Odd Sounds When Making Tight Turns

[Warghost]

Hey guys,

I've noticed a strange binding sound when I take tight turns in my 04 Mustang GT. It's like a deep clicking sound, and sometimes it happens under hard acceleration also. It is a fast series of clicks, almost a knocking sound.

A friend said to me that he thought it might be my bushings, but the car only has 15K on it and has been taken care of well. I had a 99 GT before and never noticed this.

Thanks for any advice you guys can offer.

 

[shallowreef]

I was going to say bushings. Which reminds me that i need new bushings on mine.

 

[steveb24]

damn, i hear the same thing under full lock either way when still rolling around 5-10 mph. i never hear it under hard acceleration tho. what bushings are we talking about here? steering rack?

 

[Warghost]

I don't know which bushings would be causing this. I did get new ones with my Steeda auto-sway bar, so hopefully those will fix the issue.

The reason why it happens when I accelerate is because the weight is being taken off the front-end. I can only assume this because it does make sense but I'm not a mechanic so my knowledge is limited when it comes to stuff like this.

 

[Warghost]

No, I was thinking maybe it was the front end control arm bushings or maybe the front sway bar frame bushings. Or possibly the front end link bushings which connect to the sway bar.

It might be a steering issue also, but I'm not sure. I livein an area where there seems to be no competent mechanics that know anything about these cars, and the dealerships never want to help, since the car is still under warranty.

I am tired of taking it to them for little stuff(and there's been LOT of little stuff), just to notice the same problems happening on the drive home that they claim to have fixed.

Anyway, I have been doing more research and I've found a lot of posts regarding this same problem. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see some of them! Even some people stating that they also heard the noises under WOT or hard acceleration, without turning...that rules out steering for the most part. But,l a lot of these people were having this problem with Lightnings.

I'm just getting fed up with Ford's quality. Stuff like this shouldn't happen to new vehicles!

 

[Mike97gt]

sounds like the limited slip too me.. there is a TSB out there for this, it's been a problem for a long time on everything with a limited slip in it. the 04 cars seem to have it the worse.

the way to tell if it's a limited slip problem is to turn the steering wheel all the way right or left don't matter then from a stop accelerate slowly and you will hear the noise and feel it binding up.

the TSB calls for new updated clutch packs to be installed in the carrier and new fluid with xl-3 aditive.

As far as problems not getting fixed, well thats fords fault. raise the warrenty pay times so techs can make a living and the cars will get fixed... I HOPE A FORD SPY IS READING THIS!!! SURE YOU SAVE A LITTLE BY SCREWING US BUT YOUR LOOSING CUSTOMERS AND A LOT OF GOOD TECHS. All we want is to get paid for the time we spend on the car.. Untill then you will get what you pay for, no diag pay = guesses

Sorry the above rant was aimed at Ford if they have one of there spies reading this.

 

[stangGT97]

^ I was also thinking it is something in the differential. If the rear is locked when turning, you will definitely hear clicking as it binds and unbinds. Mike, I hope a spy does see what you said.. because Ford's idea of being "Bold" is boning its customers

 

[RoadconeTuning]

my car makes an odd noise as well but its not from the rear end... it is distinctly from the front end but my rear is very tight and i can hear the inside tire chirping when in parkinglots but i also have a 4.10 and used Royal Purple + extra gear addative so i guess it would lock up easier

 

[1fast03pony]

I had a similar noise when turning the steering wheel... kindve like a crunch or metal to metal clicking
Turned out to be the rack brackets... i replaced them and tightened them up nicely and it never happened again.

 

[steveb24]

yea.. the noise i think were talking about is def. from the front end. i thought it was my tires but than that just didnt make sense. idk, but im not gonna mess with it for now cause it drives fine. im tired of jackin the car up and down and trying to fix the crappy quality of alot of the "small stuff" on this car.

 

[stangGT97]

my car makes an odd noise as well but its not from the rear end... it is distinctly from the front end but my rear is very tight and i can hear the inside tire chirping when in parkinglots but i also have a 4.10 and used Royal Purple + extra gear addative so i guess it would lock up easier

on the contrary, the extra limited slip additive would allow the clutches to slip easier. Thats why if you run straight gear oil in your differential, it will chatter like mad when you take turns... the additive allows it to slip and lets the rear tires rotate at different speeds.

 

[Mike97gt]

locating noise can be hard, many times I have customers think the noise is from the front and it's from the rear or the other way around binding of the trac-lok is very very common, I have not seen anything else that cuses that type of noise on these cars. since it's very common for the trac-lok to cause this I would look there first, then if it's not that get a shop to use chassis ears to locate the noise instead of throwing parts at it.

 

[steveb24]

locating noise can be hard, many times I have customers think the noise is from the front and it's from the rear or the other way around binding of the trac-lok is very very common, I have not seen anything else that cuses that type of noise on these cars. since it's very common for the trac-lok to cause this I would look there first, then if it's not that get a shop to use chassis ears to locate the noise instead of throwing parts at it.

imma have to look into it.. is there chances of the rear going from what is causing it to bind??... the clutches or whatever u said previously.

 

[The Screwdriver]

Has anyone ever installed "clunk washers" on their Mustang to get rid of a similar symptom?

 

[Mike97gt]

imma have to look into it.. is there chances of the rear going from what is causing it to bind??... the clutches or whatever u said previously.

If it is the clutch packs then no it will be fine, you can drive it like that if it don't bother you.

Without being there I can not tell if thats what your problem is, but it is a very common problem and it makes a clicking, clunking sound and binds when it does it.