MustangBillJr

UPDATE POST #17 5/12/12 -- Car is Fixed!
UPDATE POST #16 4/23/12
Hello,

I hate that my first post on this forums has to be about another problem with an MT-82 transmission. I've been a troll here for a while now, since I bought my Boss, but never had the urge to join until now. For the record I've yet to have the car looked at, and only had a brief dealing with a local service department as the issue happened yesterday 4-14-12 and they were just closing when I showed up. This is just an account of what has happened with the hopes that someone here can help ease my suffering lol. So here we go.

I bought the car, a 12' Boss 302 in performance white, off the lot at Bob Poynter Ford in Seymour Indiana. After a few weeks of dealing over the phone, I live in CT, I finally flew out there with my fiance and drove the beast off the lot July 25th 2011. Made the 900 mile trip home without a hiccup. This is the newest Mustang I've owned and only 05+ that I've driven, previous Stangs being an 89, 88, 90 & 01. Not knowing what to expect when getting in the drivers seat I attributed the "Notchy" feeling to the shifting as normal. It's obviously a completely different animal from my old fox bodies and although they shifted smoother and more precise, I shrugged off the minor personal issue I had with the transmission.

Fast forward to yesterday, Saturday the 15th, and I'm on my way to pick up my Fiance from work to surprise her with a nice cruise/picnic. I pull the Boss out of the garage, let her warm up as I usually do while locking up the house and proceed out of my long driveway where I had my first ever experience with a 1st to 2nd grind while cold. The car has always had a difficult 1st-2nd exchange while cold during the very first gear exchange but never a "grind". I proceed on my way when the real issue begins. Upon getting on the highway a little "spirited" in 3rd gear, I make the 4th gear shift and its not there, almost as if I had missed the gear. I immediately shifted to 6th, embarrassed at what I thought was my driver error, and proceed down the highway normal.

About 10 miles later I go to get off the exit, down shift to 5th then to 4th at a reasonable speed. Upon releasing the clutch the shifter popped out of gear and then bounced as I heard the transmission grinding while it tried to engage. Go for 3rd and it just ground as if I never had the clutch pushed in while trying to put it in gear. At this point it was obvious I had a problem, the car was drivable going from 2nd to 5th the rest of the way. Having common sense after trying only once more for 3rd and 4th, I avoided those gears as to not worsen the issue.

Once I picked up my fiance I drove to the nearest Ford dealership, Colonial Ford of Danbury CT(her work is only about 3 miles away). I don't have a dealer/salesmen/ or service guy in my area since this is my first brand new car. Nobody would sell me a Boss around here for sticker at the time, and half the dealers wouldn't even take me seriously walking in the door at 23 wanting to buy a Boss, but I was obviously not about to go back to Indiana for service.

First guy I talked to didn't even know what a Boss 302 was. Are you serious? Second guy kept telling me they've never had issues with the 6 speeds in the Cobras or any Mustang for the matter. I ensured him that it was a 12' Boss 302 by giving him my registration certificate but apparently it was still a Cobra to him, but "oh yea... we've sold quite a few Boss's". He doesn't know what a Boss is yet Colonial has sold quite a few? Funny how I tried buying a Boss there last year and not only was I laughed at but also told the one and only Boss 302 they were receiving was already spoken for. Whatever, I still want mine fixed and this guys knowledge of Fords shouldn't really matter I guess.

Anyway, after a few minutes of describing my problems and a few moments of biting my tongue we couldn't get a date set to get the car looked at. There wasn't any time that day, which is understandable, and I wasn't about to leave her there till Monday(especially since the parking lot is undergoing construction). So I limped her home.

Sorry for the long a$$ story but I just needed to vent somewhere lol. The car has 2,850 miles on it at the time when the problems occurred. Everyone can believe what they want but aside from a handful of times that I've actually gotten on the car, its never been driven hard. I don't drag/street/ or road race it and never planned on it from day one. Just recently purchased the TracKey voucher(It's yet to be flashed with the tune) figuring that since it was a Boss 302 exclusive product it was something I had to get for the "Full Boss 302 experience". It's also completely unmodified, which was the way I planned on staying from day one as well, unless you want to call taking out the side exit restrictor plates a modification.

