Squealing under acceleration

SlowInThe850

Member
Dec 10, 2017
22
7
13
Florida
My 2003 mustang gt is making a loud squealing when I am accelerating. It does it only when the car is moving, and pressing the clutch doesn’t seem to make the noise change. After a few minutes of driving the noise goes away. I recorded a video with my phone and I will try to post a link to it. The video quality isn’t great, but the sound is pretty accurate. Does anyone have any ideas to help me narrow down what it could be? Thanks in advance.

Link to video the squealing starts at about 42 seconds
 
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Is there a way I can rule out other possibilities first? If that’s what it is, then Ill take the opportunity for a new clutch as well, but I would like to do my due diligence before I drop the transmission
 
I will pick up an automotive stethoscope next time I head to town. In the mean time, if it were a pulley or the pilot bearing, would it still make the noise if the car is in neutral coasting down a hill? If I rev the engine in neutral while it is stationary, it does not make the noise. I have not tried coasting down a hill in neutral though
 
I will pick up an automotive stethoscope next time I head to town. In the mean time, if it were a pulley or the pilot bearing, would it still make the noise if the car is in neutral coasting down a hill? If I rev the engine in neutral while it is stationary, it does not make the noise. I have not tried coasting down a hill in neutral though

In neutral? Do you mean when your clutch is pushed in, or your transmission is in neutral with the clutch out?
i remember the first car i tried to get my grandparents to buyme (mitsubishi eclipse) and the owner told/and showed me the pilot bearing issue. When the clutch was in the sound would go away . He told me he would spray the pilot bearing with WD40 through the bellhousing to make the sound go away temporarily.
i have never looked into how easy that was to do. They never bought the car because it was modified and could spin tires through third lol.
 
From what I can tell, its not a pulley. No noticeable noise even with the stethoscope. I am having some difficulty shifting gears, so maybe it is the pilot bearing that was suggested earlier. Sometimes the gears shift smoothly, and other times every one of them has significant resistance. Its still the clutch from the factory and it has right at 160k miles on it. I plan to do a clutch job as soon as I get my daily fixed. Unfortunately both cars decided to have issues at the same time. I will post an update as soon as the job is finished.
 
Yeah, just park it.

U-joints wouldn't be a horrible idea either.

er...

Traction Lock rebuild...
Wheel bearings..
Brakes...


Oh but hey, a DF Centerforce Clutch is a nice upgrade. :) ... or perhaps a King Cobra. Both are nice for stock or lightly modded Mustangs.

Might also be a good time to swap the gears :dig:

If there's any leaking well.... :O_o:
 
It took longer to replace the clutch than I originally planned, but it did solve the issue. Both the pilot bearing and throw out bearing were worn pretty badly, and the clutch fork had dug into the pivot stud pretty deep so all that got replaced. Of course I did the rear main seal while I was there as well.

In response to Noobz, I had checked the u-joints and wheel bearings prior to doing the clutch, and neither had any play. The brakes have less than 2000 miles on them, and I swapped gears less than 5k miles ago at which time the traction Lock was redone. I tried to dot all my I's and cross all my T's before I committed on something as expensive as the clutch. Thank you for your assistance!