2008 Shelby GT500 clutch problem

My husband's in Afghanistan. We purchased a 2008 gt 500 Shelby before he left with only 5k miles on it. Soon after buying it we noticed an occassional problem with the clutch. I took it in to the repair shop and they blew me off telling me that they couldn't find anything wrong. Now that it has 14k miles on it I am having serious issues. I will step on the gas and the rpm's will go up but nothing happends. I have NO POWER AT ALL. I even notice it doing it when I turn corners. I cant tell you how embarrassing it is to have a mini van beat you off the stop light line. I am not a hot rod, I do not burn tires nor do I burn clutches out! I have had high performance sports cars with manual tranmissions since I was 19. I am in my 40's now, so experience with a clutch is not the problem. I took it in to the repair shop again completely frustrated since this is my 8th time in 3 weeks trying to get them to listen to me. They finally agreed to take a test drive with me and immediately they noticed what I had been trying to tell them. It is a slipping clutch. They then inferred that "I" burned up my clutch, and that "I" dont know how to drive a car like that if my clutch would burn out so quickly. I cant even tell you how insulting that is, not to mention what the heck is a clutch burning out in any car at this limited amount of miles. Now they say that it is a "wear" item and is not covered by our warranty and it will cost in excess of 4k to have it fixed!!! This is so upsetting. My husband is thousands of miles away and cant do "the man thing" and reason with them. Help anybody????

 

When you say you took your car to a "repair shop" where exactly do you mean? Was it a dealership service department? Is the car still under the factory Ford 3/36 new car warranty?

 

I took it to the dealership that I purchased it from. That is where I also purchased the extended warranty thru Fidelity. Which after them having the car for several days have now said that it is not a covered item and that Fidelity WILL NOT cover the repairs. They have said that if I take it to a reputable Ford dealer that they may cover it on the powertrain warranty which it is still covered on even tho I am not the original owner the warranty is transferable and the car only has 14k miles on it. Now after speaking with Ford they also said that it is a "wear" item and that it is not covered and that it didnt have a contrubiting factor that would make the clutch die after only 14k miles, that it must be the driver?? WTF, I have tried to show them the thousands of complaints from Shelby GT 500 drivers that are experiencing the same problems that I am having. Unfortunately it hasnt gotten me anywhere!!! Im not some dumb chick, I know how to drive my vehicle, I wish they would just cover the dang clutch and stop insulting my driving!!!!

 

I really wish I could give you some good news, but your odds of getting the clutch fixed under warranty by Ford are very slim. As you already found out, 3rd party extended warranties are pretty much worthless.

My best advice to you is to find a reputable shop that will install a "Spec" brand clutch. They are a very popular choice with GT500 owners as a replacement to the original clutch. The quality of their clutches is very high and the price will most likely be half or less of what the Ford one would be installed.

Good luck.

 

I agree...I have a Spec Stage 3 Plus with a steel flywheel sitting here ready to go in when my 08 clutch goes...I have 10500 miles as of now with no problems so far...but I know it is coming.

 

I had my car towed from the dealer to a friends shop. I bought a spec clutch SFG5SSTon ebay for abou $1300 and had it installed. Total cost was about $2000. Ford clutches are expensive and not the best quality. If you are around Fresno, Ca. I have a great mechanic. The $1300 clutch I bought was with a new flywheel. My car is modified and I wanted a stronger clutch. I found a site that was cheaper than ebay but took too long to send so I ended up with 2 spec clutches. The dealer is asking for twice what it cost me for superior quality clutch. I would think any reputable shop can replace a clutch. Don't waste time with the dealer.

 

I have a 2007 Shelby with only 7100 miles- still under factory warranty AND FORD EXTENDED WARRANTY. I brought it in for repair- I have experienced the same problems as everyone else- hit the gas in any gear- RMP goes up and car does NOT respond. The Mechanic told me it WAS a burnt out clutch-that he has seen this problem MANY times. I was just called and told that BEFORE they could do the work FORD insisted that photograph the damaged clutch and sent it to them ( FORD ) BEFORE THEY WOULD OKEY THE WARRANTY WORK. NEEDLESS to say I am furious and waiting for a call later tell me their decision. I have a $100 Ded. and was told the entire cost would be $189. I will post later.

 

well ford sucks. Ford will not warranty a "wear" item- factory or extended. They wanted $400 to tear it down to see if it was " broken " but they knew it was burnt out. So they were going to charge me $400 to tell me it was not under warranty and then $3000 to replace the clutch with another piece of shit ford clutch. Love the car but will never, never, ever buy another ford.

 

2008 Shelby Terlingua , FULLY LOADED – For Sale

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2008 Shelby Terlingua ONLY 24000 KM, FULLY LOADED – For Sale

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