CaptDistraction

Made in Turkey.

I had an IED joke but it was in terrible poor taste.

5 DOT 0

I knew months ago that they were made in Turkey. I can't wait until the MT-82 made in China haters get wind of this.

texastboneking

Uh oh.... Lol.

06GT

wtf it looks like the one face of the clutch just disintegrated

montreal ponies

Don't you worry about that, they already know. I've read it a lonnnnng time over at AFM forums.

jshred

I wish my first post on this forum were under more celebratory circumstances (because we're all here for our love of Mustangs) but it's really frustrating to see how this problem has been handled.

I'm a bit biased as I am related to the Capt but I want to say that I am disappointed in how the issue has been handled.

Chris is an enthusiast, yes, but he's quite a skilled mechanic and a fantastic driver. He's not running around doing burnouts or illegally racing in the streets, he's taking a performance vehicle to a controlled environment and, if anything, is helping Ford sell a few more cars along the way.

I love my car. I wouldn't have purchased this car if it weren't for the afore mentioned enthusiast. I hope that something good does come from this situation but as it stands it does make me a bit uneasy about my own car.

CaptDistraction

Sigh, spent half the money today on the repair, my local parts dealer ordered a Mcleod RXT dual disc clutch, it was only $130 more than just the factory clutch disc itself.

I guess the good out of this is I should never have a clutch issue again. Thanks to Mcleod and AMP Performance in Phoenix for taking care of me when Ford preferred not to.

Flagstang

AMP will fix you up. I am sorry to see ford drop the ball on this one.

86LXJunker

Looking at those pics - where is all the heat soak... I see no blueing / heat spots - no burning on the PP or Flywheel...looks like a bad clutch disc to me.

Ford should have covered this and chaulked it up to a bad disc.

CaptDistraction

There aren't words for how angry this situation has made me.

I get the car back today, pay my $730 in labor, and the clutch is super smooth.

However, there's all SORTS of new noises in the car. There's a number of things loose (I fear the K member or some suspension component) up front in the car (I believe a transmission mount too). all sorts of clunking noises and moans/pops. I don't think the car is even really tracking straight on bumpy roads. I have to carry it back to the dealer again tomorrow, although the tech that worked on my car won't be there.

In addition, a new noise has popped up that has me really worried. I've recorded it, and its in low RPM in all gears, sounds very gear/mechanical/metal like, and its much louder than the mic picked up (hard to make out over the exhaust). I shot a video, anyone have thoughts?

I'm also scared that the steps weren't followed for the clutch install (the pickup is now up at the last 2 inches of pedal travel, there's no slipping when all out, but it feels really, really high up on the pedal, most of the pedal travel isn't used/feel no feathering engagement until almost all the way out).

Here's the video of the noise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrqI2NujCB0

This could be from the mcleod dual disc clutch, but I really really wouldn't think it would cause all that much noise and be that unfriendly to drive :/

06GT

Wow that stuff is definitely not normal. Maybe it's a good thing that the tech that worked on your car won't be there...

97GT12

Any getting close to the red line ford marked on the tach? This is absurd. That could happen on nothing more than a delayed shift out of first when pulling out into traffic oh because the driver is paying attention to say... traffic. Preventing damage from too high of an engine speed is why there is a rev limiter. Ford sets the maximum safe RPM, so why should a warranty be void for getting 'near' (but not above) that number, which should have margin in it? Near is in quotes because what is 'near'? 5000? 6000? 3500?

And heating up the tires is also absurd. A grandmotherly drive at 55mph on the interstate heats up the tires. Just check the tire pressure before and immediately after to prove it. Yes, I am being literal about it. Because unless they define a specific tire temperature it's nonsense.

blackgt87

I'm sorry nobody explained this to you, but every dual disc clutch I have ever heard makes CRAZY noises. Like with the car idling and the clutch pushed it they sound like your flywheel is cutting through the belllhousing. It blew my mind anybody would run them on the street, just clanging and banging and scraping noises all the time. That plate inbetween the discs being free to float really bangs into stuff and makes a lot of noise.

That noise at low rpms while driving kinda sounds like the same thing. I would give Mcleod a call and explain everything to them. It may have just been a miscommunication about the nature of a dual disc clutch and the NVH that comes along with it.

I'm not trying to be a douche but if the last clutch failed unexplainably and there was a solid chance that it may have been the way it was installed, why did you take it to the same dealer?

CaptDistraction

Issues were solved at the visit to the dealer. Shockingly, the front suspension was loose:

All four strut housings to spindle bolts were loose (required 1/4 turn to get to tight), and they were moving independently of each other. Same with the bolts going through the swaybar ends up front. They also tightened the exhaust somewhat. The tech that worked with me added some witness marks to keep an eye on those bolts.

As far as the drive line noises, they seemed to have dissipated as well. Maybe break-in? The mcleod uses a tethered floater, so I don't believe it could bang around too much. Still takes some getting used to, pretty grabby/little chattery right now, but it only has about 70 miles on it so far.

Still taking some getting used to with the engagement up so high, and the pedal feeling like there's nothing there, but for now I can at least say the car is back in the shape I expected it to be. I have no idea how those bolts could be loose (there's a possibility I was last to tighten them, and that's a scary thought given how **** I am about ensuring proper torque being met on bolts). I have had an alignment and ford did replace my front LCA's (and another alignment) since then, so hopefully that wasn't my goof.

However, either way from now on I'll be keeping an eye on those bolts.