Subject: 1998 Ford Mustang Flaws/Gripes
Date: 11/19/2001

My 98 Mustang was purchased new at a local San Antonio Ford dealer. ( 7 miles) on the odometer. What a poor excuse for "quality is job # 1".The Alantic Blue paint showed some factory welds around the rear wheel well openings. The plastic body moldings were not at all fitted correctly. The 5 speed transmission popped out of gear when downshifitng into 2nd.The car always shimmed between 55-65 mph ( as did Melissa's). My 1st recall notice for cruise control defect, Ford did repair the transmission as well. The shimmy was a tire balance problem Ford told me. After many balance jobs the shimmy continued. Finally at 40,000 miles and $800.00 worth of tires ,struts,shocks, alignment, this problem continued. My Mustang had so many rattles,squeaks,vibrations, it was like driving a 20 yr old car. The rear end whinned,the clutch squeaked..it was very annnoying. In July of 2001 I traded it for a New V-6 extended cab Ranger. My 1st recall already for defective seat belts arrived in the mail, of which mine was defective. Jordan Ford rented a truck for me until it was fixed.(2 days) I believe I jumped from the frying pan into the fire when I made this trade. The 5 spd automatic in this truck shifts rough and over works the 3.0 V-6. The a/c fan was also replaced when the seatbelts were replaced.. so far, not so good!!!!