Update on my car. Need Help!

[Muscle99]

Incase you have been reading my previous posts about my engine noise. Just talked with my mechanic who told me he had bad news. Said he took the car up to a mechanic who works for ford and they told him Its the connecting rod to the piston banging up against the cylinder head. Said the only way he could fix it would be to replace the engine. Also said his ford friend checked any warranty work and that the rear end was taken out and replaced at some point. Said he thinks what caused this is Abuse. Said the car could run like this for years or weeks. Is this basically piston slap? What should I do? I have had the car for like 2 weeks and now i feel like ****.
Opinions? Gonna put some mobile 1 in the car and see if it helps.

 

[speedfreak98r]

Don't drive it.

 

[Dragstr05]

Don't drive it.

+1

I dont know how it runs if the piston is hitting the head, it would be doing alot more than just making noise.

Piston slap is when the piston actually rocks somewhat in the bore. This is most common (in our cars anyway) in stroked engines on cold start up.

 

[Muscle99]

maybe i didnt really understand waht he was saying. He didnt even seem to know how to exactly put it. I put soem mobile one in the car and it has silenced some of the noise and the car sounds seems to drive better. The car honestly drives like brand new. If it wasnt for this noise at around 3-4k rpm. The one thing i question is they didnt even pull the engine apart. They basically just listend to the sound.

Oh and heres the kicker. IT doesnt make the sound at all in 3rd ,4th and 5th. And after hte mobile one and a warm engine it doesnt make a sound either. No matter what RPM or WOT or not. First ist he only gear that it constantly makes the noise in. Explain that? IF its what he said it was I would think it would make the noise no matter what gear.

 

[screamin gt]

what they said makes no sense to me, from all the reading I've been doing lately(alot) trying to pinpoint my own engine noises, it sounds to me like maybe you had a stuck valve, which even in the haynes manual says adding a higher viscosity (spell?) oil can free it up and cure that problem.

if it were a connecting rod it would be loud loud loud, plus your connecting rod is under the piston so it would be kind of hard for it to head your head, it could be valve tapping (where your valve is actually hitting the top of your piston), but that would be extremely loud too...

if it were a major problem like that I guess the cheapest way would be a new motor, since they only go $1500 for a decent low mileage motor. so worst case is still not that bad.

if its not your main transportatiion I'd just drive it till it dies and not abuse it too much, and replace the motor when the time comes, or learn yourself how to rebuild it if you have the time/money

 

[Muscle99]

Its my daily driver and like i said I can drive the car without it ever making the noise if i choose to keep the RPM's low. I put some mobile one in and a motorcraft filter and gave the car a tune up. And im just gonna start saving for a new motor in the meantime. But honestly it hasnt gotten any worse.

 

[Dragstr05]

Oh and heres the kicker. IT doesnt make the sound at all in 3rd ,4th and 5th. And after hte mobile one and a warm engine it doesnt make a sound either. No matter what RPM or WOT or not. First ist he only gear that it constantly makes the noise in. Explain that? IF its what he said it was I would think it would make the noise no matter what gear.

This makes it difficult. I'm trying to make sense of it but I cant. The engine doesnt magically differentiate(sp?) between gears. The only way I can see why it would do it in 1st and 2nd and not the rest would be a mix between engine load and the rate of acceleration. If it only does it between 3-4k rpm, obviously you arent doing it in 5th...thats around 140mph or so and even 4th at 3-4k is quite some speed.

Did you go from say a 5w20 to 5w30 oil? I wasnt following your original post, is it a tapping? The only thing thats starting to make sense is a valve tap.

 

[Muscle99]

Not sure what oil was in it b4. Im sure just generico oil. I put in 5w30. When the engine is cold it is louder. Cold engine at about 2200 RPM u can hear it in 1st. When the engine is warm it wont start till about 3k in 1st. Cold engine and second gear u can hear it at about 2500RPM. Warm Engine in 2nd with Mobile 1 in and i didnt hear it at all with the pedal to the floor and took it to 4k. 3rd never makes the noise. If I free rev the car with the clutch in it makes the sound as u blip up the throttle but its very brief and lasts but a second.

The car seems to have been played around with. It has some odd looking pieces of steel welded to the chassis. Kinda like a subframe connecter cept the run Vertical to the car not across it. The front tires are very new looking GForce Ta's and the backs are New looking Futura wal mart tires. (dunno if this means the burnt tires up fast). Odd thing is the car had no mods or signs of being modded. No intake stock exhaust stock filter ect.

My mech is a faimly friend. He isnt what i would call a pro at the modular ford. But he does own his own Shop. He said he knows a Friend who is a Ford Tech. He took it to the ford dealership on his lunch break and they diagnosed it as Somethin to do with the Piston hitting something in the motor. When I asked him so you mean like Piston Slap. He said Sorta. He made the statement it could run for weeks or it can run for Years. Which sounded pretty damn broad and to me means he wasnt very knowledgable to the cause.

