flash gordon

I bought mine 5.0 in 9/11 and I have driven only 2K miles. This morning while I was driving on the highway, I felf a shudder and a noise. I thought this is no good! Sure enough. Heavy smoke and grinding noise came from the rear. I stopped immediately and heavy smoke and burning smell came out of the rear. I open the hood, no smoke. When the smoke is cleared, I look under the rear and the differential was leaking oil. Had the car towed to my dealer and got a Focus for a loaner car!

To say I am disapointed is a grossly understatement! I baby the car to no end. Always wash the car by myself. Never drive it in snow. Now this happened. My last domestic car was a 1987 Pontiac STE. Had 80K on it before I traded for a Maxima. Since then, I have not bought a domestic car. Given the good reviews by various car magazines and the Consumer Report rated it above average in reliability, I bought the 5.0. My confidence in domestice cars and expecially Ford is greatly shaken to say the least.

That's all I have to say for now. Hope the dealer does a good job in fixing it.

essayons

sounds like you got a fluke. Hopefully the dealer puts a new rear end in it for you and that's the end.

Tygr1

Agreed, that is certainly a fluke. The 8.8 rears are very strong pieces. Good luck with the dealer.

Roy_R

Welcome to Chinese producing products for our domestic cars....

DSargent09

I would have them put better gears in it since they have to do the labor anyways... perhaps 373s if you didnt have them...or 410s

2005Redfire6

+1, I have never heard of an 8.8 doing that on here without severe abuse and even then I haven't heard of that. Odd to happen on a new car too, has to be a fluke and I am sure they will fix it right up!

pdonket

Really sorry to hear about that man that's depressing no matter how you look at it. To be honest I could understand you feeling shaky towards domestics over something like that happening after 2k miles.

I do think it's probably a very rare type of thing though. I'm sure there are imports out there that also have had very early life serious problems. Just got to keep on going and hopefully that dealer will get it fixed up, cleaned up, and make sure everything is perfect and good to go.

kenthicken

Very rare. Just a fluke.

flash gordon

Further to my thread, the dealer called back later in the afternoon and indicated that the bearings in the clutch assmebly burn out and shot the seal out which caused the differential to leak. I did not ask the details sinc it is under warranty so I just assumed that is part of the limited slip differential. I specifically asked whether they should change the differential also and they said most likely not. I am very concerned because there was so much smoke pouring out of the rear that something got really hot and burn the lube oil.

Either way, I am not a happy camper! To top it off, the loaner car, Focus, I got is really crappy with 40K miles. This cold morning the lousy wipers don't even work properly. The inside of the car is really dirty. Looks like it has not been cleaned for years.

flash gordon

Thanks for your concern.