If your still reading this far thanks for taking the time. Hopefully someone can share a positive experience to ease the pain. I just want my baby fixed, but from all the negative experiences I've read online it doesn't leave me very hopeful. I'm not jumping the gun and putting Ford on blast here, or my local dealer for that matter, since the car has yet to even be looked at. I'll be heading in to the same dealership tomorrow afternoon to speak to my dads friend, who wasn't working yesterday, to see what can be done. Wish me luck guys!

Bill

SoFlaBoss

I'm sure that Deysha (FordCustomerService here on TMS) can help you get your Boss serviced. I recommend that you send her a PM, rather than waiting for her to find this thread. Deysha will be able escalate things for you, as you probably already know from being a lurker. Good luck!

MustangBillJr

Already have. Thank You!

Bill

cdynaco

pics of said Boss that verifies it's yours?


or just padding the search engines for camaro5 mullet hacks like other 1post wonders?

if actually true, Ford will take care of you. Good luck!

MustangBillJr

Fair enough sir.



Here's the direct link to my photobucket as well.http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/g...%20Boss%20302/ I don't have any other way then maybe giving out my facebook?! which I'd rather not do.

In my other albums I've got pictures of my 03' Lightning and SVT Focus as well as my fathers Foxbody and a few pics of other previous rides. I understand your concern so no biggy.

I really do hope Ford takes care of me. This whole situation has me sick to my stomach lol.

Bill

flySWA737

Don't worry. Deysha will help you out.

Sounds as if you have an actual problem. May have been just a factory defect. From your post it seems your keeping a cool head about this. The average person who has had a "problem" went off on unrelated rants about it.

Beautiful ride BTW.

Tron

Don't worry dude, Ford will make things right and hopefully better than what it was when you bought it. I would be sick to my stomach as well if that was my car. You will be back on the road before you know it.

LEwis26

Sounds like it could be the pressure plate issue

2012GTCS

Sorry to hear man. Care is a beauty tho. Deysha should be able to escalate the issue to your dealer of choice for you and Ford should do the right thing. IMO the tranny should/will be completely replaced and youll be on your way enjoying a nice shifting Boss. You might of just gotten a bad one, things happen. Just have to look at it as luck (bad) of the draw.

Keep us posted...

Kevin509

Very well written post. Keep us updated and I hope everything works out well. I don't own a new mustang, so I'm not up to date on the way the warranties work, but I'd assume that anything wrong with the drive train with less than 3000 miles on the car should be taken care of no questions asked...

MustangBillJr

Thank you for the support guys! And i'll definitly keep everyone informed. I'm still waiting to hear from Deysha, hopefully I can see what she has to say before heading back to Ford this afternoon. I'll be talking to a former co-worker of my father's this time, he's also a fellow Mustang guy and should better understand the situation.

I'm Trying to take your guys advice and not worrying about it, unfortunately it's my personality to be a worry wart lol. How ever I do have faith in Ford to make things right. I would be stupid to have spent 40+ on a Mustang and not have faith they would fix anything that went wrong. Still hard to not be influenced by all the "Stories" that can be found on the internet though.

I do feel it's in need of a new transmission, seems like bad synchros to me from my previous experience tinkering with fox bodies, but I'm no mechanic. As for the pressure plate issue I wouldn't know, honestly I haven't looked up the symptoms for the bolts backing out. I was under the impression that Ford had issued a fix to the problem by the time my Boss had been built.

Kinyodas

Sorry about your issue - I hope it gets resolved. My grinding ceased after the fluid TSB.

Now they're two of us!

FordService

Thank you for the mention, guys!!

MustangBillJr, please send me another PM with your VIN, dealer, mileage, full name and, best daytime number so I can escalate this to the Customer Service Manager for your area.

Deysha

MustangBillJr

Thanks Deysha, and I apologize for not providing my information in the first PM that I sent!


Anyway, just a small update for those who are interested. The guy(my dads former co-worker) that I went to talk to yesterday was very laid back and a little more knowledgeable. Enough to make me feel more comfortable with the situation. So next Monday the 23rd I'll be going in first thing in the morning to have a transmission specialist take it for a spin then we'll have to go from there. Apparently it's all going to be up to the Ford engineers once they confirm there's a problem.

The only thing that I'm not happy about is the car will end up sitting outside in their cramped parking lot if they have to wait for parts/rebuild. I realize it's just a car and I should'nt have to be catered to like the pope lol, but it still upsets me since I'm super **** about my Stang.

I'll let everyone know what up next Monday night!

