Any sugestions on how to fix this? I have a 2005 Mustang GT stick shift with only 10,000 - problem started at around 7,000 - slight valve clattering/knocking on acceleration going from 3rd to 4th, sometimes in lower gears, but usually in 4th. I've taken it to the dealership a total of 5 times, starting back in August with the last visit two weeks ago (mid-October). They first tried to tell me it was gear noise, then they said it had to do with the fuel system- they changed out (or said they did) the fuel pump and fuel filter, even though the car only had about 8.000 miles. They've finally acknowledged that it's spark knock and has to do with the timing (what I had thought all along), but said that the 05 GT has a self-adjusting timing and they didn't know how to adjust it otherwise - i.e. they couldn't fix it. Then, the guy went on to tell me that the noise "wasn't hurting a thing" but that they would work on finding a solution - that was during my fifth visit to the dealership (each time, leaving my car for no less than 3-4 days). I've called back twice since mid-October and have gotten "still know nothing, but working on it" - even though they have not once called me. I feel as though I've just been screwed around and that they have no intentions on fixing the problem, especially since the service manager told me he felt that "it wasn't hurting a thing." I mean, if you bought a brand new car and it had a crack in the windshield, even thought it "wasn't hurting a thing" you would still expect it to be fixed, right! I told the guy, I didn't care what he had to do, even if he had to replace the engine, as long as it was fixed - of course, he commented that they wouldn't do that and he didn't know if they would be able to fix it or not. Wondered if anyone could tell me how to adjust the timing manually or what steps I should take (going over the service manager at the dealership) to get this taken care of.

 

Adjusting the timing on these are not easy. It requires a tuner programmer. The dealer should have a tool to do this. Sounds like the dealer you went to doesn't want to figure this out, or doesn't have the knowledge. I would try a different dealer or call Ford directly to their cutomer service and tell them what is going on.

You can go to the sister site that deals with only mustangs. Someone may have an answer to this.
http://www.mustangforums.com/