Failures in 10,000 miles

[ggunter]

I picked up my MKIV in August 2020, Had it in go kart stage by October. Waited for a paint booth and completed the Paint in July 2021. Since that time, I have put 10,650 miles on the car. I absolutely love this car and can't believe I have one of these sitting in my garage. I don't beat on the car but occasionally have some episodes of spirited acceleration. Most of my driving is around 40-50 mph. I was sitting and thinking about the failures of the car, up until now. All in all, I don't think it has been bad, but I will list them and see what you think. I started with a Blueprint 347 engine trans combo with the TKO trans. Ran that for 4000 miles then changed out for a 427 with a TKX and a taller over drive. Nothing wrong with the other engine just wanted a 427. So, I have a spare. 1. Old style door latches came apart where they are crimped together inside the cover. Easy fix just bolt them together. 2. Hydraulic throw out bearing failed at 4000 and started leaking. Changed out with motor. 3. Bleed line to throw out bearing rubbed on pressure plate. (my fault). 4.Radiator failed at 10,000 miles, had it fixed and got another for spare. 5. FFR headers cracked twice at #1 cylinder pipe. Had them welded both times and ordered a set of Gas'n headers. Will install the next time they crack. 6. Thermostat housing to manifold has been a real bear to stop leaking but is leak free now. 7. I put a Holley Sniper on with the 347 and the oxygen sensor went out in two weeks. Replaced sensor. 8. the Sniper unit decided to idle up to 2000 whenever it felt like it. No real help from Holley, despite going over the IAC adjustments and idle speed, so I replaced it with a Carb. The chassis and drivetrain have been bullet proof and no issues at all there. Wehn ever I change oil I put it on the lift and go over every nut and bolt I can get to and check tightness. So far nothing has come loose. So, I'm not sure if this is a good failure rate for the miles or a bad failure rate. Most of these issues happened early on and now I just get in and drive. What ar your thoughts?

[Ted G]

Sounds pretty good to me. I have about 2500 miles and my radiator also failed but FFR replaced for free.. what a pain to replace though. I did have a small oil leak from the oil pan, but that is now fixed. I also have a 427 stroker with a TKX.... LOVE EM.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

One so far fuel pump. about 5,000 miles.

[JeffP]

I'm at 2500, so far just the filler tube gasket.

[egchewy79]

Fan relay quit working around 1000mi, leading to lower rad hose to blow off in traffic.

edit: adding speedhut oil pressure sender that quit after 500mi. they replaced it no questions asked but the new sender is reading about 15psi higher than the old one.

[john42]

Mine being a challenge car and heavily raced from 2006 to 2015(ish), I can say only just now after being on the road for another 30k miles since 2020, that these cars are very over built! I'm only just now replacing some worn rear control arm bushings. I may need to do shocks in the next year or 2. I replaced the front upper ball joints last year and it was just the boots, as the ball joints were fine but I didn't know that before taking it apart so I replaced with new.

Engines however... well racing takes it's toll! Engine swap was done over Thanksgiving. This is the first NEW engine in the car vs the last 3 engines that were 1990ish 5.0 rebuilds. It's odd and funny to have a 2 year warranty on the engine!

[Al_C]

Most of my issues were "break-in-period" related. Since then, fuel pump, cam position sensor, and quick connect fitting on the fuel rail. All relatively small things. At 8500 miles now, and have a lot of miles planned for the coming season. I think regular preventive maintenance is key. Hopefully 2024 will be uneventful failure-wise!

[dave10450]

I've had similar issues as the OP. I have approx 25,000 miles on my car. Replaced a leaking FFR radiator at about 15,000 miles. Thermostat housing also leaking so that was fixed too. Driver side door latch failed before 10,000 miles. Holley Sniper did not run well early on so replaced with a carb. This was approx 5,000 miles. Did not run well with carb. Root cause finally determined to be bad ignition coil. 347 from Blueprint. Oil pressure sending unit went bad around 12,000 miles.

[Theshandman]

I did have a small oil leak from the oil pan, but that is now fixed.

Ted, You saw my post about my oil pan leak and why it was caused. What was the nature of your leak?

[R. Button]

Keep those cars rolling!!

[John4337]

I don’t think you’re doing too bad. I’ve got just at 30,000 on my Mk4 and I’ve only been fully stranded once when the ECU on my old Powerjection III unit died at around 10,000 miles. It was replaced with a FiTech unit. The radiator developed a leak due to a mount failure, I switched to Breeze upper and lower mounts that have been flawless. My oil pressure sender failed at about 25,000 miles. The only other issue was a 10 year old MSD coil that failed. I had a spare and was on my way in 10 minutes.

