Kind of a long story, but basically my original 99 Cobra motor crapped out on me about 1.5 years ago. So I decided to bite the bullet and pay Ford the premium ($6,700) to have a true Cobra motor installed with 36 month/36,000 mile 100% parts and labor warranty. Now, we both know I could have had a crate motor installed for much less and it would probably be running great right now, but I opted to stick with the original motor platform in an effort to keep it a SVT. Upon getting the car back, it smoked on start up on occassion and burned too much oil for just having the remanufactured motor installed. So I took it back to Ford and asked them to diagnos the problem. Instead they charged me $50 for an oil consumption test, which was basically me paying for an oil change and for them to then "monitor" my oil useage. However, the car ended up burning about a quart every 1,000 miles and that was just not acceptable to me but they told me that was normal and that I would have to drive it. I took it back with the same complaint about 5 months later and ended up getting the same outcome, even after trying the warranty hotline and calling Ford direct. I talked till I was blue in the face, yet I couldn't even get them to run a compression test. So last Saturday the car apparently threw a connecting rod and cracked the block. Oil and coolant went everywhere and smoked up something fierce. I am sure everyone thinks that I was red-lining it but that was not the case. I was at about 4 grand in second, so it was under some pressure but meant to handle much more. So what gives? I had it towed to Ford and tried to file a warranty claim, stating that I had tried to come in before and take care of the problem when it wasn't a blown motor and the oil was burning. I was refused any kind of help and now here we sit with a completely faulty motor. They diganosed the car and denied the claim stating that I had modified the motor. They claim some of my bolt-ons like a cold air intake and computer chip void the warranty. Which would be correct but like I told them all of the remnants they are seeing is from the original motor. I removed everything when the original motor blew and hadn't replaced them specifically waiting for the warranty to run out, then worry about sticking my bolt-ons back on. So needless to say, I am not too excited about paying almost $7 grand for a faulty remanufactured motor and then being repeately denied warranty help. The warranty wasn't cheap either and apparently was a sales gimmick because Ford hasn't stood behind it yet. I have been a loyal Ford customer and was ready to purchase one of the new GT's...but seriously doubt I will after dealing with this mess. Does anyone have any good advice on how to solve this problem other then the typical "call Ford everyday and complain" strategy? I am actually in the process of looking for an automotive lawyer to have a conseltation to see if I have a case or not. Know a lawyer I should contact? Thanks for any help. Travis
Mustangs Unlimited has a disclaimer that says FRPP does not warranty any of their parts. Why'd you scrap a heat cycled block anyway?
Very simple. A letter from a lawyer will get it done. They cannot deny the claim for a cold air intake and a chip without proving that your mods caused the failure. There was a fantastic write-up in either 5.0 or MM&FF magazine on this exact subject about a year ago. Maybe someone still has it laying around and could turn you on to it. I hate dishonest dealerships. They give the rest of us a bad name. edit: SCORE!!! The article is available on-line!
y would they do a compression test on an engine that using oil? a compression test will not reveal faulty oil rings.
