Car Is Making Strange Noise

03_TrueBlue_GT

Active Member
May 5, 2010
810
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29
Houston, Tx
Well time to rant about a problem I am having with my GT or potential problem...

My 2003 GT 5 speed with the Tremec 3650 transmission has a strange noise coming from my transmission/clutch it sounds like the dreaded TOB squeaking sound. The car has had the noise though ever since I bought it with 68,000 miles on it, the car now has 107,000 miles on it. The thing about it is that it has gotten progressively worse sounding about a week ago. The sound would go away when I would rest my foot on the clutch pedal sightly when in neutral before so I never worried about it. My reasoning was that after seeing as most of the members have had issues with the tob on these cars since they were new I didnt worry about it bc mine shifted fine when I ran it hard and just drove it normally.

Anyways the noise has gotten worse than what it used to be about a week ago. To get everyone up to speed it has been raining nonstop down here in Houston for the past two weeks, and I had to drive through my neighborhood streets that had some standing water on them. After I drove through some of the streets to get home my squeaking TOB has gotten waaay worse. (Btw I didn't speed through the flooded streets, I went slow and tried to avoid streets that were badly flooded, the last one I couldn't avoid to get home, and the water was 4in away from the rocker panel when I opened the door to look:fuss: .)

Before this issue the cars tob used to squeak when I didn't rest my foot on the clutch pedal slightly, now it squeaks like crazy when I engage the clutch and when it is sitting in neutral with my foot resting on the clutch pedal only when the motor and transmission are dead cold, so the first start up of the day it squeaks like mad with the pedal engaged and in neutral with my foot resting on it. Also when I get up to 20mph in my neighborhood it makes the same noise as the TOB but it sounds like it gets worse with increased speed, this is also when I first drive it in the day. When I gassed it to speed up quickly today it went away and didn't do it again this morning. Tomorrow I am going to see if it does it again. When the car is warmed up and driven around it wont squeak when I rest my foot on the clutch pedal at stops as I have always done.

Now I'm pretty sure that my stock TOB is toast and is about to give out on me, but I really don't know what to do. The car drives fine and shifts great, it never grinds any gears at all, and the clutch is easy to operate. Did the water have a role in making it worse or is it just time to replace it? Btw I DD my Mustang and I drive spiritedly. I don't drop the clutch a lot or power shift also btw. I'm going to drive it as long as I can, because I need to save up some money to do a new clutch/flywheel swap before college starts this year.

Anyways some clutch suggestions to go with, predictions on how long the clutch/tob will last, and some explanations to help me understand the issue will be greatly appreciated!.

Thanks guys.
 
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Everytime I've changedy clutch/tob I use a ford tob. I changedy
Last tob about 10k miles ago and the damn thing makes noise occasionally. When I bought my 03 brand new I got about 50k out of the tob till it started making noise. I guess u can say its hit
Or miss
 
i learned that if you put an adjustable clutch quadrant on the car and tighten up the cable, the squeeling will stop... it acts as if your foot is resting on the clutch pedal....

granted, its a HUGE BAND AID, as your TOB will fail. but at least you can make it for a while longer with out listening to the squeel.

Good luck.
 
They will squeak for a very long time before they fail in most cases.

Mine did for at least 3-4 years before it started to whine/howl. At that point, I got about 3 months out of it before it grenaded while I was driving.

Sounds like yours isn't going to give you that much time. You planning on doing the repair yourself?

The part number you want is Ford Racing Performance Parts M-7458-A.
 
They will squeak for a very long time before they fail in most cases.

Mine did for at least 3-4 years before it started to whine/howl. At that point, I got about 3 months out of it before it grenaded while I was driving.

Sounds like yours isn't going to give you that much time. You planning on doing the repair yourself?

The part number you want is Ford Racing Performance Parts M-7458-A.