Bill

FordService

No problem, MustangBillJr. I have it now and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Deysha

MustangBillJr

Just a little update for everyone.

I Brought her in first thing this morning and went for a ride with Colonial Ford's transmission specialist. He just about scared the **** out of me when he first got in the car, thought he got it in reverse and almost hit the building in front of us since it was really in 1st

Anyway, he couldn't get it to replicate popping out of 4th. Ever since the first day it happen, once I let the car sit for a few days, I couldn't get it to replicate popping out of 4th either. Although it still severely grinds 3rd every single upshift, downshift, or just rolling at speed with the clutch fully depressed and shifting through the gears. It seemed to actually catch the mechanic by surprise with how badly it ground going into gear. He told me sometimes it's normal for transmission to grind while breaking in but there was undoubtably something wrong here. Told me he feels it's a 3rd gear synchro problem which I fully agree.

First thing he did was change the transmission fluid as per Ford's TSB for the Cold Shift effort. I guess that's the first step he was required to take when researching for a fix. I don't have a clue if he was in contact with Ford rep's/engineers or not, but thats the first thing he did. Obviously it didn't fix a thing, transmission still ground 3rd severely and drove fine in all other gears. No increase in gear whine as some claim to hear with the new fluid, or any increased shift effort for any gear except 3rd. Once back at the dealership after the test drive, he told me that he would be ordering a bunch of parts to rebuild the transmission. I didn't ask him for specifics on if it would be a full rebuild or not so I can't comment on what he'll be replacing, but the dealership will be in contact with me once the part's are all in and they have a day dedicated to my Boss.

Since I wasn't about to let it sit there for days, and I was already upset I had to take my baby out in the rain, I once again limped her home to await the next appointment. I feel great that it's going to get rebuilt and hope that he gets her fixed with no future issue's, got my fingers crossed!

Again, I'll update my thread with what goes down during the next appointment. Hoping it's on a sunny day this time though lol, as my Boss is a garage queen and today was the first time she's seen rain while in my possession.

Bill

MustangBillJr

Update for those who are interested!!


Well, I picked her up early this morning from Colonial Ford in Danbury CT after being in the shop since Monday May 7th. They ended up rebuilding the transmission, have a parts list i'll share in a moment, and the car feel's better than ever! Although I can't recall exactly how the car felt fresh off the lot, the transmission now feels better than I can ever remember. No more 'Notchy' & imprecise feel to the shifting, just smooth as silk now. I didn't end up getting to talk to the mechanic that worked on the car, or my service guy for that matter since the saturday oil change crew was working. So all I have to tell you guys on what went wrong is a parts list and the little that I was told during the week.

Here's the list of parts they replaced for starters;{Exactly as written}
4 XT*11*QDC Fluid - Transmission
1 BR3Z*7101*A Gear - Countershaft 3rd Speed
1 BR3Z*7107*D Ring - Synchronizer
1 BR3Z*7124*MB Hub -Synchronizer
1 BR3Z*7107*B Ring - Synchronizer
1 BR3Z*7M037*D Bearing Asy - Needle
1 BR3Z*7112*A Gear - Countershaft 4th Speed
1 BR3Z*7A010*A Plug - Blanking
1 BR3Z*7048*A Seal - Input Shaft
1 BR3Z*4A058*B Hose Asy
1 BR3Z*7005*AB Case Asy - Transmission
1 BR3Z*7230*B Fork - 3rd and 4th Speed
1 4R3Z*7K584*AB Clip
2 BR3Z*7A443*B Bolt Say - Lock
1 BR3Z*7052*A Seal Asy - Oil

At first they attempted the Cold Shift TSB fluid change, I don't know why they had to start there but it didn't fix anything, so they torn into the trans. Apparently once apart they noticed that a gear, don't know which, had contacted the case and put a gouge in it so they replaced the whole transmission case from what I understood.

Regardless, the important part is that my Mustang is finally fixed! Put about 60miles on it today and stopped at a car show I came across while I was out. Made me forget all about the stressful past couple weeks. Hopefully there's no more headaches from here on out. I also hope this makes anyone else with problems that may read this feel a little more at ease. I had no problems with the dealership I had brought it too. They didn't deny it was a problem or claim it was normal. Don't be influenced by the negative threads out there.

Bill

Kouks

Great update, glad to hear all is well

cdynaco

white__stallion

What's the build date of your Boss and how has the rebuild held up?