[Bill Elliott]

I picked up my MKIV in August 2020, Had it in go kart stage by October. Waited for a paint booth and completed the Paint in July 2021. Since that time, I have put 10,650 miles on the car. I absolutely love this car and can't believe I have one of these sitting in my garage. I don't beat on the car but occasionally have some episodes of spirited acceleration. Most of my driving is around 40-50 mph. I was sitting and thinking about the failures of the car, up until now. All in all, I don't think it has been bad, but I will list them and see what you think. I started with a Blueprint 347 engine trans combo with the TKO trans. Ran that for 4000 miles then changed out for a 427 with a TKX and a taller over drive. Nothing wrong with the other engine just wanted a 427. So, I have a spare. 1. Old style door latches came apart where they are crimped together inside the cover. Easy fix just bolt them together. 2. Hydraulic throw out bearing failed at 4000 and started leaking. Changed out with motor. 3. Bleed line to throw out bearing rubbed on pressure plate. (my fault). 4.Radiator failed at 10,000 miles, had it fixed and got another for spare. 5. FFR headers cracked twice at #1 cylinder pipe. Had them welded both times and ordered a set of Gas'n headers. Will install the next time they crack. 6. Thermostat housing to manifold has been a real bear to stop leaking but is leak free now. 7. I put a Holley Sniper on with the 347 and the oxygen sensor went out in two weeks. Replaced sensor. 8. the Sniper unit decided to idle up to 2000 whenever it felt like it. No real help from Holley, despite going over the IAC adjustments and idle speed, so I replaced it with a Carb. The chassis and drivetrain have been bullet proof and no issues at all there. Wehn ever I change oil I put it on the lift and go over every nut and bolt I can get to and check tightness. So far nothing has come loose. So, I'm not sure if this is a good failure rate for the miles or a bad failure rate. Most of these issues happened early on and now I just get in and drive. What ar your thoughts?

Can I ask what hydraulic throw out bearing you had that went bad?

[Papa]

Just over 7,100 miles and heading into year 5 on the road.

1. Fuel filler seal/grommet (replaced with ford part)
2. Upper ball joint boots (Change to Energy Suspension - perfect)
3. Radiator (install issue lead to failure)
4. Fuel pump (contaminated fuel)
5. Sniper fuel pressure regulator
6. Intermittent stalls (possibly due to a bad engine ground - time will tell)
7. Oil pressure reading erratic (fixed after re-doing engine ground)

Overall, the car has been pretty solid. I've suffered through multiple sets of headers (now running FFR), redid the entire fuel and ignition systems after the contamination killed the fuel pump. Started with FAST XFI Street EFI (horrible), switched to Holley Sniper via BluePrint warranty (better), and now running Inglese 8-stack MPFI with Holley Terminator X (best).

[Cutter 54]

Gee, these FFR radiators have a crummy track record. Something to watch for.

[Nigel Allen]

Gee, these FFR radiators have a crummy track record. Something to watch for.

Agreed. You can throw your dead radiator on the significant pile, it's right next to the stack of MSD coils and fan relays.

[maclonchas]

A lot of good information here from real world operators!!!! I will bookmark this thread of things to watch and check as I get my car through the next stages of build and on to the road.

[GoDadGo]

Keep those cars rolling!!

Truly words to live by from the Factory-5 Jedi Master, Sir Ralph Button.
I've had replace my fuel pump, front calipers and my radiator.

The block replacement mid build was caused my my Former Motor Mentor who will remain nameless.

I've forgiven the man in the picture link attached below who I've known since I was 19.
When you create holes in an engine block JB Weld is not the solution.
I hope he is doing well nonetheless & changed his ways.
May God Bless Him & His Family!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/album.php?albumid=978&attachmentid=52543

[FLPBFoot]

5 yesrs and 6,500 miles. I had an MSD coil fail (another one for the pile) and burnt through the plug wires at the headers on cylinders 5 and 6. I already had heat boots on them but with the FFR headers the plug wires were pretty much laying on the header. Small oil pan leak and antifreeze weep from the intake manifold but those were early go cart and just needed to be torqued after heat cycles. Of course my Moser rear end weeps, but that is a given. Will change the oil and then use RTV to get it to stop. Other than that, knock on wood, all is good.

