squidy

Hello to all on the forum I am a new member so please forgive me for being slightly dumb. I have a 2005 mustang v6 coupe with just about 300,000 on her. Engine and everything is still going just fine. Only problem I have is when I'm going down the highway and I hit a bump there is a metal clunk noise on the front driver side. I'm not sure whether it's the sway bar ends or possibly a motor mount. Any help is appreciated.
-Thanks

Urambo Tauro

Welcome!

Those are good guesses. A busted swaybar link should be easy to spot. As for the engine mounts, you can try sticking a prybar in there to check for excessive movement. While you're under there, you might as well take a look around and see how your bushings are holding up.

squidy

I appreciate that. I checked the sway bar links and they appear to be solid, no up and down movement etc... I'll check the engine mounts in the morning

squidy

Alrighty so the engine mounts are solid, no movement at all, did the shift test to see if torque moves the engine and she's all good. Bushings seem to be alright. I'm stumped

blchandl2

With that many miles I would look at sway bar bushings. Fairly cheap and easy to replace.

Buckshot Barry

If you go over speed bumps do you hear the noise?

There is a TSB for replacing the Upper Mount Assembly with 8R3Z-18183-B

Edit: Do some research, I now think the 8R3Z-18183-C version is for 2011 and above.

https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...noise-200.html

squidy

Yes I hear it when I hit speed bumos, especially moreso when I hit potholes on the highway

Buckshot Barry

This was a huge issue years ago when the problem first exhibited itself. Ford had a couple of TSB's that were replaced with newer TSB's, so be careful when you are reading old posts.

If I remember the stories right, the GT-500 and convertibles didn't exhibit the noise. They both had a front anti sway bar, where the standard V6 and V8 models didn't. That sway bar was added in April 2007 to all models. My Pony was made in January 2007 and didn't come with the sway bar and I added it when she was under 100 miles.

If you already had the thump sound, the sway bar didn't always fix it. Anyway, it was later determined that it was the upper strut mount. It was just that the sway bar helped to prevent wear on the older design before the thump started.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Here is the sway bar on a GT500

ftp://ftp.behllc.com/2007Mustang/U3.jpg

squidy

I appreciate it my friend. I've tried to move just about everything under the car and nothing has budged its all rock solid. The strut mount in the only thing that I haven't tested. So it has to be the problem. Time to get to the fixing. Again, thank you all for the suggestions

Buckshot Barry

2 other issues you should know about with our Ponies

Cracked V6 thermostat housings. There is a 3rd party aluminum version available that replaces the plastic version.

Water leak on the passenger side near the smart junction box. Usually this is caused by plugged up cowl drain holes. Flakey tail lights and dampness in the passenger floor board are the first signs of this problem.

At least you have a V6. V8 owners with cars made before January (Job 2) 2008 have a terrible time replacing the 2 piece spark plugs. They often break when being removed. Ford redesigned the cylinder heads to deal with this issue.