Well, they did.

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I agree...chips and gears do not cause motors to fail...neither do underdrive pulleys...MAD's motor apparently failed due to the balancer not being in place...

Mark, if you're still considering whether to do any of the "usual" mods (chip, gears, pulleys, TC, mufflers, etc), it's not just the mods themselves you should be concerned with, it's also the wrench who installs them...I don't know who installed MAD's pulleys, and it may indeed have been an easy mistake, but nonetheless, it was that mistake that killed his motor, not the mod. LOTS of motors are already out there with underdrives installed for years, and they've had no issues; same goes for chips, gears, etc.

I don't know how much you drive, but if you wait for 100,000 miles to do your mods, you'll be missing out on a WHOLE LOT of fun...as you said, life is short.
 
I don't think I would fight this,the lack of a balancer pretty much nails you to the wall.
Find a local Mustang speed shop take the car there if you cant do the work and purchase one of those stroker kits!
I;m sure the dealer will charge you for tearing the motor apart but make sure they don't charge you R&R on the engine,they never did the second "R",reinstall.Make sure ALL the parts are returned to you.
Like has been said most line mech. don't rebuild the engines the just replace them,so I don't think you'll get a good labor rate to rebuild the engine at the dealer.
All that said can you go after the guy who installed the pulleys?
 
Yup, you're pretty much done with the lack of a balancer. Sorry man...

So, where do you go from here? Do you opt for a cobra motor, the stock block, or full out V10? Despite the negitivity, you've got the option (although maybe not financially at this time) to have a real screamer. Good luck!
 
Mad, I'm really bummed to hear about the dealer trying to mess with ya, bud. :( I hope you can wage a good legal fight and make them pay. :mad2:

I have to say, it's sort of got me rethinking how badly I want chip and gears now. Argh.
 
Don't let it affect the decition. If I had it to do over again, the ONLY thing I would have changed, was to have the car taken to my wrench, to remove them and reinstall the originals. Thats it.
 
Let's keep this in perspective guys. Don't let this keep people from doing the chip and gears. This failure looks like it was caused by the balancer problem. If this is really what the cause was, then Ford has a legit beef. I have NEVER seen problems with chips in cars, except ones that were VERY agresively programmed, pushing limits on many different parameters (and usually juice is involved). I would think that there is some recourse for MAD-3R from the place who did the wrenching for this mod. Just my opinion.

Wags
 
Ok, just to let everyone know. I, am an adult. I take responsability for my actions. I made the decition to have the Mods put in. I knew the risks.

I have spoken to all the people involved, and am satified.
Nuff said.
 
MAD-3R said:
Ok, just to let everyone know. I, am an adult. I take responsability for my actions.
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Now that's something you don't hear often enough!

Good luck with the rebuild!
 
What angers me is that we have to modify this vehicle to get it to perform like it SHOULD have from the factory. I pulled the chip the other day. I'd forgotten how poorly that transmission behaves.
Unexcusable
 
MassMarauder said:
What angers me is that we have to modify this vehicle to get it to perform like it SHOULD have from the factory. I pulled the chip the other day. I'd forgotten how poorly that transmission behaves.
Unexcusable
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I guess if Marauders (and Lightnings and Cobras, etc.) performed like they "should have from the factory" then all of the tuners would be out of work. And I bet you would still be unhappy.
 
Sounds like a good time to round up a Cobra engine and get the stronger bottom end. Or maybe one of the new 5.0 DOHC crate motors. Look at the bright side, this is a prime opportunity to do some real mods instead of all the bolt-on stuff we've been trying so far.
 
Mad: Let me know if you want to trade cars with me. Check my signature for my mod's. My car has (and has always has had) the underdrives with the balancer. The car has about 2,800 miles on it and will soon have a Fordchip power tune.

Obviously we would have to work out the terms, as well as figure out how to get your car and what is left of the motor to my shop in New York, but if you are interested, let me know and we can talk.......
 
Appeal

Don't give up so easy. Appeal the decision. Ask to see the LM rep. Talk to the dealer. Even if they meet you half way parts or labor it is 50% better than walking away. You MIGHT buy another Mercury some day and they are concerned about that. Opinions even mine, are just that. Tell them about the forum and that we are watching. Potential customers are watching.
 
RF Overlord said:
I agree...chips and gears do not cause motors to fail...neither do underdrive pulleys...
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Chips can damage an engine in short time - with or without a power adder. If the tuner doesn't know what their doing, you won't even get home without a problem. I know from experience.

I have heard stories about underdrive pullies damaging cam gears. I have nothing to back it up though. So, I'll leave it at that.

JMO - Seems as though everyone here is upset (before the root cause was known) that Ford is denying the claim. I guess I am the only one who agrees with Ford. If you modify a vehicle (or anything for that matter) beyond what it was originally designed to do, you are responsible for the outcome. I see it as being the same as those fat people suing McDonalds for making them fat or the old lady suing them cause the coffee burned her crotch. I'm not flaming anyone in particular. Its just a general comment.
 
tomd said:
Is there anything Dennis can say or do to help show the chip was not the cause?
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The chip was NEVER the cause, and the chip does not invalidate the warranty, They have to prove that what you installed caused a motor failure.
 
Thanks for the support and all the encuragement I have recieved here. Some things have been brought to my attention, and I am persuing them. The parts were good, the install was at error.

As for the Chip, I had a Dyno pulled not a week before the engine went boom, and it was beutiful smooth and sweet! No, the chip was fine.

The failur was of the oil pump, most likely because of the lack of the pullies were not installed properly. In this case, Ford is correct. My bad.

I am going to ask that this thread be closed.
 
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