MichaelKnight

My 03 GT is making a strange noise when I take off slowly, i.e. from a stop ease the clutch out and continue to accelerate slowly with 1st fully engaged. It continues about half-way through second gear.

The noise is kind of a low-pitched whine/crunch with a faint rythm to it. If you take off faster, it isn't there (or maybe it's just drowned out).

I'm guessing it's a transmission noise, or maybe a differential noise? I've noticed it from time to time, and haven't thought too much about it, but driving right next to a building with my window down yesterday, I realized how bad it sounds.

I've got an appt at the dealer for a fuel sending unit problem (woohoo, whole new fuel pump.. thanks ford warrantee!!). I will ask them to take a listen, but of course am worried I might get the run-around. Does anyone have any ideas on what's causing this sound so I can be armed with some knowledge when I go to the dealer?

mdvaldosta

Throwout bearing on the clutch would be my first guess. They only get worse by the way. The question would be, does the sound go away when you press the clutch in? If it does than its your bearing. I wouldn't worry too much if its slightly noticable, since almost every ford 5sp Ive seen has it a little bit, but if your not sure then ask your dealer, or an independant technician.

MichaelKnight

Yes, it goes away if you put the clutch in, and it is worse when I'm taking off slowly or if I give it too little gas when taking off.

I just got the car a month ago, and it had 4800 miles on it -- was a dealer demo car. So.... it's likely that the clutch took some abuse.

This is the first manual tranny I've owned, although I had some experience in other cars. For the first few weeks, I kind of chalked up anything strange to my inexperience with a stick. One thing, though, that's still happening, and I'm thinking now might be related, is this.... At slower speeds when I downshift to slow down, like say 40 mph I downshift to 2nd, it slows down pretty smoothly, but if I hit the gas again, the initial acceleration is very rough - like the car bucks a bit. I.e., what I'm trying to describe is the conversion from engine breaking to acceleration is not smooth. I've tried being as geeeeeeeentle as humanly possible on the gas pedal in this situation, and it helps a bit, but there's still a bit more of a buck than I think there should be. So... is this just a mustang thing (made to accelerate, not decelerate, lol), or do I have real problems? Or maybe I'm just doing this wrong.... should I be using the clutch in the situation I describe?<edited><editID>MichaelKnight</editID><editDate>37867.7197800926</editDate></edited>

Dan04COBRA

My car does the same thing from a downshift and I'm having no tranny/clutch problems.</P>


The way I avoid this while downshifting, I rev the motor over 3k to downshift and it goes very smooth and the next time I step on the gas it won't buck around.</P>


</P>


***After reading your post again I noticed a few more things, this is only a guess, but you say your downshifting to 2nd at 40mph...it would be good for you to blip the throttle and bring the rpm's up before you drop her from 3rd to 2nd, it'll make the transition much smoother, and when you touch the gas again, you might be out of your power band and 2nd gear doesn't have enough snot to get your car going without bucking.......</P><edited><editID>Dan02GT</editID><editDate>37867.7569560185</editDate></edited>

SilverGTV8

Like Dan02GT said, a little blip of the throttle during the shift helps a lot. I just got heel-toeing down with my new car, only took a week. The honda I used to own took me atleast 6 months to find the right balance of gas and clutch for the shifts. Blips of the gas help on upshifts to if you are trying to be smooth. Not worth bliping the gas if your dragging though, takes to long.

Dan04COBRA

Right. I still buck the hell out of my car and stall it out all the time, just because I'm lazy and it's not going to hurt anything.</P>


But when I'm coming up on a light and see some hot babes I make sure I downshift like a pro JK</P>


Alittle touch of the gas, aka blip, should help alleviate your bucking problems, as it probably is a driver born issue rather than a demo car born issue Good luck man, learn to love that 5 speed!!!!!!!!!!</P>


</P>

MichaelKnight

Hey, thanks guys.... I've found the same thing to be true -- blipping (new word for me, thanks, hehe) the gas pretty much solves the problem of downshifting smoothly; was just wondering if I had something wrong with my car that I needed to do that. Guess not! I especially like giving it a couple of revs for a big downshift when there are babes at a red light... makes me want to hurry up and get some exhaust mods!

Dan04COBRA

Good deal man! Glad to hear we helped. <IMG src=smileys/smiley2.gif border="0">