[john42]

burnt through the plug wires at the headers on cylinders 5 and 6. I already had heat boots on them but with the FFR headers the plug wires were pretty much laying on the header.


I was recently educated by The Traveling Builder and Brendan during my engine swap to run the spark plug wires under not over. Pic says it best:

194311194312194313

[Jeff Kleiner]

Coming up on 17 years and 30,000 miles. Sad that for the last 5 or 6 years I haven't been able to top 1,000 annually :( Within a few months after getting on the road it started running poorly (EFI) and I found that there was a crack in the tube between the MAF sensor and throttle body allowing in unmetered air. Fixed with a different tube. A couple of years and probably 10K miles in I was doing autocross setup one Saturday and suddenly lost all drive. Found that the ring gear bolts had sheared...the ONLY thing that I didn't do when I built the car was set up the rear end! Turned out that the shop that did it failed to use thread locker, they came loose and BOOM! Somewhere around 15K it started bogging and wouldn't rev over about 4000 RPM. Checked fuel pressure under load and found that it was falling off at higher RPM. Put a fuel filter on, chalked it up to a load of bad gas and all was well for a couple hundred miles when it happened again. Pulled the tank and found that the baffle inside had come loose and was sliding around creating a metal slurry/paste. Replaced the tank and as a precaution also the pump. Other than those it's just been normal fluids and filters, a battery at 8 years and another one this past year and 6 sets of tires (needs 'em again). Pretty tough, solid and reliable little car---and I darn sure haven't been easy on it! :p

Jeff

[RJD]

Three thousand miles in a little over three years - had a turn signal relay give out at 500 miles, and just found a spark plug wire loom bracket broken. Some tweaking of the Sniper EFI along the way, but the car has my complete confidence as being reliable. Driving it is pure joy.

194314

[Norm B]

Coming up on ten years and 15000 miles. No failures of any of the FFR supplied components. A couple of fuel pump wiring failures at the donor connector. One blown up engine due to EBay cylinder heads with poor valve springs (lesson learned, you can spend some money at the beginning or a lot more later). One ride of shame due to Sniper problems on initial installation. RF was causing the Sniper to shut down and reboot on the fly. All fixed and running flawlessly now.
Drove 3600 miles in 5 days across Canada and the only problem was the solenoid wire came off the starter.

Looking Forward to Spring

Norm

[bobl]

8 years and almost 20,000 miles. The only break down has ben a bad fuse connector in the Holley efi harness. Also a pin hole coolant leak in the timing cover, and 2 cracked headers (FFR Replaced)

Bob

[edwardb]

My Coupe has completed three driving seasons and is approaching 7,000 miiles. Down last year because I was dividing driving between the Coupe and the 35 Truck. It's been rock solid with the only failure during the off-season when my Digital Guard Dawg module wouldn't recognize the key fobs. Only solution was to return the main module for a reflash but they ended up giving me a new one. Took a couple months (Covid time...) but didn't matter because it was during the winter. I had another minor incident where it wouldn't start, but turns out the operator (that would be me) was using a key fob with a used up battery. So both "incidents" around the same thing. But both were user induced. I topped off the A/C last summer when it didn't seem to be blowing quite as cold. But I'd consider that mostly a maintenance issue.

[David Williamson]

My Mkll that has 65,000 miles over 19 years has only had 2 issues, it was a donor build and 2 nd gear failed while go carting due to damage from when the donor was crashed. The other was the front Bilstein coil over failure, common at the time. My Gen 3 coupe has had a turn signal flasher and clutch starter switch fail over the 5 years it has been on the road. The other issues were engine related, oil leaks and worn valve guides from a poorly built engine and no names mentioned but he is or was popular here. In hind sight I wish I had built the engine myself.
David W

[Presdough]

Spyder GT 408W and TKO600, 5 years and 6500 miles in. Mass Flow injection system failed after 149 miles. No help from them so I built a system with Ford Racing parts. Rattling noise from left mufflers at 1000 miles, replaced with FFR from chassis 34. Clutch cable failed at 6000, replaced with hydraulic. Left front coilover broke last September, still waiting on replacement from Bilstein. Other than that, a pretty tight car. Just tires and maintenance

[ggunter]

Bill Elliot asked what throw out bearing failed, and it was a Mcleod that came with the Blueprint engine combo. After thinking about that bearing, I remembered the replacement Tilton bearing failed in a month. Summit replaced that one and it's been in there ever since. Also, the Moser rear whines above 60 mph and the rear cover leaked. Just a gasket replacement which I did during the yearly fluid replacement. Maybe I should stop thinking about this? I don't care, I still love this car.

