Clunking noise under the car..Bad?

[quiksilver9531]

My tranny crossmember is.. well not in good shape, I have a replacement, I just havent put it in yet..ok so when I shift into gears I hear a clunk noise under the car by the tranny, and when I get on it and let off the gas I can hear a clunk...should I be worried about this?

 

[quiksilver9531]

??? any ideas

 

[jerry beach]

Check out your U-joints and most of all the flange bolts that attach the drive shaft to the rear end. Those love to come loose in my car, even with loc-tite. Please put your car on stands before going under it. I have run across this too many times lately, so dont take it wrong. I had a guy calling me last week and he was replacing CV joints on the grass with a jack and no stands.

 

[five_o_stang]

I had a similar problem.....turned out one of my sway bar bushings was gone...reason for missing bushing was that my power steering pump was broke and leaking PS fluid slowly onto the bushing and the bushing corroded off....made a little hollow "clunk" sound whenever there was a jolt or speedbump or something....may not be your probleme but there ya go...my $0.02

 

[quiksilver9531]

well like i said Its a clunking noise while gettin off the gas or shifting into another gear..I can kinda feel it under the car too..could the bad xmemeber cause it? Im puttin the new one in on saturday at my friends shop..and is it a bad idea to drive it? Thanks

(I always use stands I dont wanna take chances)

 

[PonyBoy90]

Driveshaft???????????????

 

[quiksilver9531]

u think so?

 

[PonyBoy90]

Only one way to find out. Either put the rear of the car up on jacks to take the weight off the back end or take the car to a garage and put it up on a hoist and examine and jiggle the driveshaft. Grab the meaty part of the driveshaft and jiggle it. If you can feel the "interior" of the shaft bouncing around and clanking against the exterior, you need a new driveshaft an quick! If the driveshaft on your car is still factory, chances are it needs to be replaced. Put in an aluminium and you'll never have to buy another one again.

I wouldn't suspect it is a tranny problem unless you're having problems shifting and you have some leaks around the tranny.

Seeing as it clunks on every shift, I'd change the shaft very soon as I've know guys who had their driveshafts blow out on the highway and it's scary as heck! Not only that, the driveshaft ripped up buddies tranny and banged up the underside of his car including wrecking his exhaust system. Fixing the drive shaft costs $175 on your own or $250 at a shop. Don't fix it and it could cost you $3000!!!!!!

 

[dvs bullet]

It could be your cross member , it makes sense that when you let off the throttle it makes a clunk, check the drive shaft but alot of the times ujoints will make noise when you let off the gas, but its a chattering noise not a clunk. They also vibrate like crazy at highway speeds. I would say check the cross member, Ive seen the tubes that hold the bushing on it rot right off. if not maybe check your motor mounts, you never know sound does travel. Like the others said it doesn't hurt to check the ujoints while its up in the air. good luck

 

[quiksilver9531]

Ive seen the tubes that hold the bushing on it rot right off.

yea well i dont know about the driveshaft the car still rides real nice no vibration or anything and DVS Bullet thats exactly what happened to my crossmember..theres no bushing left in the tubes...and there rotted pretty bad..

 

[UnderPressureGT]

Nick, im gonna put money right now on the driveshaft U joints... mine did the same thing.. clunk when you slip the clutch to take off, sometimes clunk when i shift, and accellin and deaccellin.. i got that fixed and it was fine.. They are beginning to go again tho soo i think im gonna invest in a aluminum driveshaft... They wont vibrate if their bad, at kleast mine didnt.. just got a persistant clunk feel/noise.. you got alot of miles on that car, soo im sureee you can go for a new set of ujoints or an alumin DS from downs ford... U joints are 20 bucks, and it costed me 20 bucks to put em in... Im just gonna do it right and get an alum DS this time soon..

 

[quiksilver9531]

thanks joe and everyone else