Well i've noticed a few odd things while driving my dads bird. Its got all new brakes, and it did this before the brake job so its not the brakes. While rolling and you shift from 1st to 2nd back and forth it makes a clunk clunk noise as it goes in and out of the gears... I dont under stand what it could be.
Also when you get on the throttle it has a slight bang to it from the rear of the car, and if you get it above like 30-50 it has a shudder thats noticeable, but if you let off the gas it amplify's significantly. Should I be looking at the rear end, the driveshaft, or the trans?? The car sat for like 2-3 years without really being drove so I dont know were to start. Its got 4 new tires that were JUST put on and balanced so I'm pretty sure its not them but im not sure they are SMALL and throw the speedo off not sure if thats contributing.
Id like to find a way to make this a little less noticeable for now, and in spring im gonna rebuild the whole back end with all the parts I stocked up for my lincoln, and possible go to 5 lug we will see.
Thanks guys!
The slight bang and clunk clunk noise sounds alot like a wore ring and pinion or someone with poor shifting abilities. :D Possibly some play in the trans? You'll have to check where the play is coming from. You don't say what yr Bird but the 87/88 Turbo Coupe's are bad for the rear caliper slider pin sticking. So some of your vibration/shudder could be from warped rotors (just a thought). This is just my opinion someone with more knowledge will speak up.
the 1-2 and 2-1 shift clunk happens while the clutch is depressed, and rolling, never noticed it just shifting. But I had a feeling it would be the rear. Its a 88 bird, and its got brand new rotors all the way around, and brand new caliper pins out back haha. Brakes were done 5 days ago. Guess ill have to jack up the rear and see what the rear feels like, and check the fluid level. My dad is good at just driving it and not checking everything out... Thankfully for him I enjoy burning what little money I have on cars rather then myself lol.
You didn't say how many miles are on the car, my 83 Bird has had a clunk in the rear when I get on the gas since 160k miles(When I bought it). It's not TOO bad, just noticeable. The diff would need to be rebuilt/shimed to eliminate it. The U-joints could be the cause, since your seems to happen more often than mine, but it's rather simple to detach the driveshaft from the rearend to check all that.
As far as the shudder, mine only shudders at around 75mph and above, and I suspected a bent axle, but I pulled the brakes off, and I think it's actually bad axle bearing on the pass. side? either that or the bent axle caused a bad bearing:D I have not pulled the axle out to confirm.
As far as shudder goes, my transmission starts to complain around 4500 RPM, but it's a C5 Automatic.
everythings starting to point more towards the rear end/ drive shaft
I couldnt tell you what the miles are, motor is from a white parts car we had, trans is form my old black car, well the rear is the stock one. Im thinking like 137k on the body.
u joint
thats what im thinking. No time to check today, but i will tomorrow
yeh i second u joint. its definatly in drivetrain. are you feeling this in the shifter? the yoke might be getting pushed in and out harshly so watch out. a ujoint would cause the vibration and would cause acceloration problems as it goes with the shimmy. could it possibly be worn bushings for holding the rearend square and in place? all bearings have always turned into the sound of the flintstones car.
i guess I might check it before I go on my road trip to get my trans. If it is that hope its not to expensive Im down to a 170 for the rest of the money! College BLOWS.
u-joints are cheap and easy to install. probably about $10 each and it might take an hour at the most to do the whole job.
from what I can tell its not the u joint. I launched it today, and it made some funky noises in the rear and it went from posi to one wheel peel. I'm leaning again towards rear end issues. Hope it lasts me this trip! Then I can figure it out for sure.
Another thing worth checking is the torque boxes, I had ripped a weld on my old car and it would "clunk/pop" on accel or decel depending on how hard I was on it. Fix was welding and stiffening the boxes.
har har, i've done this job. unless you have a u joint presser, it wont be an hour. if you go socket with a vice. plan the whole day and grab beer for when it gets late and your still busting knuckles and swearing. :punchballs:
tbirds dont use those fancy little clips??
and the pop/clunk rarely happens thats not what worries me. the constant vibration, and increased vibration when the clutch is depressed is what im worried about.
I remember doing u-joints with my dad on his old van. I remember having some lock ring pliers and a c-clamp, and I only remember it taking about 15 minutes.
with one rear wheel off the ground,, do this............
the first group of three is a process where you hang a weight on a string taped to the fender well and mark the background of the string at the wheel stopping point. rotate the opposite direction and mark the background of the string.
Problem,,,=your weight must be dead center of the wheel. you measure 12'' from the center up to the tire and that will be you first mark.
rotate wheel ccw and make your second mark.
what you are doing is measuring slop in the rear per the shop manual by means of a 12'' distance from the center of the wheel outward to the tire.,thus ending up with two marks having a gap. This gap is your wear. I will have to look up what the allowable tolerance is but i think its suppose to be less than 1''.
the second illustration is showing the same objective done the same way but slightly different.
measure 12'' from center of wheel to the tire and mark.
rotate wheel ccw till it stops.
hold a marker or pin or whatever against the fender well and insuring the end of the pen touches your mark.
now rotate the wheel CW till it stops and make a new mark there.
join the two marks and that is your play.
I was correct, less than 1'' is good.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=12460&highlight=rear+end+play
but...lock the drive shave in such a way that it cant move at all during this measurement. Like thunderchicken said, its a way to determine if the whole setup has a fault,, thats up to you now.
well I drove it in a HORRIBLE snow storm, and its with OUT A DOUBT that rear end. I was getting HORRIBLE shudders when id lose traction and both tires would spin. So I need ot check the fluid level i think it might just be out, idk. My dad hasnt done shiznit but drive this car so its up to me!
You say it only vibrates when the clutch is pushed to the floor? but you here noise when getting on it? clarify this a little better.
if you press in the clutch it gets LOUD, when u decelerate it gets louder, but when your on it, it shakes a little but not bad. Sorry for being unclear.
Throwout bearing/bushing? How about the pressure plate? How many miles are on this?
good question, no one knows
but that wouldnt explain the fact that when the tires spun in the snow storm it shook the car VIOLENTLY. like worse feeling then those strips on the side of the highway x2
Well, I was addressing the vibration with the clutch in. I still think you have a bad axle bearing or bent axle shaft in the rear causing the shaking while driving. Either that or the tires are massively out of balance.
its definatly all the time vibration, but different factors make it worse, faster speeds, different loads
i wonder if it is the tires... they were JUST installed... but the car sat for almost 3 years without being drove so i dont remember how it used to drive haha