suspected cam failure

[SHOZ123]

The tranny can be rebuilt to take the abuse. Not many performance cars have trannies that won't fail sooner or later.

 

[stephen newberg]

The tranny can be rebuilt to take the abuse. Not many performance cars have trannies that won't fail sooner or later.

Agree completely.



pax, smn

 

[JCU]

No, I have not. There is nothing wrong the with transmission. But it was not designed for drag racing, and since that seems to be done with it a lot, failures are to be expected. Like for most sports sedans, the transmission was designed for fast rather than quick. Hopefully you understand the difference.

As with any vehicle, a transmission will be subjected to hard use at times. A consistant abuse of the tranny would substantiate failures but normal driving does not. A reasonable amount of stress and/or hard conditions should be tolerated by any tranny for a reasonable amount of miles.

The only reason some see the AXN4 as a weakness is because they are using it beyond its design intent. Mine is at 170K with not a burble. But I have taken it to the drag strip exactly once, just to try it out.

That is the only reason you can see w/o saying this tranny isn't extremely reliable. But the fact remains that this tranny has failed for many people under normal driving conditions. Not everyone who has been subjected to failure is a drag racer nor a ******** street racer.

Similarly, if you read up, you will find lots of reports of very high milage AXN4s out there, and their owners will pretty uniformly indicate they drive the car as a sports car, not a street light racer.

For all of those reports of high miled ax4n's, how many others have failed with substantially lower miles? Better yet, perhaps you should critique my SHO along with my driving habits. 99.8% of my driving is done at a leisurely pace with gradual acceleration. First tranny failed at around 70K. It was replaced and lasted until roughly 110K. The car has 120K on it now and guess what? Tranny is going again. The real kicker is that my mother has the car and drives it 4 miles round trip per day. Unless my 56yr old mother is not telling me she is at the drag strip every weeked or racing at every light, I see one **** of an issue with this "quality" tranny that only fails when people use it beyond its "design intent". There have not been many 3rd gen SHO owners I have spoken to that do not feel the tranny is a weak link in the car.

 

[stephen newberg]

Actually, not that many. A few years ago I did a count and the low miles failures (under 50K) came in at less than the high miles (over 100k) reports with no problems from posts to V8SHO. Your initial failure would not have made it to my low distance numbers. I think perhaps you need to look into a lot more vehicles and and specific automatic transmissions to get a feel for when they first start to show up problems.

But hey, if it makes you feel better, believe whatever you want to believe.

pax, smn

 

[JCU]

A few years ago I did a count and the low miles failures (under 50K) came in at less than the high miles (over 100k) reports with no problems from posts to V8SHO.

How about a specific number?

Your initial failure would not have made it to my low distance numbers. I think perhaps you need to look into a lot more vehicles and and specific automatic transmissions to get a feel for when they first start to show up problems.

Perhaps you find it normal wear and tear for a tranny to fail at 70K miles but I do not. The 40K mile failure is an even bigger slap in the face.

 

[SHOZ123]

The best thing to do is find a good rebuilder and make it the tranny it should be.

 

[stephen newberg]

Perhaps you find it normal wear and tear for a tranny to fail at 70K miles but I do not. The 40K mile failure is an even bigger slap in the face.

A transmission that needs a rebuild is not worn out, it just needs a rebuild. I have worn out clutches in far less than 40K, depending on use. Nothing in the way of moving parts lasts forever, and expecting it to is a setup for disappointment. But having worked on cars and motorcycles for over 4 decades now, I do not find anything strange in the failure rate of the AXN4. But like I say, if it makes you feel better to think that Ford is out to get you, hey, go for it.

pax, smn

 

[JCU]

A transmission that needs a rebuild is not worn out, it just needs a rebuild.

We can nitpick over the words used but the fact remains is that these repairs are not cheap. Maybe I'll dig out my stack of receipts for this car just to remember how cheap thse "rebuilds" were?

But like I say, if it makes you feel better to think that Ford is out to get you, hey, go for it.

Not once did I say that so please keep my statements accurate.

What I have said all along is that I feel this tranny to be rather poor and I have also said that many SHO owners I know have also experienced many unwarranted failures. I won't even tell ya what a service manager at a local dealership says about this tranny because he is wrong and you are correct.

People can accept normal wear and tear but the line is crossed when an acceptable amount of usage isn't reached.

 

[stephen newberg]

Whatever.

pax, smn