it and fix it, not like the passenger side interior leak others have had.

90ford5liter

I don't know if anyone said, but you can try to fix this yourself. Look up a local driveline shop in your whitepages. They usually charge $100 to balance a driveshaft.

If they are just replacing it with other poor-quality control driveshafts it may take a while to find a good one, whereas with the balancing it should fix it dead on the first time. Only other things I can think of are universal joints like someone mentioned or a tire out of balance.

Stig

Hate to say it, but itbasically boils down to economies of scale and cost. Ford priced the Mustang keenly because they aimwed tosell huge volumes. To be fair, you get good value for your $ (well, in the US at least!). Now - firstly, bear in mind that my GT/CS cost the equivalent of $52k - yes $52k! Why?Well, that's the penalty of living over the pond in the UK! You guys are better off than you may think!

Anyway, back to the point...

Now, with mass production, comes quality control issues that are tougher to control - simple math. The more cars off the line, the more problemsare likely to manifest themselves. At the end of the day, the build 'quality' is down to the guys/robots on the line and the integrity of the parts. By all means, hold 'Ford' accountable - but bear in mind that like all huge corporate entities, they are only as good as the weakest link. One guy on the line having a bad day (or suffering from a great night ) or a less than perfect componentcan mean that your car has 'issues'. That's just the way it is. This isn't just a Ford issue - I can give you similar examples from any marque you can mention - Japanese, German, French, British - you name it.

Production systems/techniques/quality control all play a huge part. I'm not having a pop at the guys on the linein Michigan, but there you go. Poor reliability/build issues have brought down almost the entire native UK auto industry. The more you make, the more you need to ensure that each vehicle off the line is as good as the first.

I'm not making excuses for the car, but with thousands and thousands on the road, inevitably some owners are going to have a less than perfect ownership experience and then, it's human nature to speak out about it. How many of you post saying "hey guys, today I drove my car and it was perfect" - if we did, the internet would grind to a halt.

I hope you get the issue sorted, but one bad apple shouldn't spoil the whole barrel. As long as your dealer sorts it out quickly and efficiently, then so much the better. Just get back out there an enjoy

chronism

Thanks for all of the responses. The dealer contacted me today and said they ordered another (2nd) new driveshaft and were going to replace it...again. I asked how they came to this conclusion, was this what Ford came back and suggested? He said yes and the fact that I mentioned that it "seemed" a little better, though still vibrating on the last replacement, coupled with the clunking noise before it got worse again. Maybe this is one of those cases where just my luck gets me a couple not so perfect driveshafts.

I asked about UV joints and unbalanced wheels. He stated that the "minor" vibration I am getting would be "more" if it was one of those things. I don't know, we'll see what happens. He said if this doesn't work, then we'll look at other options. The only options they have in my mind are fix it or provide a new car. I should not have to put up with this, especially within the first two weeks. I am getting very frustrated at this point. I fel like they are shoting in the dark trying to hit a bullseye.

BHRS

If you are still having the same or less of a problem, have the dealer send out the driveline to check the staightness and balance it. If it comes back without a problem, then they can look somewhere else. I am betting on the driveline being the problem. Also, when Ford is shipping the driveline it is probably not crated or boxed-thus UPS can drop/drive over it.

chronism

And the story continues...

Dealer installed the 2nd "new" driveshaft today only to find out that it actually made the vibration worse. So now they have contacted the Ford Engineer to come look at it. Foaming at the mouth, I stopped by the dealership on the way home and had a few words with both the service manager and sales manager. The service manager mentioned how the box to the newest driveshaft looked like it had been dropped. Umm OK?!? I asked why didn't they just pull one of the driveshafts off of the car they tested for comparison that was fine and see if the vibration follows the driveshaft or goes away in my car with the new DS. They will tomorrow while they await engineer.

I then spoke to the sales manager asking what they were going to do to compisate me for the fact the first two weeks of owning the care have been useless to me, get 1st month payment back, etc? They'll get back to me on that...yeah right. Give me somthing better to drive than a Focus? Working on that...This is no way to treat a new Ford customer who was sold a defective car from day one.

I think I'm at the point that I am going to go ahead and retain a lawyer. No telling what kind of issues I'm gonna have with the car, even if they do fix it. It'll be one thing after another. The vibration has probably damaged something else.

This is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.