2011 GT500 leaking oil?

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
Hi guys, this week after taking my 2011 Shelby our for a spin after work I noticed (on the garage floor) it is leaking a decent amount of oil from what appears to be the driver side. The frame closest to the drivers side wheel is pretty wet with oil but I’m unable to really get underneath it to see where it’s coming from.

I bought the car August 2018, oil was changed (synthetic) at 8,800 miles in April 2018. I purchased the car and drove it home about 1,000 miles in one day. Car currently sits with 10,500 total miles and has plenty of oil. I drive the car maybe 50 miles per week.

Thoughts on issue? How serious could this be? My current game plan is to just take it in for an oil change so it can be checked for any leaks. Any advice from someone more savvy mechanically than myself?
 

96gt02

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,465
Location
NJ
Thats kind of an odd spot to be leaking oil from, definitely track it down asap
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
Thats kind of an odd spot to be leaking oil from, definitely track it down asap

Thank you for your thoughts! I agree, I have an appointment to drop the car off at my local ford dealer tomorrow morning. Hopefully it's nothing major, car is running fine so hoping for a reasonable bill lol
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
Your shock may be blown

Interesting, I was thinking maybe that could be it...I haven't had any issues, a few squeaks going over large speed bumps from that side but nonetheless nothing that caught my attention.

Curious how much I'd be looking at from dealer if that's the case. Any idea?
 

choate

Drive with a sparkling glove on your shift hand
Established Member
Joined
May 10, 2012
Messages
1,431
Location
Saginaw, TX
I wouldn't think too much. nothing a GT500 owner couldn't handle lol. maybe couple hundred bucks
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
I wouldn't think too much. nothing a GT500 owner couldn't handle lol. maybe couple hundred bucks
Touche my friend lol I dropped it off this morning, no big deal at all just want it taken care of properly!

Thanks again!
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
Good news! Apparently my filter was leaking the oil so I replaced that and just went ahead with an oil change. Not too bad!!!

Quick question for you guys though...apparently all the fluids in the car are original, so they're about 7 years old. Ford recommended I change them out soon, since they recommend 5 years/60,000 miles or whichever comes first. With only 10,000 miles on the car my only worry is the age of the fluids at this point, but the cost from ford is $1,420 to do the work and change everything out.

Does that number seem high and should this be something I do in the near future?
 

96gt02

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,465
Location
NJ
well trans, diff, and brake fluid that are all very easy to change... cost about $100ish total in fluids. Are they also flushing both coolant systems? I sure hope so for that price but regardless seems insanely high for maybe $200 worth of parts.
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
well trans, diff, and brake fluid that are all very easy to change... cost about $100ish total in fluids. Are they also flushing both coolant systems? I sure hope so for that price but regardless seems insanely high for maybe $200 worth of parts.

Yes they would be flushing both coolant systems...but the price still seemed oddly high to me as well, considering it is 95% labor. Should I be okay to go another few thousand miles/6 months or so on the original fluids you think?
 

96gt02

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,465
Location
NJ
Yes they would be flushing both coolant systems...but the price still seemed oddly high to me as well, considering it is 95% labor. Should I be okay to go another few thousand miles/6 months or so on the original fluids you think?

my car is 12 with a little over 10,000 miles on it, I bought it with a little over 8K.... the only thing I changed was the trans fluid right away to D4 which cost me about $40 and took maybe and hour tops from start to clean up. I have no interest in changing the diff fluid anytime soon, I have a new HE im going to be installing this weekend so that fluid will be new, and I changed the thermostat a few months ago so there is some new fluid in the rad system as well. I have desire to change out any of these fluids again anytime soon. The only thing I would consider is a brake fluid flush personally, I think that is worth it assuming your coolant looks relatively good as mine does. Plus who likes bleeding their brakes personally.
 
Last edited:

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
my car is 12 with a little over 10,000 miles on it, I bought it with a little over 8K.... the only thing I changed was the trans fluid right away to D4 which cost me about $40 and took maybe and hour tops from start to clean up. I have interest in changing the diff fluid anytime soon, I have a new HE im going to be installing this weekend so that fluid will be new, and I changed the thermostat a few months ago so there is some new fluid in the rad system as well. I have desire to change out any of these fluids again anytime soon. The only thing I would consider is a brake fluid flush personally, I think that is worth it assuming your coolant looks relatively good as mine does. Plus who likes bleeding their brakes personally.

Yeah everything looks good, I feel like I would like to change the fluids all at once just to flush everything but I have no mods as of yet...sort of wanted to wait until this spring when a few things will be added. Thank you for your input!!!
 

Imatk

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
2,306
Location
Texas
You can do all of this stuff easily. That is if you want to... and save a lot of coin.

The coolant flush is literally taking off the bottom hose from the heat exchanger and radiator and letting it drain.

I'm going to guess that's all they're gonna do at the dealership. If it were my car I'd run some flush through it with distilled water (make SURE it's distilled water not purified or spring or whatever other crap) and run that for a day or so then replace with the anti-freeze.

The trans fluid is two bolts, one for a drain and the other for fill. They're marked as well, but even if they weren't the higher bolt is for the fill... the lower bolt is for the drain.

You'll need to buy a hand pump to refill it (can be bought at any parts store for about 10 bucks)

Fill until fluid comes out of the top bolt... put bolt in... done.

Tons of guys recommend different fluids. I've tried Royal Purple, Amsoil, and Mobil 1.

Mobil 1 is the only fluid I would run but YMMV.

Brake fluid and diff are the only two that are kind of labor intensive.

But not hard by any means.