Im going to try and power up my Digi Cam and get a sound clip of it sometime this week. Im trying not to worry about it. Everyone comments that the body is in excellent shape. It was a georgia car so its in great physical condition. If I can save up some money and put a lower mileage 4.6 in it (this one has 64k) then it has the perfect chassis to build on. So will see. Problem is i dont have the cash to even think about something like that atm.

 

[Rusty67]

Does the engine make the noise in neutral ? Is this an auto or a manual trans ? If its an auto does it make the noise in park and neutral ?

 

[Mike97gt]

RUN away from this mechanic... I understand you may be friends with these people but they are a lost cause on this one.

The fact that the car does not make noise in some of the gears indicates a transmission problem and not a engine problem. Plus his explanation makes no sense.

Engine noises will not go away in some gears.

One of the things that can make noise diagnostics so hard is how sound travels, you can have a noise in one end of the car and swear it's coming from the other. With out being there I can not be 100 percent certain what is wrong with your car, but I would be willing to put money on it not being a engine concern.

 

[01Steeda]

I agree with Mike, and if it was piston slap I would save for a new VT shortblock while driving it. I wouldnt get crazy, but I would drive it.


difference between my piston slap and yours is that mine is a built block and it isnt uncommon for them to have it.

 

[Muscle99]

SVTTECH I wish you lived close to Ohio hehe. You were spot on with my misfire problem without even being there to see the car.

The noise does speed up in 1st gear as the RPMs climb. It almost sounds like something is loose.

 

[Mike97gt]

SVTTECH I wish you lived close to Ohio hehe. You were spot on with my misfire problem without even being there to see the car.

The noise does speed up in 1st gear as the RPMs climb. It almost sounds like something is loose.

Someday I hope to open my own mustang shop but it will be in southern new hampshire. When that happens I will be able to take customers, now I can't because the dealer I work for sucks and made me get rid of my mustang customers.

Without being there I can not be 100 percent certain about your noise but I am pretty sure it's from the trans the way you describe it.

 

[steve_stang2003]

RUN away from this mechanic... I understand you may be friends with these people but they are a lost cause on this one.

The fact that the car does not make noise in some of the gears indicates a transmission problem and not a engine problem. Plus his explanation makes no sense.

Engine noises will not go away in some gears.

One of the things that can make noise diagnostics so hard is how sound travels, you can have a noise in one end of the car and swear it's coming from the other. With out being there I can not be 100 percent certain what is wrong with your car, but I would be willing to put money on it not being a engine concern.

+1
I agree with you!

As for piston slap, it's not really a horrible thing.
Many GM motors in the 3.8/3.4 line are known for piston slap when cold and those things last forever.
Well, after you get past the defective intake gaskets, they do.

Personally I would run from that mechanic.

 

[Muscle99]

my problem is the noise is around even when Warm. I also have the dreaded racket for a split second when i start the car up cold. I did the motorcraft oil filter swap too.

Thing is this car is in such good shape body wise. It would def be worth putting in a lower mileage engine. Problem is I cannot afford it right now.

Ihave spent the last few days tinkering with the car sticking my ear on a screwdriver all over the car. Its hard because i cant get it to make the sound unless i rev the car up.


One question is it common for me to feel a lot of commotion in the Shifter? When im driving this thing i swear i can feel the motor working or the tranny cant tell which. It moves a tiny bit and theres a lot of vibration in it. You guys have this in your 5 speeds too?

 

[Mike97gt]

It's hard to tell without driving the car myself if the vibration and movement you feel is normal.

I suggest you go to a dealer and drive another car and compare it to yours then get back to us

 

[stangGT97]

Well think about it... if the rearend was taken out and replaced, then I would venture to guess that whoever owned this car before you was slamming gears like a madman. Your transmission is probably beat to crap and that is the source of your sound. Try and get another shop's opinion.

 

[Muscle99]

Digging up my Digi cam and gonna get a clip of it for you guys to hear. Stay tuned for it either tommorow or friday.

 

['13_ImpactBlue_GT]

Someday I hope to open my own mustang shop but it will be in southern new hampshire. When that happens I will be able to take customers, now I can't because the dealer I work for sucks and made me get rid of my mustang customers.

Without being there I can not be 100 percent certain about your noise but I am pretty sure it's from the trans the way you describe it.

Why did they "make" you get rid of your Mustang customers?

 

[Mike97gt]

Why did they "make" you get rid of your Mustang customers?

I worked on most of them on the side and we are not allowed to do any side work now..

And the dealer is not interested in doing performance mods. They considered moding mustangs at my work but they don't want to spend the money for extra equipment.