whats up people. Im Mario, 25 from northeast Philly. I just joined the forums. I will soon be buying a 2002 mustang GT coupe. I currently drive a focus, which ill be trading on the stang. I had a young child so in 2003 i wanted a newer, safer sedan..but now he's getting big, so its time for daddy to have some fun!

my only concern thus far is Im reading on here about TSB issues on 2001+?? what does this entail and does it happen to a good amount, or slight few?

anything else i should look out for? I am getting a stang with less than 40k on it, hopefully considerably less if im lucky. Any input is greatly appreciated.

thanks
Mario

 

Welcome you'll enjoy the power of the Mustang more than your focus belive that......
I'm sure you'll get a warrenty on a 2003 GT so I would take full advantage of it and get the TSB checked out by Ford if the problem should occur.

 

welcome Mario! ( that's a sweet name BTW)

 

Welcome aboard!!

 

The TSB entails your car if its a manual transmition which is the 3650. On cold starts you may experience grinding, clicking, or clunking when shifting into gears. Most people who had the problem experience it from 1st to 2nd shifting and/or 3rd to 4th shifting. Get it looked at after you buy the car because they arent going to do jack if its sitting on the lot and you dont own the title to it yet. They have to replace the syncros so they cant shrug you off because its a TSB and they will know about it.

 

i got a 02 gt 5 speed and new england weather as ****ty as it is in the morning going to work i notice the grinding from first to second on cold days but once the car warms up a bit its perfectly fine just that cold start up is this something you should fix immediately and how long it take them to do the syncros?

 

Go get it done as soon as possible. Syncros is about a day job if they start in the morning which is unlikely. im sure they will also have to order the parts, so get it in, and talk to someone from service and have a mechanic test drive it! Make an appointment and have the parts ordered and planned to be in before your car appointment.

Dont drop it off and expect them to test drive it when they get the chance because its not going to happen.
stop in and make an appointment and ask them to test drive it before you make the appointment for it. that way your car dont sit there waiting for parts to arrive.

 

thanks for the welcome and the information! Im somewhat familiar with the cold start issue, my boys SVT focus has the same issue.

Quick question, at the expense of sounding like a total newb... Is this just something that will be "temporarily" fixed at the dealer that will have problems again in the future, or is it a permanent fix? OR is there any kind of aftermarket upgrade part that can totally rid of this problem?

BTW, the car im looking at as of now is 2002 GT coupe, 5 speed. Im hoping by the time i get situated the black one isnt sold.. if so i already 3 backup prospects..lol

ive never traded a car in before..my focus has some minor things done to it (catback exhaust, clear turn lenses, tint, etc) would it be better to trade it as is or put the stock exhaust and lenses back on?

thanks again
Mario

 

If its not a pain int the *** to change parts over, do it and then sell them on ebay, use the money for mods on the stang.

 

i have a 2003 that im taking in to my ford dealership to get the synchros replaced..to my understanding...its a perminant fix because the synchros that were used in our transmissions were weak so to speak....its going in this friday

 

The explanation I got was that they used copper in the synchros and it expands and contracts at a different rate. The rebuild replaces then synchros with a morre appropriate metal that eliminates the problem.

Do like MAtt J said and schedule a time for them to drive it. What normally happens is you drive it there, it's warmed up and they jump in and say it's fine. Or, you drop it off, they pull it inside at night and drive it in the morning (while it's been sitting inside their toasty garage all night) and they say it's fine. You need a person to come to your house and take it cold (good luck) or you have to leave it with them in cold weather and let it cool down for it to duplicate the symptoms. Either way, once they agree to fix it, it is a full day job and you should plan on leaving it there 2 days to complete.

You're also going to want to know the "in service" date of your car. They only had a 3 year / 36K mile standard warranty and it's based on the date the car was sold new. So if your car was purchased before January 25th 2003 then it would have no warranty (unless the prior owner bought the extanded warranty). Most garages will try and get you to pay ($1500 or so) if you are outside of the warranty period.

 

WELL....being that im looking at a 2002, ill assume it has no warranty..and im not payin 1500 bux to get it fixed..loll

maybe ill get lucky and since the cars a cpl years old the previous owner ran into the problem and already had it fixed that would be nice.

 

There should be a powertrain warrenty or look over the deal you make with the dealership and make sure it covers the transmission for a month or 2 so you can just take it in