Welcome, I figured I would share this here as well. Hopefully, everyone's inspection goes well. When I read over the bulletin, if it does need service, it appears that it will be quite involved.
Just checked mine and it's ok however, I will still take it to let Ford check just for that extra checkbox should anything happen. If you are checking yourself, you will need a mirror around 1/2 in diameter to fit inside. A dentist mirror will work, the standard "car" mirrors will not fit.
Wouldn’t the engine make noises where the chain is flapping around if the tensioners are not activated? Or it should grenade itself if the chain tensioner is not activated within a couple hundred miles or going wot then off throttle?
With all the noises, I think it would be very difficult to hear. I do not know enough about the secondary tensioner and how it affects timing however, I do know if your timing is off, it could potentially lead to a lean condition and grenade an engine.
It's an easy check and while mine is not in the date range, I still checked just to make sure since I was close to the date range specified in the TSB which is: Dec 2nd 2019 through Dec 16, 2020. (Please see the Ford notice for details) Everyone with a 2020 GT500 or 350 should check theirs.
If you do perform the check, your phone's flashlight helps and the tensioner should look exactly like what they put in the TSB. If you are not sure, I would recommend having someone who can help verify as this could be very bad if that second tensioner is not activated.
Having read the attachments, it looks like the possibility exists for the cam to jump a secondary sprocket tooth or two if the tensioner is not providing tension. It's got to run like crap and the potential exists for a valve smacking the piston.
Well I finally decided to call my dentist and see what size mirrors he used and he uses a #4 dental mirror which works like a charm. His assistant looked in their dental graveyard and found a used one and gave it to me. You can't beat that with a big stick. The O.D. is 7/8" and it works without having to remove the filler extension. A 1" dental mirror will not get past the bottom of the filler extension.
My car is good to go.
Well I finally decided to call my dentist and see what size mirrors he used and he uses a #4 dental mirror which works like a charm. His assistant looked in their dental graveyard and found a used one and gave it to me. You can't beat that with a big stick. The O.D. is 7/8" and it works without having to remove the filler extension. A 1" dental mirror will not get past the bottom of the filler extension.
My car is good to go.
I checked mine also using the dental mirror that I had to trim down to fit the oil openings hole.
Mine checked out fine and I saw at least 3 grooves on the base of the shaft.
I think if it's not activated, you'd know it by the extra sound and running very poorly if it did skip a tooth in the sprocket.
I checked my October 2020 GT500 build today using my friend’s borescope and it looks to be ok per Ford’s document. The VIN was marked in Ford’s system as potentially impacted so I’m relieved. I’ll eventually go to the dealer at some point so Ford is officially notified it’s ok.
I used a scope and was able to verify as well that all is good. Wondering how many cars actually were affected. I too will let Ford view it to mark it in their system.
I have been out all day looking for a mirror that will fit. Stopped by a couple of dentist offices to check for a # 4 mirror that someone used. They thought I was crazy. No luck at any auto parts store. What I did find were all to large and so cheap attempting to cut them down looked like a waste of time. The thought of bring it to a dealer makes me Have a panic attack but it seems the check should somehow be documented with Ford.
If I’m not mistaken, as of now, this is a TSB, not a recall. Recalls require action and are usually safety related. TSBs do not and are issued essentially for dealers to solve problems that they come across.
Thanks for the welcome! The Customer Satisfaction Program is effectively a recall before government pressure to recall. They did the same thing for my wife’s 16 Focus RS and the head gasket issue.
Ford released a tech service bulletin on some 2020 Shelby GT500s & GT350s that potentially didn't get the secondary timing chain tensioner properly installed. We have seen some engine failures... check yours to prevent damage! I show the TSB, the inspection process and how I went about verifying mine.
Just for Shitz and grins I took my GT350 to my dealership today and had my beloved SVT technician confirm that my car was okay. He got out his fancy camera (the one with the long tube and lens at the end) and confirmed my secondary cam tensioner was extended and operating. Now I'll sleep better.
My Technician looked at me with that incredulous look he gives me when I'm over-reacting about some possible issue with my car. He said " After 11K miles, you'd have probably had a problem by now!" As usual, he's right! I'm still glad he checked it!
Yeah I had that conversation with the Service Advisor when I dropped my car off for the exhaust inspection and tail light verification.
She was like 'Hey, it's a nice car, I'd be paranoid too'
Would it be too much to ask you guys to post "who built your motor"? Maybe we can narrow it down once we start getting more "activated" vs "non-activated"
Mine was Shane Grant
TBD on checking later today or tomorrow when borescope and mirror arrive from Amazon
Is there a thread? If not, it would be good to have a separate thread for a builder/status list. So far, someone with a GT350 had the same builder as mine and his was OK as well. However, I think this is more related to the secondary tensioner working or not working VS the builder. (Unless, there is a step where this was supposed to be tested.)
Interesting is someone posted this video on mustang6g and the builder states that he needed to push down to activate it. It seems this may have been something that was performed however, some tensioners may not have activated.
Here is the video and the specific comment is at 17:44
Interesting is someone posted this video on mustang6g and the builder states that he needed to push down to activate it. It seems this may have been something that was performed however, some tensioners may not have activated.
Here is the video and the specific comment is at 17:44
Ok, so I watched the video and this just confirms a question I had on the timing guide check. What about the guide on the driver head? Why the concern with just a guide on one side?
Also, does anyone know if the the longer guides (between crank/cam) are plastic?
I'm not familiar with this specific tensioner, but they are all based on an internal spring; however, the primary force driving the tensioner comes from oil pressure. If it's builder error, it doesn't speak too highly of the niche line builders.
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