Brakes, start at the farthest caliper from the reservoir (passenger rear) open bleeder valve and have someone pump the brakes(or you could buy a speed bleeder and do it by yourself... easier with another person though) make sure you have enough brake fluid to replace the old stuff and then pump until you see clear fluid.

Close the valve then move to the other side and repeat.

Finish at the driver's front wheel and you're done.

The rear diff is a bit more of a pain but again... not terribly difficult.

If you google youtube vids there are plenty that show the torque sequence.

I would recommend using RTV. I tried the LubeLocker gasket and it leaked... nothing like having to do a job twice :/

The annoying thing about the diff is the refill bolt is kind of a pain to get to and again you'll be pumping fluid in.

Get friction modifier as well. There are fluids that claim they have them in there. Again... personally I'd use the friction modifier and fluid but YMMV.
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
You can do all of this stuff easily. That is if you want to... and save a lot of coin.

The coolant flush is literally taking off the bottom hose from the heat exchanger and radiator and letting it drain.

I'm going to guess that's all they're gonna do at the dealership. If it were my car I'd run some flush through it with distilled water (make SURE it's distilled water not purified or spring or whatever other crap) and run that for a day or so then replace with the anti-freeze.

The trans fluid is two bolts, one for a drain and the other for fill. They're marked as well, but even if they weren't the higher bolt is for the fill... the lower bolt is for the drain.

You'll need to buy a hand pump to refill it (can be bought at any parts store for about 10 bucks)

Fill until fluid comes out of the top bolt... put bolt in... done.

Tons of guys recommend different fluids. I've tried Royal Purple, Amsoil, and Mobil 1.

Mobil 1 is the only fluid I would run but YMMV.

Brake fluid and diff are the only two that are kind of labor intensive.

But not hard by any means.

Brakes, start at the farthest caliper from the reservoir (passenger rear) open bleeder valve and have someone pump the brakes(or you could buy a speed bleeder and do it by yourself... easier with another person though) make sure you have enough brake fluid to replace the old stuff and then pump until you see clear fluid.

Close the valve then move to the other side and repeat.

Finish at the driver's front wheel and you're done.

The rear diff is a bit more of a pain but again... not terribly difficult.

If you google youtube vids there are plenty that show the torque sequence.

I would recommend using RTV. I tried the LubeLocker gasket and it leaked... nothing like having to do a job twice :/

The annoying thing about the diff is the refill bolt is kind of a pain to get to and again you'll be pumping fluid in.

Get friction modifier as well. There are fluids that claim they have them in there. Again... personally I'd use the friction modifier and fluid but YMMV.

Wow, this is an insanely helpful, and direct to the point post. It sounds like a solid Saturday's worth of work, especially for a first-timer, but well worth the savings. I really appreciate you taking the time to type this up step-by-step, and hopefully I am not the only one that sees this! Genuinely, thank you for your post!

Steve
 

Imatk

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
2,306
Location
Texas
Wow, this is an insanely helpful, and direct to the point post. It sounds like a solid Saturday's worth of work, especially for a first-timer, but well worth the savings. I really appreciate you taking the time to type this up step-by-step, and hopefully I am not the only one that sees this! Genuinely, thank you for your post!

Steve

Glad you found it useful man :)

Yeah all of this stuff seems very technical when you hear it "complete flush" "system flush" etc. and I think they do that to make it a little easier to fork over the money when the time comes.

But it's all really simple... just a matter of your time. And the cool thing is you'll know how to do it the next time and it will be even faster.

The one thing I forgot to mention that you may run into when you do the coolant flush is burping the system. I've never been able to successfully burp the system by pushing on the upper rad hose or using suction at the reservoir. With my fox body it's really easy... with this car I've never been able to do it.

The easiest way, for me, has been to pull the lower off after the car is running.

Make sure the car is COLD not hot... you don't want to pull off a hot radiator hose :)

So you would put the lower hose for the rad and the heat exchanger (you have two because of the supercharger) on the fitting, but don't tighten with a clamp... leave the clamp off since you'll be removing the hose... fill with coolant, and then have a bucket ready.

Start the car and pull the heat exchanger hose off and wait for coolant to come out of the hose... as soon as it does put the hose back on and stop the car.

Put the clamp on the hose and then move to the other lower... repeat and you've burped the system.
 

svink32

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
174
Location
Arizona
Glad you found it useful man :)

Yeah all of this stuff seems very technical when you hear it "complete flush" "system flush" etc. and I think they do that to make it a little easier to fork over the money when the time comes.

But it's all really simple... just a matter of your time. And the cool thing is you'll know how to do it the next time and it will be even faster.

The one thing I forgot to mention that you may run into when you do the coolant flush is burping the system. I've never been able to successfully burp the system by pushing on the upper rad hose or using suction at the reservoir. With my fox body it's really easy... with this car I've never been able to do it.

The easiest way, for me, has been to pull the lower off after the car is running.

Make sure the car is COLD not hot... you don't want to pull off a hot radiator hose :)

So you would put the lower hose for the rad and the heat exchanger (you have two because of the supercharger) on the fitting, but don't tighten with a clamp... leave the clamp off since you'll be removing the hose... fill with coolant, and then have a bucket ready.

Start the car and pull the heat exchanger hose off and wait for coolant to come out of the hose... as soon as it does put the hose back on and stop the car.

Put the clamp on the hose and then move to the other lower... repeat and you've burped the system.

Awesome stuff brother! Very useful. For me I like to save threads like this, so that when the time comes I have everything I need and then some :) saving a few bucks means more money into the car ;)

Thanks again man!!!
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top