Ford Lightning owners:

Below is a link to the results submitted by many of you to BlueOvalNews in reference to 1999-2000 intercooler failures.


http://www.bonforums.com/advisory2.htm

robert lane
BlueOvalNews.com
rlane@blueovalnews.com

 

A big thanks, from whitelightnin' and I, and from others as well, I assume? Nice to know my numbers were in the ball park, but what is scary is my average mileage for intercooler failure was a little higher. I thougt 14k was low!

Once again, THANKS!

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99 Black Lightning
factory tonneau cover, 100k mile warrantee, Line-Xed
F150online.com R hp sticker mod in the mail. Where's it at?
2.145 60' 8.789@82.71 (1/8) 13.603@101.05 1/4 same run
straight pipes, 'Major' rear lights, no chip
Lightning!
Kills! More kills!

 

This report is bad news for people who are expecting some action from Ford. 65 reported failures is only about 0.7%. That's below even the rumored SVT claim of 1% failure rate. This gives Ford one more excuse to ignore the problem. Obviously there are more than 65 gone bad because not everybody reported, but without knowing how many replacement coolers have actually been installed it's impossible to guess at what the actual rate is.
They've got the upper hand on this one. What we need is somebody from the intercooler manufacturer or Ford/SVT to leak some official documents about how many have been produced for replacement.

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Mark
'00 Lightning (Silver - the most reliable color)
'79+ Corvette


[This message has been edited by Mark_2kL (edited 02-16-2001).]

 

Mark, you are correct. How does a 40-50% failure rate sound? That is a future article. The purpose of releasing the current data was to show at what average mileage the failures occurred, and what percentage informed NHTSA.

Steve Blake

 

Taking a wild guess at the statistics. 67 documented at one unofficial site out of 9000 built is an exceptionally large number. Dont forget that not everyone who posts here and has had an intercooler failure has collected all the info needed to register on the site. Also how many actual Gen 2 owners are registered here and at other linked sites ? Lets guess at 900 so we have ~10 % of the community reporting a ~.7% total failure rate or another way to put it ( assuming the 900 number is accurate ) the estimated rate based on this sample jumps to ~8%.

Now factor in the typical dealer refusal to do any warranty work. and there are likely hundreds more out there who have been told that the coolant either evaporated or is normal cause the dealer is clueless. And the fact that many 2000's havent hit 10k miles yet .....

So the point is that this is the tip of the ice berg.....

My thanks go to the guys at BON for thier help
Doug

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_! (edited 02-16-2001).]

 

The thing that is worse than the intercooler
leaking is the 3month wait to get it fixed.
I don't have much hope for my engine.
Jim

 

what are the symptoms of a faulty i/c.....?
want to keep an eye out.

 

You also have to remember that not everyone get's on the internet to find out things about the Lightning. I've met several Lightning owners that did not know about the problem. You just can't base the problem on that info. How many people actually even look? Had I never looked at this site I would have never known. Hopefully something will be done and Ford will quit stalling and fix the problem. I'm hoping the fix comes before mine leaks. Thanks Mike

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00 White Lightning,JL(2) Superchip,Homemade induction with cone type K&N filter,Flowmaster Mufflers. 93 Ford Ranger,FI 302 with 185 AFR heads,GT-40 intake w/ported lower,65 mm TB,66 lb injectors controlled by Western Motorsports SDS fuel injection,TDC Stage 2 twin turbos,AOD trans w/Lentch strip valvebody,10 inch convertor and single input shaft,8.8 rearend w/mosier 31 spline axles and 3.73 gears,and plenty more !!

 

YEAH...get the ball rollin'...