[burchfieldb]

Coming up on ten years and 15000 miles. No failures of any of the FFR supplied components. A couple of fuel pump wiring failures at the donor connector. One blown up engine due to EBay cylinder heads with poor valve springs (lesson learned, you can spend some money at the beginning or a lot more later). One ride of shame due to Sniper problems on initial installation. RF was causing the Sniper to shut down and reboot on the fly. All fixed and running flawlessly now.
Drove 3600 miles in 5 days across Canada and the only problem was the solenoid wire came off the starter.

Looking Forward to Spring

Norm

How did you end up fixing your RF issue? I have been contending with some of that. Luckily the engine is still on a test stand.

Brent

[John4337]

Gee, these FFR radiators have a crummy track record. Something to watch for.

In my case, it was a mounting issue, the lower mounts moved, allowed the radiator to hang from the upper bolts and it separated at some of the upper rows causing a minor leak while hot. The breeze upper and lower mounts cured it, but the radiator was unrepairable.

[john42]

How did you end up fixing your RF issue? I have been contending with some of that. Luckily the engine is still on a test stand.

Brent

Copper foil tape on the bottom of the air cleaner is a common fix. Much of the RF noise comes from the distributor and gets picked up by the air cleaner housing, especially if your using an oval one that is over the top of the distributor. Copper foil tape will make the bottom of the air cleaner act like a faraday cage. Also the rubber boot housing that is intended to keep the distributor dry will also help. My photo of my engine above has one and the bottom of my Cobra air cleaner is lined with copper foil tape.

[Papa]

In my case, it was a mounting issue, the lower mounts moved, allowed the radiator to hang from the upper bolts and it separated at some of the upper rows causing a minor leak while hot. The breeze upper and lower mounts cured it, but the radiator was unrepairable.

Mine was similar. I mounted the radiator per the manual, but over time on our less than smooth Colorado roads, it separated across the top row. When I installed the new one, I added the Breeze top mount.

[Norm B]

How did you end up fixing your RF issue? I have been contending with some of that. Luckily the engine is still on a test stand.

Brent
Called the Holley support line and discussed my issues with a tech. He suggested wrapping the distributor with aluminum foil and grounding that to the frame to see if it helped. Engine ran flawlessly after that. Made a permanent shield out of soft aluminum sheeting and covered it with a Cobra distributor cover from EBay.

[OSU Cowboy]

4 years on the road with 21000 miles. I've had a few events. It's been a run/break/fix project ... with most of the "breaks" being my fault when I think back on them.

1) 500 miles - front brake calipers locked down on both rotors - not my fault - replaced calipers / pads / rotors along with the center caps in the wheels as both were melted from the heat.

2) 1500 miles - driver side sidepipe lost 3 of 4 bolts and I was dragging it along at 25 mph on a rough asphalt road. Only 2 miles from home ... got it back OK and fixed that, now know to keep an eye on those. Clearly my fault.

3) In tank fuel pump fail at 5000 miles - my fault I think. 3/8 delivery; 5/16 return; necked down to 1/4 at the pump hanger. Replaced the pump and modified the hanger return from 1/4 to 5/16. My first of two flatbed rides home.

4) Oil Pressure sending unit went out - replaced - not my fault.

5) Steering Rack bellows fails - replaced with MOOG - much better parts.

6) Drivers side header crack near the flange, forward tube. Repaired and back into the car ... around 10000 miles.

7) Hydraulic Clutch Slave fail due to improper adjustment - my fault. Second flat bed ride home. This around 12000 miles.

8) Engine overheat issue. The 3/8 threaded adjustment rod from the AC compressor sheared off - I didn't have lock bolts on both sides of the plate - my fault. Tensioned the serpentine belt with the adjustment available from the alternator mount and got back home. Guessing around 15K miles.

9) Air Filter assembly cracked the cast threads in the center of the carb. It's heavy (Billet Specialties) and I didn't use all of the available thread down into the carb to mount it - my fault. Tapped 8 or so additional threads into the carb using a bottoming tap and cobbled is all back together.

