clunking in rear end? and charging problem...

[charlesw6954]

i narrowed the clunk noise down to the rear end. my friend says theres a bad bearing/axle.

my charging problem is that at idle its two (on guage) lines from the red. above 1000rpm it goes straight past the halfway mark. sometimes when my car starts up it'll barely even charge. so i started the car, let it warm up and took the battery cable off and the engine kept running. so what the heck.

 

[charlesw6954]

no one like to help me? damn im getting more help from a chevy friend than here.

 

[dvs bullet]

the clunk noise in the rear, I'm gathering that you already checked the U-joints, have you done a set of gears in it? You didn't give much info but maybe the yoke that attaches to to the pinion, the nut might have backed off. When does it make the noise? About the charging prob, check with a volt meter, at the battery and the alt. make sure the out put is the same, if they are both low than you need and alt. if it is low at the batt. and not at the alt. you have a wiring prob. If it seems like the wiring then check the yellow coming from the alt. I had a broken conection above my rad that was really affecting the charging. hope that helps

 

[89CopCoupe]

What is your idle RPM? Do you have u/d pullies

A weak/faulty voltage regulator on the back of the alt will also cause an issue.

 

[HISSIN50]

yep, you probably did not get many responses cuz you gave virtually no info.

which car is having the problem?

is the when does the rear end clunk?

as said, grab a DMM and let us know what the battery is doing (stock gauges suck, and we dont know which car it is - dont pre 87 cars use an ammeter?) need to know info.

then you will get a ton of answers. good luck.

 

[charlesw6954]

well sorry for no info...

these problems are happening on the 5.0

but the clunk happens when i let the clutch out on any gear, shift into any gear. oh yea i thought it might of been the drive shaft becuase after i installed the alluminum d/s it started happening. before the d/s installation my stock d/s was vibrating horribly so would that mess any thing up?. i decided to wiggle the d/s to see if its the u-joints and well they didnt move but the d/s moves about 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn while its in gear when its suppose to be stiff. i thought it was the transmission but i asked my friend and he brought it into his shop and pushed back and fourth on the rear tires and a big clunking noise persued. oh some other info the transmission is a 4 banger transmission.


the charging problem

well for my 88lx the wiring was messed up and fried my alt and battery so i bought a new alt and battery. i think the alt is a 75 amp from autozone. well i rewired the lx so everything on it is good. but one day i was driving and i pushed the clutch pedal in and it just goes snap and yea. whats up with that? is that the clutch or cable or what? (i bought a new clutch anys) so i called a friend and he towed it to my house and outta desperation i threw my old p/s pump back on and filled it up and bought like 3 more bottles of p/s fluid (since it leaks like no other) well i started it up and drove around and noticed that the alternator was charging worth a damn so the next morning i threw the lx alt in the 5.0 and it was charging better so i was able to make it to work. on my lunch break i took their expensive volt meter or whatever it is and punched in the cca and pressed test and it said good battery then it said recharged. i pushed the starter test and it said leave at idle but the car wouldnt stay at idle it was dieing (it usually dies when i start it up in the mornings or after long sitting times) so i gave it some gas on the t/b and it said that the alt was charging at 14.xx volts. it said good charging system. the alt test was done thru the battery. with the cables connected to the battery. so far i havent had any problems with the car. for instance no amp light has come on (knowing i said that it would probally come on tomorrow). i also run absolutely no accessories. like no radio, ac, nothing. besides at night with my weak ass lights. another thing at idle (around 800rpms) charging sucks then past 1000rpms it just starts charging really good but not clear up to 18volts.

i had that happen last year it was always charging at 18 volts so i had to turn everything on just to bring it down to 14v like ac, defrost, and headlights. in the middle of the day and during summer. but i looked at the voltage regulator and the casing of it was off and water got in there and shorted everything out.

is that enough info? if not ask me more questions. becuase tomorrow im going to be buying new axle bearings and some slightly used 5.0 axles. so if its not the axles/bearings i would like to know before i buy em.

 

[jrichker]

The stock alternator will put out 13.8-14.5 volts at 1200 RPM with standard pulleys. The alternator output will drop off as the temperature rises.

 

[87'GTstang]

Voltage is the push on the current and if you were pumping 18 volts then your regulator on the old alternator went bad and that really didn't help your electrical system. An average battery should read 12.6 by itself and 14.4 or so with the engine running (18 is entirely too high). Considering you got a stock replacement you didn't help matters but so much - these cars always had a tough time dealing with the measly 75 amp output. Other than that I don't really catch what the problem is on the charging deal - the stock setup always sucked, what's new?

As for the clunk, that's usually U-joints, but that's ruled out due to your new driveshaft. Did you tighten those 4 bolts down with a hail-mary?. There are so many things that could go wrong in a rear axle - it's a busy atmosphere in there. How is your traction-lok unit working? It's hard to pinpoint such a thing, but if it's a clunking noise comeing from the rear end - where about is it (left, right, or center)? Does it do it only on abrupt movements, while rotating the tires, or lateral movement by pulling and pushing on the wheels?

 

[charlesw6954]

well after going to a mustang shop and spending more than i was wanting to. i went and bought a new mac cold air along with new doorhandles, a powersteering pump. well when i took my old airfilter off it was so dirty. i then there on the mac intake and the idle stopped bouncing around and kept the voltage were it should. sometimes like when i start it up it'll barely charge but after a few good revs it'll go were it should.


the clunk noise.

for example picture yourself infront of the driverside rear wheel. you put your left hand in the 10 o'clock position then your right hand on the 2 o'clock postion. then you proceed to push foward and backward on the wheel. while doing that you hear a clunk noise in what it seems like the middle of the rear end.

 

[HISSIN50]

the axle is moving on the C clip. a little slop is normal, i think. others will know more. good luck.

 

[charlesw6954]

anyone....