Mustang MACH 1 Common Faults

Engine Faults

While the Gen 3 Coyote doesn’t really have any known “common” faults, some of its external components are susceptible to failure.

"BBQ Tick"

You may have heard your engine make a loud “tick” occasionally, commonly called the “BBQ tick”. It plagues the Coyote engine right from 2011 until now. People have speculated about what this could be for years, and there’s still no confirmed solution. We have heard it in a few cars, but never seen anything fail that we can link to this sound.

What are the symptoms?

• A ticking noise from the lower of the engine
• You may have had an oil change, and the noise has become obvious.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• There has been no clear damage directly linked to this sound, so it is safe to say this fault shouldn’t cause any harm.

How do I prevent it?

• While there is no guaranteed solution, there are some things to try, one of which tends to be quite effective, an engine oil friction modifier called Ceratek Purchase here

What’s the conclusion?

• This hasn’t proven to be harmful, and there isn’t a proven cure. But it can be very annoying, so adding Ceratek is an excellent stab at the issue!

Supsension and chassis

Ford has done an excellent job designing the Mustang suspension system, incorporating the model’s first independent rear suspension system. And even more so with the Mach 1 with its improved chassis, mainly derived from the Shelby Gt350. But there are still some issues to be aware of.

wheel bearings

Wheel bearings can fail on any car, but it seems to be a little more common on the Mustang than most others. Luckily, Ford designed the wheel bearings on these cars, so they are easily serviceable with their bolt-in design. This fault tends to occur on the rear of the vehicle but can happen on the front.

What are the symptoms?

• When you set off from a standstill, you may hear a loud click sound from the rear, equally when doing the same in reverse.
• Play in the wheel is an excellent way to test this issue.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• This is a fault that, left unattended, will worsen over time; severe free-play at the wheel will result in a very unstable driving experience.
• This could be a severe issue if left unattended; there is a possibility that the wheel could separate from the vehicle.

How do I prevent it?

• Another fault monitored when servicing is that there’s no preventative measure unless you change out your bearings early.

What’s the conclusion?

• In conclusion, it’s best to ensure that servicing is kept up to date and carried out on time; this is where we can spot the fault.

Repair options include –

Front Wheel Bearing:

• OEM Ford Wheel Bearing/OEM Spec Wheel Bearing
• Installation Labour
• Four-Wheel Geometry Setup

Rear Wheel Bearing:

• OEM Ford Wheel Bearing/OEM Spec Wheel Bearing
• Installation Labour
• Four-Wheel Geometry Setup

Poor Tyre Wear

The front camber is an aspect of four-wheel geometry. When talking about camber angle, we’re referring to the wheel’s tilt in relation to the vertical axis. Imagine looking at the car from the front; if the top of the wheel leans outwards, that is positive camber. If it leans inwards, it’s negative camber. This isn’t for aesthetics; adjusting the camber angle is crucial for optimizing the car’s handling. Most cars come from factory with negative camber, meaning the inside of the tyre uses the most contact of the tyre. If this is excessive, the inside will wear out prematurely; the way to fix this is by having a four-wheel geometry setup. However, you can only fix this if you can adjust the camber, which Ford doesn’t allow you to do; no Mustang in the UK comes with front camber adjustment. This facilitates the need for aftermarket camber adjustment.

What are the symptoms?

• Your tyres are wearing out faster than they should on the inside edge.
• You may feel a difference in cornering performance from left to right.
• One wheel may look heavily set into the arch compared to the other.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• A tyre worn down to the cords on the inside edge is unsafe and susceptible to blowout.

How do I prevent it?

• Just by adding some camber adjustment, for 99% of the population, some camber bolts are perfect, simple to install, reliable and accurate. This, coupled with our four-wheel geometry, means you will get the maximum life out of your tires.
• Camber plates are an option for people who want the best and most adjustment possible. These give around 6 degrees of adjustment, ensuring you future-proof your build.

What’s the conclusion?

• Adding the ability to adjust the camber is simple maintenance in our eyes, so it is a no-brainer for anyone with a Mustang, regardless of its purpose.

Repair options include –

Camber Bolts:

• Camber Bolts
• Installation Labour
• Four-Wheel Geometry Setup

Camber Plates:

• Steeda Camber Plates
• Installation Labour
• Four-Wheel Geometry Setup

Braking System

The braking system of the RHD Mustang GT comes standard with six-piston Brembo callipers on the front and traditional single-piston callipers on the rear. This makes for a good braking experience. However, there are some known issues with these systems.

Rear Callipers

The single-piston callipers on the rear of the Mustang act as both the footbrake and the handbrake. One issue we commonly see is little to no handbrake performance. This is caused by the calliper’s spring return mechanism seizing.

