ruhn4beer

I have an 05 GT auto with 1,500 miles and it overheated today on way home. The high water temp light came on, saw the gauge at high, and then steam from engine. Pulled over and coolant was gushing out of the reservoir cap. It got lots of attention of the wrong kind for Ford. I then had it towed back to dealer. To make matters worse, I jus got it back from the dealer 2 days ago with a complete new rear end. The rear was replaced due to whinning howling noise on deceleration between 60-40 mph. Now the noise is only between about 52-47. They also fixed a paint blemish and replaced a misaligned passenger air bag dash piece.

I'm beginning to smell lemon!

Beginning to wish I never bought it!
:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Kahdir

:scratch: Do you inspect your vehicle when you pick it up from service?

I have had a Jeep dealer forget to fill the radiator after cylinder head work.... a Saturn dealer forgot to replace the oil cap after an oil change, tire store forget to check lugs after an alighnment...

sadsquared2

Did you buy your stang straight from a dealer or did you have it ordered? I noticed that since I bought my stang straight from the dealership... I was given an inspection paper which provided the fact that the dealership inspected my car throughly... maybe people who ordered their stang got this too... nevertheless.. I don't blame you for regreting buying the stang.... really stinks that you got the one that has issues

JessicaRabbitt

Kahdir, a friend had a MB Shop forget to put oil back in her 62 classic after fixing an oil leak.

I bet you can guess how she found out... man was that ugly.

Before then, I NEVER checked that stuff, just figured it was part of thier checklist to do things like replace caps, nuts, etc. Now I check, and ask. They look at me like I am on crack, but, better safe than sorry.

I ordered my 05, and I got a sheet that the dealer said I had a week to return to him. I am going to note orange peel ALL OVER my car, and pretty much thats it.

kerafaith

Marcus ~ man that suks big time. Wait & see what they say it is going to take to fix it first. My 03 only had like 9300 on it & they were talking about having to replace the motor after having 5 rear main seals replaced. Instead they replaced the crank shaft & crank shaft bearings, another rear main seal, & various hoses. Anywhoo. The car now has 15460 on it & has also had the hood repainted (and the paint is chipping again), 4 weather stripping seals ( and it still leaks water when it is washed), & 2 thermastats.

Make sure you keep all the warranty work papers & if they don't give you one then request a copy. Also I would check the lemon law in Cali. & get a copy, then when it reaches that point I would call a lawyer & ask them their opinion. Then I would call the Customer Service Relationship Center & request a vehicle replacement application from the Dispute Settlement Board. After that you pretty much just have to wait until you hear something back from them. You may be offered to settle with a new car with certain terms or you may have to wait & have your case reviewed by the board. It's pretty much up in the air after you turn in the papers.

But defiently check the lemon law in California. I did here in TN & here they have 4 times to replace the same part or if the car has been out of commission for a total of 30 days & then you can send them a certified letter & they have 10 days in which to offer to make 1 more repair attempt. After this it is considered a lemon. And you can try the dispute settlement board. Again this is TN it may differ in Cali.

Anyway. Good luck. I hope everything works out for you.

JessicaRabbitt

Kera, here in Cali the lemon law states that they have to repair the same problem three times... I dont know if there is a "out of service" time limit. I know that I bought a Grand Am from a dealership, and that thing was in the shop more than it was out, and I couldnt get Lemon Law to cover it, because it was never the same thing twice. It was an 88, with a side mounted quad 4... should have been my first clue there was trouble ahead.

Ruhn, I agree with Kera, check into our Lemon Laws. It stinks big time your going through all this.

thestanger

I am sorry to say this but you must make the best out of a crappy situation. FORD is notorious for this. I had the same exact problems with my 01 Gt, but it all started the second day of owning it. I went down the lemon law road, called the morons at FORD, who do not do anything proactive except applogize, which is worthless. To make matters worse the service dept at FORD WEST was terribly unprofessional and worthless. It was a couple of months of problems and disappointment until I got over it and started with the Mods Then all of the mechanical and body problems went away. This is the reason that I would not advise buying this car until it has had a couple of years on the market, so that FORD can work out the defects. Poor quality and problems can, unfortunately, be a common experience among some stang owners. Sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you get one on the lemony side. My engine, tranny, radiator, leaking windows all had to be dealt with the first couple of months of ownership. It gets better, trust me.

Robert

Unbelievable.

If Ford can't build cars with world-class reliability, then perhaps it might be a good thing for the company to succumb to "industrial darwinism" after all. :notnice:

jcopin

mym mothers camry they forgot to tighten the oil filter after they changed it.. oil EVERYWHERE

lodom

I will never never never, did I say never, let a dealer change my oil. Too many bad experiences.

Kera, I think all the previous gen GT's leak around the doors. The windows don't seal good in the upper rear corner. My 99 did the same thing and Ford replaced the weatherstripping. It was a waste of time, but it was the least of the problems I had with the car.

