saleen281eguy

I own a 2006 Saleen Extreme 550, which has a little different suspension than the N/A and S/C saleen and what not, plus a 12 lb. tune and maxgrip differential...but does anyone else have problems like i am on any of their S/C 05+ cars??

I bought the car brand new off a lot here in detroit. When i inspected the car, i noticed some small imperfections which i told the dealer to fix, some of which i know are common problems with saleens, (like the steering wheel badge peeling off). When i drove the car, everytime i shifted the boot would come off, so they ordered me a new shifter handle which is shorter (installed on the 07's) all fixed and no problems.

I showed the car to some saleen owner friends which have not seen a supercharged 05+ yet and they said the roots blower sounds like its not getting oil cause it makes a lound and obnoxious noise like the twin screws are just touching eachother (only when the hood is up and youre listening). Then the car started getting hard to go into gear, until i couldnt get it into gear anymore and had to tow it to the dealership on a flatbed. They told me saleen spec'd them to pull the trans, re-torq the clutch plate bolts, and bleed the clutch. They told me the supercharger sounded normal but the belt was shreded and ready to snap. They said the belt was slipping and the tensioner pulley was bad, so they replaced it. (mind you this was at about 350 miles and the car currently has under 800).

That was all fixed and good. One thing i didnt tell the dealer was the humming i hear in the rearend, which when i test drove the car before i bought it, the guy i know from Saleen told me its the rearend and its normal.

Not that i have a few more miles on the car, i had a friend of mine that owns a well-respected mustang tuning shop around town look at it becuase he hasnt seen an extreme in person yet. He drove the car and said the humming noise is not good and sounds like theres a ring and pinion problem. He also pointed out that when you give it throttle (not necessarily matting it) the right rear end squats considerably and the car pulls left, quite hard sometimes. It feels like the axel is twisting like there is no lower control arm bushing on the righthand side, causing the back of the car to go right and the front of the car to go left, like it torques hard. He told me it seems like there is a broken or bent control arm. I got on it ONCE out of the whole w/ the 4:10's in first gear and now the humming noise is getting louder and torques worse, like obnoxious loud, and the supercharger still sounds nasty. The guy from saleen told me the rearend is normal because all the extremes do it due to the MAX GRIP posi. I talked to my buddy francis with a 2000 WS6 fully built with a 9" race rear end and runs high 8's, and he said his rear end makes some noise, but it shouldnt be like that.

Now that the problems are getting worse, my radiator temp guage sometimes reads upwards of 125 on a cold day and the supercharger is making very unstable boost. It has a stock tune of 12 lbs and now only will make 10.5-11 and spikes all over the place. The guage looks like a bass light....?

The guy from saleen told me that he doesnt want a dealer looking at it, he wants SSV looking at it, so hes going to meet me up there and have it tested, but im concerned their going to say everything is OK, and the car will just keep having problems.

My next question to him will be what am i going to do in 8 months when my 1 year powertrain warrenty is up?

Can any of you verify ANY of my listed problems? it seems like the car is a lemon or something, just problem after problem and i dont even have 1000 miles on the car yet. Would any of you say that since the car is built by hand, minor querkes have to be worked out in the first year?

advice/thoughts?[/align]

bigtone408

Wow! That's not good to hear especially as I'm considering buying an 'E' soon. You should do what they said and take it ti SSV first and see what they say imo.

PolkThug

My SC has sounded "grindy" from day one. It has 13k miles on it now with no problems.

After Saleen gets done with it, I highly recommend the BMR Upper Third Link (upper control arm) and BMR mount, the stock pieces are very thin metal.

The rearend gears shouldn't be making any noise. Did the 4.10's come standard or were they added later?

sowaxeman

Your clutch plate problem was a common one - it was actually discussed in here a few months back. From what I remember reading that was the fix for the going into gear problem

How does your belt look now - does the replacement pulley seem to have fixed that problem?

As for the rear end - you have to remember that car is a torque MONSTER!! If you are on the slightest of uneven roads (like for drainage purposes even) the car will pull off to that side. Heck, my base S-281 does it. If you get the chance, pull onto the middle of the road so you are centered on the "apex" of the road. Then break 'em loose and see if pulls then. As for the noise you are complaining about, it seems that has been discussed in here before as being normal but hopefully some '06 E owners will chime in for you.

Radiator temp gauage at only 125? That seems normal to me.