Its weird it stopped making the horrible noise that prompted me to start this thread. So I'm at a loss as to what to think. Also it would howl when I would get up to speed in my neighborhood but now it doesn't do it at all anymore... It only squeaks a little when the car is first started and then when it warms up it quiets down.
 
Update, well it seems I am running out of time on my stock tob. It squeals like a mother when the car is first started in the morning, when I accelerate it gets loud and eventually goes away when I shift into 2nd gear. Car shifts fine and smooth but makes a lot of squeaking noise from the tob. Also when I rest my foot on the clutch it used to make the squeaking stop, now it just does it a lot worse...

Anyways time for my cheap a$$ to buy a new clutch, flywheel, tob, pilot bearing, and clutch adjustment cable quadrant thingy...

Now what brand of clutch should I get? I was looking at the Exedy clutch from American Muscle


http://www.americanmuscle.com/exedy-mach350-clutch-9604.html

Also the kit comes with a tob, should I just get the Ford racing tob or use the one supplied in the kit?

I will be doing this job myself with my buddy.
 
Mine went out in a similar fashion, except it literally seized at one point. It wasn't pretty when I tore everything down.

I haven't heard much about the Exedy clutches. I bought a RAM HDX for mine. It was on sale for $179-ish from www.50resto.com. So far it's a pretty nice, tam clutch but it feels like it's going to bite nicely. I'm still breaking it in.

Personal suggestion... match your clutch and flywheel brand wise. Each manufacturer has a different set of tolerances when it comes to their own clutches and flywheels. I've read occasionally that some don't match and the setup won't perform correctly, will wear prematurely, etc.

Lastly... NEVER use the TOB supplied with the kit unless you're looking for a headache and future paperweight. FRPP HD TOB is the only way to go. About $60, but that's well worth not having to yank everything apart a few thousand miles down the road.

Read this thread, more-so my last post in there. I just got done with this job and pointed out some of the highlights.

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-for...lp-clutch-cable-tob-the-whole-shebang.858322/
 
Mine went out in a similar fashion, except it literally seized at one point. It wasn't pretty when I tore everything down.

I haven't heard much about the Exedy clutches. I bought a RAM HDX for mine. It was on sale for $179-ish from www.50resto.com. So far it's a pretty nice, tam clutch but it feels like it's going to bite nicely. I'm still breaking it in.

Personal suggestion... match your clutch and flywheel brand wise. Each manufacturer has a different set of tolerances when it comes to their own clutches and flywheels. I've read occasionally that some don't match and the setup won't perform correctly, will wear prematurely, etc.

Lastly... NEVER use the TOB supplied with the kit unless you're looking for a headache and future paperweight. FRPP HD TOB is the only way to go. About $60, but that's well worth not having to yank everything apart a few thousand miles down the road.

Read this thread, more-so my last post in there. I just got done with this job and pointed out some of the highlights.

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-for...lp-clutch-cable-tob-the-whole-shebang.858322/


Thanks for the heads up on getting a Ford Racing TOB and the thread. I was wanting to reuse my stock flywheel if I could to save money but I dont know if thats going to work, I guess I can give AM a call and ask them what they recommend... I dont know if the exedy clutch will work with the stock flywheel or not? This list of new parts just keeps getting bigger and bigger... :confused:
 
Thanks for the heads up on getting a Ford Racing TOB and the thread. I was wanting to reuse my stock flywheel if I could to save money but I dont know if thats going to work, I guess I can give AM a call and ask them what they recommend... I dont know if the exedy clutch will work with the stock flywheel or not? This list of new parts just keeps getting bigger and bigger... :confused:

No problem.

If your stock flywheel is in good shape, it can be resurfaced and re-used without an issue. You'll just need to find a machine shop that knows what they're doing and buy some new guide pins to re-install, or have the shop re-install.

My flywheel had some bad hot spots and had little surface cracks. I didn't want to risk it... plus from what I could tell, it was an off-brand stock replacement.