2003 with the Tranny replaced twice?

[Vanilla Mustang]

Hi,

I pulled a carfax on a Cobra the I'm interested in but in the service records it says the tranny was replaced twice. Is it safe to say this car is beat?

Both times were before the car even had 8k miles on it. The first time was at like 116 miles.

I checked the recalls but it says nothing about a tranny swap, maybe I'm reading it wrong??

Let me know guys. Thanks!

 

[mode03Cobra]

DUDE!!!!!!

You need to be serious when purchasing one of these awesome machines. I would look at who replaced the tranny. It would have to be from a Ford certified SVT-Tech or they would have to have a new T-56 put in. I would say he doesnt know how to drive and tried beating the **** out it.........I bought an 03 SVT it 39k on it.....I know thats high but, this car is emaculate. I ripped the tires off of this car from each stop sign and thats why I have to replace the diff seal....haha...But If you buy this car and it breaks again then you can turn it into the state as a lemon......I would steer away from this one.... They are throwing Cobras out there.........You will find the right one.....I did....

 

[CobraCruiser]

Are you sure that it was the whole transmission that was replaced? I had to have the front case of my T56 replaced due to a bad bearing on the input shaft. It was making a terrible squealing noise when at idle. I was told by the tech that while not a very common problem, it does happen.

Either way, my car is a cruiser, driving back and forth from Toledo to the Jersey coast, where I am writing this, three times a year, sometimes four or five. No beating or the like. The original clutch is still solid after 68,000 miles. I love to push it and drive fast, but I also like my clutch and half-shafts.

I guess that my point is that you just don't know what may happen. The mileage seems quite low, but how many miles are on it now? That would be a better indicator of things, seeing what has been done since the replacemenet.

By the way, model03, I don't think that 39,000 miles is that high for a five-to-six year old Cobra. It shows that the car was driven a bit. You can have a car with less than 10,000 miles on it that is crap or you can have a car like mine with almost 70,000 miles on it that is still in great shape. It all depends on the owner and his driving style and attitude. These cars are great, solid vehicles. Unless you really abuse them, they will last a long, long time.

 

[xxrequiemxx]

Carfax actually lists the dealerships that the work was done at. It seems like there was a lot of maint done to the car, shocks and stuff like that.

I might give the dealership a call, see if i can get details on the work

Thanks guys!

 

[lmpbzkt492]

i am a tech at a dealership and usually when i see something like that that is just usually means that the tech wrote the car up for something like that just to get paid for the time for the job. most likely the job was never done. it happens here all the time

 

[CobraCruiser]

I would hope that doesn't happen. I usually just walk back and check on things as they are going on.

Either way, if they say it was done and something goes wrong later, it will either be found out or it will be taken care of under warranty. My bet would be on the former.

 

[Uncle Meat]

i am a tech at a dealership and usually when i see something like that that is just usually means that the tech wrote the car up for something like that just to get paid for the time for the job. most likely the job was never done. it happens here all the time

Thanks for perpetuating the already deep-seated hatred many of us have for dealerships and their service techs.

U.M.

 

[CobraCruiser]

I second that, Meat. It is sad that just a very small percentage of dealers and techs can give many in the industry a bad name. It is also sad that somebody would even post something like this. I would ceratainly be ashamed to admit to knowing these happenings.

As I said, it is just plain sad.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Many of the 6 spds had defect from the factory. I'm not saying the guy didn't beat it, he could have. Go look at the car. I hate when people make assumptions about cars they have never looked at or driven. I get it all the time when I sell cars. People make offers to me over the phone....come down and look, then make an offer.

 

[03SONIC]

PM me the full vin, I will run oasis and see if anything looks funny.

 

[bdcardinal]

i am a tech at a dealership and usually when i see something like that that is just usually means that the tech wrote the car up for something like that just to get paid for the time for the job. most likely the job was never done. it happens here all the time

hopefully your parts dept doesnt get many 700 tags.