As for the SC noise I can't help you but I would DEFINITELY have Saleen go over the car and get some sort of documentation

sam the jeep man

my friend, i feel your pain
as i was reading your thread, my hair stood on end
every single problem you are experiencing plus about 10 more are exactly what i went through with my 06 extreme #003.
i would need 3 hours of typing to tell you all about my lemon.
i finally i got saleen to buy it back, way before the 1 year warrantly cut off !!!
these 06 extremes are extreme alright--extremely f----- up.
trust me, no matter what anyone tells you, your extreme will never be right----BEWARE !!!!!

smoothy

Sorry to hear about the problems you have been having. I had the shifter boot issue, but managed to fix it myself somehow (still not quite sure how...). As for the supercharger sound, it does make some noise when idling, its hard to say if yours is normal compared to mine as judging sounds can be very subjective. I also get some pull to the left when I goose it from a stop or from slow speed. Not a huge pull to the left, but it is noticable. I figure (as sowaxeman mentioned) it is the huge torque. Take a car body designed to handle certain level of torque, if you increase torque by 75% (roughly) you will end up flexing the frame unless you add a ton of reinforcement (and therefore a ton of weight). Again, though, it is hard to judge without having driven your car to see the difference. Hey if Saleen wants SSV to have a look at the car, jump on the chance and that way you know someone who knows the car will let you know what is out of place

Stang_Racer

"Not that i have a few more miles on the car, i had a friend of mine that owns a well-respected mustang tuning shop around town look at it becuase he hasnt seen an extreme in person yet. He drove the car and said the humming noise is not good and sounds like theres a ring and pinion problem. He also pointed out that when you give it throttle (not necessarily matting it) the right rear end squats considerably and the car pulls left, quite hard sometimes. It feels like the axel is twisting like there is no lower control arm bushing on the righthand side, causing the back of the car to go right and the front of the car to go left, like it torques hard. He told me it seems like there is a broken or bent control arm. I got on it ONCE out of the whole w/ the 4:10's in first gear and now the humming noise is getting louder and torques worse, like obnoxious loud, and the supercharger still sounds nasty. The guy from saleen told me the rearend is normal because all the extremes do it due to the MAX GRIP posi. I talked to my buddy francis with a 2000 WS6 fully built with a 9" race rear end and runs high 8's, and he said his rear end makes some noise, but it shouldnt be like that.
"
Sounds like some boltis loose in the rear suspension. Maybe the panhard rod, or control arm bolt is loose. One of my buddies 05 GTdid this and I forget what was exactly loose, he had the saleen suspension put on.

saleen281eguy

Idealy, i dont want to be putting aftermarket parts on the car. My goal is to keep it stock. Yes, the extreme comes stock with 4:10's...dont ask me why! it shouldn't have higher than a 3:73 considering with as much power the car is making it already is out of control in first gear...i usually race a mustang from a dead dig and now you have to take it from a roll, which gives you powerloss on the upper end with the 4:10.

Yeah, i figured that much w/ the clutch.

The belt looks fine! oddly, i had the dealer look at the supercharger noise (which it still does and may be normal) and they said the tensioner was bad and belt was shredded and should've fixed the problem.. so ??

Yeah, my last saleen pulled too..thats normal on all mustangs since fox body years unless you get sub-frame connectors, which the E should come standard with. This pulls abnormally and if you watch the spoiler in the rear view mirror, the passenger side dips bad and the car pulls hard enough to where if i wasnt holding the wheel, i would be in the next lane!

Yeah, at first i wondered if the radiator temp even worked because it wouldng have a reading (starting at 100 temp on the guage) Then when the blower started spiking and i couldnt maintin 12 lbs anymore, it started reading 125+ (which i consider ... normal) ...but the needle bounces all over the place while its matted and wont go higher than 10.5-11 lbs... with a 12lb. tune! that JUST started.....i mean WTF right?

I hear you brotha, just please dont scare me! lol. There are other problems (which i havnt mentioned) saleen has fixed. It just seems like one after another and the car has 743 miles on it and i barely drive it.




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Possibly the gears are messed up from getting on the car before break-in period is up? ... ive been one to believe that beating on a car from day 1 will make it more powerful and last longer in the long run! (to an extent) ... im not exactly beating the **** ouf of it though.

sam the jeep man

not trying to scare you, only relating what i have been through
it was living nightmare, right to the minute they towed it away. from all my research and talks with saleen owners(especially extreme owners), seems like either you got a good one, or you got a bad one. with a bad one, no matter what is done with it as far as repairs etc, it will always be bad. the scary part, especially for east coast owners(who store them away for the winter), is the one year warranty !!!!
i wish you luck with your vehicle, but don't let these problems be white washed away, by bulls---- from factory reps saying "this is normal, or there nothing wrong with that" !!!!

ps--as far as the tensioner and pulley
saleen is well aware that the tensioner (from ford), is not strong enough for the torque of the extreme. if you get unto the car and get off just as fast the tensioner arm itself can not control the belt slack and willliterallybend out. once bent out, the belt is out of alignment and starts to fray at the sides. saleen blames it on ford quality parts, insteadof makingan improved version, and replacing the ones already installed on existing extreme models, which are allknown to be weak.

AmyVCTexas

Gotta tell ya, if it were my car I'd be sending it back. I don't own an extreme (and never will after all I've read about them). There are too many other great options out there in Mustang-land: the PJ (Sam had the perfect answer with that trade), the Shelby GT500 and next year, the Shelby GT500KR.

Hey, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Or a lemon, for that matter.