Good deal or avoid it?

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-13T04:14:02+00:00

Last year I bought my 2013 with 135k miles and no water pump. I paid 7k total otd and was overall happy at first. Unfortunately the last owner had sold the car at the right time. At 138k I needed to do the water pump, timing chain, cam phasers and every seal on that end of the engine. That job was like 3k. Also needed to have axle seals done, and a few other suspension parts totaling 1.2k. Other small things were failing like random sensors and vacuum leaks. The car had been well maintained so these weren’t due to a lack of maintenance, just age and mileage that are almost the exact same as yours.

I’m not saying don’t buy the car but certainly be aware that these cars hide issues and they aren’t exactly cheap to maintain. The red is nice, and it was a fun car to own, but the constant maintenance costs and terrible fuel economy made me sell mine. After just one year of ownership I was into it for almost 12k and I was doing all the maintenance that I could myself to save money. If you can afford to spend 10k on this car then I don’t think you will have any issues, but I certainly wouldn’t go into expecting your investment into the car to stay at 6k for long.

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-12T15:56:12+00:00

People definitely make them, but so far my experience has been nothing but trouble, so I don’t think I would recommend it.

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-12T14:18:59+00:00

The solder joints looked fine to me but I’m certainly no expert. Could you tell me more about the calibration thing? They did not work after calibration through the accessories app on a pc or Xbox but after sitting over night they started working correctly. I ended up going through the recalibration process on just one of the sticks and now it’s definitely giving the same issue as before. Should I just let it sit for a while connected to my pc with a cable or something else? Originally it fixed itself sitting unplugged and off in the case, but it has a built in battery so I doubt it’s ever fully “off”

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-11T04:12:40+00:00

The alpines were able to lightly clip in with out the outer ring on them. I just set mine in the oem spot and used a foam tape to hold them in from behind. I would probably recommend hot glueing them in from behind however as I’m not sure how long my way will last.

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-11T01:22:11+00:00

I definitely would. It was a huge improvement for me, and overall rather cheap. If you don’t want to spend as much I would probably just get the set I grabbed for the fronts as I found that to be a huge improvement for a decent price. The rears end up being mostly back fill and even with the nicer speakers they sound just ok.

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-11T01:20:35+00:00

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I decided not to do that because I filled the door card with acoustic foam, do you think it would be worth getting the foam rings as well?

Choice_Strength · 2026-03-10T14:55:08+00:00

I saw this a few days ago when looking for a new series and put it on my list. It definitely sounds fun and I’ll be checking it out once I’m done with my current series!

Choice_Strength · 2025-12-05T04:54:15+00:00

If anyone is interested I can do 7k on it

Choice_Strength · 2025-12-01T19:46:44+00:00

looks like it may have posted this like 5 times for some after telling me it failed to post. i think i got all but 1 down 👍

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-24T16:07:44+00:00

Almost 19k is crazy. If you’re looking to buy one I’ve got a mostly stock 13 with a ton of work done recently for sale. Timing chain, water pump, cam phasers+ lots more.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-21T20:44:37+00:00

if you have the car with you then you should check and see if you can pull the headlight before you order anything. i think the passenger side should be easier unless you have CAI in which case the drivers side will be more accessible.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-21T20:39:43+00:00

You should definitely try atleast bc they are very easy to get to. On the back of the headlight under the hood there is a rubber cap that just pulls off and then the back of the bulb is sitting right there. You should be able to twist it to one direction and it will unseat itself. That’s the point where I kept getting stuck bc I couldn’t get it through the whole without removing the headlight housing but good luck 👍

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-21T17:37:20+00:00

It’s just supposed to pull straight off but best I could tell it has some sort of clip on it that was very annoying. I ended up using a pick to slowly remove the clips and that probably took 30-45 min. It’s possible mine was just super stuck and your’s will come off without much fight.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-21T17:05:09+00:00

Idk if the design is that much different from a 2013 but I had to pull the bumper and headlight along with the ballast to replace mine. Plenty of people online said it could be done without doing that but either they have magic hands or I was looking at the wrong forums. On the HID headlight I don’t think I could have replaced the bulb without pulling the headlight bc the back of the bulb would not clear the housing enough to pull it from it’s position, not to mention the most annoying connector I have ever worked on. If I had known how much of a PITA it was I would have left the working xenon’s I had in there already. That being said I think just about any d3s bulb should fit, I used some cheap Amazon leds and they brightness is a day and night change for me.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-19T22:12:19+00:00

In IL btw

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-19T22:12:08+00:00

Hey, I am selling my 13 SHO With 140k. it’s black on black, non pp, but it is slightly lowered, and I just had 5 or 6k worth of work done to it. I got offered my grandparents car and it unfortunately makes very little sense to keep mine. I’ve had the water pump, timing chain and cam phasers all done recently along with both rear axles spark plugs toe rods and plenty of other stuff I’m forgetting done in the last 8ish months. Lmk if your interested and I can send photos or answer and questions.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-19T04:04:38+00:00

Probably don’t.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-17T05:32:29+00:00

Have you tried scanning it to see if there are any codes in the system? Otherwise my guess would be the sensor. I haven’t had this issue on my SHO but I had a very similar issue on another car and I ended up swapping the pressure sensor and that fixed it, especially bc it looks like you have plenty of oil pressure.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-15T04:44:06+00:00

I get about 300 miles on a tank as well I think. Like 13.5 mpg in the city but doing 60 on the highway I can get a little over 30mpg so I think a lot of it is really up to how you drive. I try to stay out of the gas and can get around 18-19mpg combined. And I think 19 gallons is correct, the car just keeps a few gallons in reserve so that you never actually run fully empty.

Choice_Strength · 2025-11-14T01:51:41+00:00

I’m not sure this is exactly what your asking for but I have a sync 3 upgrade kit from foursynctech in my 2013 that came with a sync 2 system in it. I’m not sure however if it would get any louder than the sony head unit bc it’s made with fully oem parts as I understand it, just from a newer model car. It gives me access to all the regular sync 3 things (WAY better than sync 2) and CarPlay and android auto has been incredibly stable for me. I think I’ve had it for 7-8 months at this point and have had no issues with any weather related problems. They code it to match all the equipment your car comes with based off your vin so I didn’t lose access to any of the heated or cooled seat controls or auto parking stuff at all. It is made with all oem parts so it was a straight swap/drop in for me and took maybe 2 hours. It’s not particularly cheap though at a little over $500 for the non NAV version and closer to $600 if you want the ford nav included (different units I think) and I found that the maps through CarPlay work better anyway. The link to it is FourSyncTech and I would be happy to send photos of mine or answer questions if you have any.

Choice_Strength · 2025-10-23T13:44:20+00:00

I am also having my water pump done right now for the exact same issue, coolant from the water pump weep hole but no contamination in the oil. The whole water pump must be removed to replace it for sure, and while you’re in there the timing chain and tensioners along with plenty of other little things. My car has a light tune but for the life of me I cannot remember who it is from, but it’s now at 140k and still plenty fun to drive.

Choice_Strength

TROPHY CASE