Mellow Yellow

Jessica, my car has quite a bit of orange peel as well. This is the third Ford I have owned and all 3 have had orange peel pretty much all over the car. I said something to my dealer and they offered to wet sand my car, but I would rather not have that done, especially by the dealer. They said they would give feedback to corporate but if this problem has been around for 10 years, I don't see it fixing any time soon :bang:

drizztbob

That's crap. A Mustang owner should not have to wait a coupe of years for Ford to get the all the kinks out of the first year model. They have been producing these cars for years now and SHOULD have a basic understanding on what works and what doesn't. An '05 owner shouldn't expect to have problems because this is a new body style/engine etc. If Ford can't get the car right on it's first year then why would they release it. Everything should be working properly when you receive your car and no one should have to be worried that their car is eventually going to have problems because it's the protege...

1 COBRA

Unfortunately, being one of the first of a new production model is always risky. Keep all your maintenance documents, a log, and any comments made to you about your car from any Ford related personell. Just in case...

Best of luck.

RED92LX50

Well, not that it will make you feel any better, but at least you are not alone. In 1991, I bought a 91 LX 5.0 Vert with 26 miles on the odo - had so many problems with it that the Dealer nearest me finally refused to work on it anymore and had it towed off thier lot to my house! They said to have it serviced where I bought it (about 30 miles away) - after about 9 more months of problems Ford bought the car back under their arbitration program (mostly to avoid the Virginia Lemon Law process, where the car would have to be Titled as a "Lemon"). Aside from all the pain/suffering I went through, time off work, time dealing with morons, etc. They bought the car back for the sticker price I paid, and that was what I still owed on the loan (since the interest is front-loaded on Ford car loans) so I paid about $4500 ($450/mo for 10 months) that I never got back...still doesn'y seem right to this day!

Then, the silver lining...the 92 LX 5.0 that I special ordered at their secret under invoice price as part of their buyback...still have it today...NOT ONE PROBLEM EVER!!! And I have even modded it slightly over the years...

Hope you problems work out soon - I know how these types of problems can be ALL CONSUMING on you! Best of luck!

RottenRonny

I talked to my dealer about potential problems, being it is the first model year, when I first went to look at the 05. His response was that, infact, there was nothing in the car that was really new, as almost everything has been used in other ford models already.

Probally just dealer propaganda, though.

BamBam

The truth is they can produce a car with no issues but unfortunatly thats not how the system works. This is what happens.

They get us all hyped up on the next latest and greatest car, we can't get it out of our mind so we end up going out and buying one and most end up financing/leasing it. Then the problems start and we put up with it for a while. After about 3 years the newness has worn off, the car is a dime a dozen, and we are so sick of all the issues. Solution, go out and buy another car, the whole process starts over. :bang: This is also one reason leases have become so popular and why body styles keep changing every 3 or 4 years.

Our society is so caught up in the idea that our car defines us as a person instead just basic transportation. They know it and they keep us comming back for more.

This isn't everyone but its definately the majority. :scratch:

Bottom line is all cars are made to "look" good but underneath their really a piece of crap.

JessicaRabbitt

Never had any trouble with my 99 until her 5th year. No weatherstripping issues, not a darn thing...

As far as the orange peel, here is my convo when taking delivery of my car:

Me: "Wow, there is orange peel here too... its everywhere. I didnt expect so much."
Salesman: "Ford is not known for thier paint jobs, you gotta know that."
Me: "Well, I knew some people had SOME... but, this covers 90% of the car!"
Salesman: "We will never win awards for our paint... its a good thing your having it custom painted."

Sigh... The bright side is, while I have a lot of it, its not severe. So, its a trade off.

No mechanical problems... as of yet... she has about 500 miles on her now.

JessicaRabbitt

BamBam, what kind of car do you drive?

Edit: I have owned 7 cars. Between my husband and I, we have owned 11. Neither one of us had continual mechanical problems with our cars. In fact, the only time the cars were in the shop were accidents (getting t-boned stinks.), oil changes, tires, brakes, that kind of thing. In my circle of friends, we keep our cars for more than 3 years. I would say your little scenario doesnt hold water for the majority, at least in my circle of friends and family. My mom has had the same car for 10 years.

poldrv

I have to agree with DrizztBob, after 40.5 years, Ford should have the bugs worked out of the Mustang model after all besides the Ford Taurus this has been their flagship vehicle. With all the design and technology inputs into the new mustang one should be able to rely on a relatively bug free vehicle especially for the money we are putting out for the vehicle. I also agree that if Ford is having problems with the new mustang model then it should not have been released until the bugs were worked out. Thanks to the problems noted on this forum with the Shaker 500 spitting out CD's, I deleted the Shaker stereo option and will buy an aftermarket stereo system.

1 COBRA

True. But the prospective buyers turn a blind eye for the most part. The enthusiasm built by the fans hinders and overshadows the reality of possible defects and malfunctions. Preceeding the deliveries, there weren't too many topics on this board or any other of negative expectations. It has happened with the Cobra, Bullitt, and Mach 1. It would have surprised me a lot if stories like this would not have emerged by now.