What are the symptoms?

• When applying, your handbrake lever travel is high, and little resistance is felt.
• The car’s handbrake isn’t holding the car when on an incline/decline.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• The worst possible outcome would be that the car can roll away and cause damage to itself or other objects.
• Paying no attention to this fault could stretch the handbrake cables, meaning more parts could be damaged.

How do I prevent it?

• You can maintain this by spraying some lubricant into the handbrake calliper mechanism and working it on and off, but this should be done with care, as lubricant on the brake discs/pads would render the brakes inoperative. Or leave it to us on your servicing.
• If it happens, the simple fix for this issue is to replace the rear callipers. They can be cleaned up to get you to the next service date, but the chances are it will happen again.

What’s the conclusion?

• Because the handbrake feel quickly identifies the fault, it’s easy to catch early before it gets bad.
• We recommend replacing both rear callipers just to have done with the issue but understand there may only be a need to replace one due to budget or build plans.

Repair options include –

OEM Spec Callipers (Single Or Pair):

• New Rear OEM Spec Callipers (Single Or Pair)
• Installation Labour
• Brake Fluid

OEM Ford Callipers (Single Or Pair):

• New Rear OEM Ford Callipers (Single Or Pair)
• Installation Labour
• Brake Fluid

Brembo Brake Pins

The Brembo brake callipers can have an issue with the pins seizing. The pins are simple to hold the brake pads in place and act as a guide for them to slide on. However because they are a press-fit design with the heat cycles of the brakes, they can become stuck when attempting a pad change.

What are the symptoms?

• Unfortunately, there will be no symptoms of this fault until you come to change your front brake pads and realise the pins are stuck.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• The worst outcome of this issue is you require new callipers, but this is very uncommon, and we can usually get the pins out safely.
• The best case is getting the pins out with a bit of persuasion.

How do I prevent it?

• During our MAP service Schedule, we will remove the pins as part of the service and either clean and lubricate or replace them depending on the condition. This means you will never have to stress about purchasing new callipers.

What’s the conclusion?

• Simply maintaining the brake pins will prevent this issue from happening.

Repair options include –

OEM Spec:

• OEM Spec Brake Pin Kit
• Installation Labour

OEM:

• OEM Brake Pin Kit
• Installation Labour

Interior Know Faults

The interior of the S550 Mustang has proven quite reliable, with only some minor issues.

handbrake

The handbrake travel can be very high and easy to lift. This is usually caused by the rear calliper handbrake mechanism not returning.

What are the symptoms?

• If your handbrake lever pulls up easily and doesn’t offer much pushback,
• Another sign is when your car’s handbrake fails to keep the vehicle steady on uphill or downhill slopes.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• Your car might roll off on its own, risking harm to itself or causing damage to nearby objects.
• Ignoring this issue might strain the handbrake cables, leading to more parts getting damaged.

How do I prevent it?

• You can maintain this by spraying some lubricant into the handbrake calliper mechanism and working it on and off, but this should be done with care, as lubricant on the brake discs/pads would render the brakes inoperative. Or leave it to us on your servicing.

What’s the conclusion?

• Because the handbrake feel quickly identifies the fault, it’s easy to catch early before it gets bad.
• We recommend replacing both rear callipers just to have done with the issue but understand there may only be a need to replace one due to budget or build plans.

Repair options include –

OEM Spec Callipers (Single Or Pair):

• New Rear OEM Spec Callipers (Single Or Pair)
• Installation Labour
• Brake Fluid

OEM Ford Callipers (Single Or Pair):

• New Rear OEM Ford Callipers (Single Or Pair)
• Installation Labour
• Brake Fluid

Window Function

The frameless windows on the doors of the Mustang are known to have an annoying little issue when opening the door. The window should drop slightly to allow the door to open without catching the window, and its the same when closing, the window should raise to seal the gap. However, you may find this is not the case.

What are the symptoms?

• When you open the door, the top of the window glass catches and makes an awful sound.
• When closing the door, the window doesn’t raise to seal the gap, leaving your interior open to the elements.
• It may even get tot the point where one of the windows isn’t working from the switch at all.

What’s the damage if it happens?

• This fault has proved to be harmless so far, despite that awful sound when opening the door we have yet to see a damaged window glass from this issue.

How do I prevent it?

• There is no preventative measure for this one; it will just be a sudden fault occurrence.

What’s the conclusion?

• This fault is easy to repair, and to date, we have required zero new components; it’s all down to a connector in the door frame that seems to lose continuity, so with some cleaning and tweaking of the pins, we can fix the issue with no components.

Repair options include –

Connector Repair:

• Repair Labour