10) Drivers side header crack for the second time - this time the forward tube and the one back from that - again near the flange. Repaired and reinstalled again. This time with bungee/turnbuckle support out on the ends of the headers suspended from the 3/4 frame rails that run transverse above the headers. My side pipes are heavy as they have the double-wall stainless flowmaster mufflers grafted into the original FFR pieces. This is the most recent event .

[Fman]

Curious what your thoughts are going from a 347 to a 427? Any regrets going to the 427? I would guess at least 80-100+ more HP.

I'm only at 5,800 miles w/dart block 427, melted a plug wire at 500 causing a short, (added sleeves and header wrap), had a Wilwood clutch MC fail at 2k miles, starter replaced at around 3k miles (solenoid sticking now wrapped with heat wrap), and that has been about it. Running the Pro Flo 4 EFI and it has been spot on to this point, fingers crossed it continues.

[burchfieldb]

Copper foil tape on the bottom of the air cleaner is a common fix. Much of the RF noise comes from the distributor and gets picked up by the air cleaner housing, especially if your using an oval one that is over the top of the distributor. Copper foil tape will make the bottom of the air cleaner act like a faraday cage. Also the rubber boot housing that is intended to keep the distributor dry will also help. My photo of my engine above has one and the bottom of my Cobra air cleaner is lined with copper foil tape.

Thanks. I had also read that the screw air cleaner screw can act like an antenna. I am planning on making a plastic rod with a stud on one end and a tapped hole on the other, instead of having the long metal screw. I use a piece of acrylic right now under my air cleaner to run the engine, until I get it in the car. I will have to do the copper foil once installed or make a plastic bottom.

[burchfieldb]

Called the Holley support line and discussed my issues with a tech. He suggested wrapping the distributor with aluminum foil and grounding that to the frame to see if it helped. Engine ran flawlessly after that. Made a permanent shield out of soft aluminum sheeting and covered it with a Cobra distributor cover from EBay.

So you aluminum shield is inside the rubber cover?

[Norm B]

So you aluminum shield is inside the rubber cover?

Yes

Norm

[Norm B]

I found a picture of the cover I made. This is looking at the inside of it. The outside was covered with black hockey tape until I got the rubber cover.

HTH

Norm

[burchfieldb]

I found a picture of the cover I made. This is looking at the inside of it. The outside was covered with black hockey tape until I got the rubber cover.

HTH

Norm

Thanks, that helps.

Brent

[john42]

I average about 10k miles a year. Car was built in 2006. Lots and lots of racing and autocross.

Today I replaced these:

194513194514194515


That's pretty darn good IMO.

[ggunter]

Hi Fman, The only regret I have going from the 347 to the 427 was I didn't do it originally. I had read a lot about the 427 being uncontrollable, very unforgiving and difficult to keep cool is the reason I went with the 347 in the beginning. In my mind a 427 belongs in a Cobra and I wouldn't put the 427 fender badges on till I made the switch. The biggest difference of course is the horsepower. It's great, and the crap about being uncontrollable is determined by your right foot. I did however change to a higher output fan which took care of the running warm issue and the noise from the FFR fan. There were no issues between the two as far as installation goes other than the headers were definitely higher in the body, so I had to recut the fender openings a little higher. I also did not like the TKO transmission from Blueprint because you cannot shift them fast. You must wait for the synchronizer to catch up before it will shift. So, I also went with the TKX on the swap. I obviously would have saved a ton of money had I done all this in the beginning.

[Ted G]

Ted, You saw my post about my oil pan leak and why it was caused. What was the nature of your leak?

Well, that is a story in itself !!

At first, I thought it was the rear main seal. Then, I traced it down to the valve cover grommet on the passenger side. The breather was just a bit too loose and very small trickles of oil was seeping down the back of the valve cover. This eventually was noticed on the transmission housing leading me to think it was the rear main seal. Low and behold, I bought some high end breathers & PCV (Earl's billit) that fit perfectly in the gromets and that issue went away.

Then I still had a bit of oil seepage near the front and rear parts of the oil pan. But this was very little, but still made a mess of the oil pan and bell housing cover. I have an Aviaid pan (which I love) but they recommend 4 piece gaskets. I determined the leak was near where the oil pan curves around the front and rear mains. Pretty sure it was right in the PS corner of both. I replaced the gasket with another 4 piece gasket and the leak was worse! Took it apart again and determined that the 4 piece just wasn't cutting it... I just installed a 1 piece gasket and crossing my fingers. So far nothing, but I haven't really drove it in all the rain and cold we have had in Nor Cal.

Ted