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ARE MORE PROBLEMS ON THE WAY FOR SVT? WHAT PROBLEMS MIGHT THE '99 LIGHTNING HAVE? |
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19 August 1999 BlueOvalNews has been receiving letters from 1999 Lightning owners that they are experiencing/alleging problems similar to the 1999 Cobras. <does this reader's letter sound familiar to Cobra owners?> "I have very much enjoyed watching the unfolding saga of the Mustang Cobra problems, and as a former Executive with both Volvo (nee Ford) and SAAB (nee General Motors) I am sympathetic with both the owners and the Team personnel and Ford executives regarding how to protect this very important niche product.
As a more or less "plank owner" '99.5 SVT Lightning owner (April build/May delivery), I am a little bit surprised that I have read little in Blue Oval News about what seem to be similar/repeatable problems with early production Lightnings. While I am coming to understand "brand management" as now practiced by the domestic manufacturers and understand that a Mustang story is far sexier than a pickup story, we are paying the same no discount premium to buy a Lightning as the Cobra buyers are to purchase their vehicles.
Let me say at this point that I really appreciate and enjoy my Lightning. It is for the moment, and for the near term future, the worlds fastest production truck. That is why I ordered and put a deposit on one last September. This E-Mail is not a knock on the truck nor on Ford Motor Corp. The vehicle does probably 99% of what I expected. However.................. It has teething problems. While my dealer has, I guess, tried to solve them, they have not. They seem to have virtually no in dealership knowledge or expertise in solving what seem to be a range of problems that are pretty well documented in several web site forums out there. I personally use F150online.com as my primary contact point, but there are many others.
I will not bore you with the issues that have been resolved, but I respectfully request you to address the following what I will describe in my own words as "common" problems.
1. On my vehicle as well as several others delivered from early production in the Atlanta area, the boost gauge was inoperative. I am told that the vacuum line supplied to the assembly line workers was "too short" and they skipped it and left it up to the dealer to fix it. In my case, I was without the gauge for 7 weeks.
2. While this may not be exclusive to the Lightning, about 40% of the owners registered with F150online.com have a "popping noise" in the suspension on tight right turns, especially if there is a slight bump involved. Many have gotten their dealers to tighten to "factory specs" some of the bolts on the A-frame and solved the problem. My dealer has not, but that is not the issue. Is it a problem?
3. Relating to your discussion about Cobra's not making advertised horsepower, it seems that Lightnings have the same basic problem. My unnamed dealer has owners that are experiencing indicated boost pressure from 4.5 PSI to 10.0 PSI. Even accounting for an error factor in the gauges, this is almost a 50% differential. As well, several owners have run their vehicles at drag strips and report widely varying times and mph postings. I fully understand the variables of driver skill and technique and all of that, but there seems to be a fairly big gap there for a vehicle with an automatic transmission where you can point and shoot and should get fairly consistent times and miles per hour. This seems not to be the case.
4. Mine own problem (spelling intended). On hard throttle application, especially in lower temperature high humidity conditions, I get a horrible acrid smell of burning rubber in the passenger compartment. This occurs mostly on full throttle applications from 30 mph on up ( I am 60 years old and not a squirrel, I don't like to smoke $200 tires). The two idler/adjusting pulleys you see right in front of the blower on my truck have been almost burnished to a sheen, and have multiple "burn" marks on them. Based on my earlier career with automotive companies dealing with service issues, my take on this is a pulley is either suffering from a bad bearing condition or is binding under hard use. Again, my dealer has had not had any success in either diagnosing or solving the problem. Due to, I guess, the Cobra problems, I have had no success in getting through to the SVT hotline the last few days to raise the issue.
5. Bottom Line folks: Can you help me and a lot of other SVT Lightning owners get our concerns considered as you have already done with the Cobra and other folk?"
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SVT OWNERS are invited to use our real time conference rooms to discuss similar problems with your SVT product. Lightning owners should log on tonight at 9:00 p.m., e.s.t. |
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