[BikerSk8rKid]

1995 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 Manual

Problem: Vehicle turned on, let the clutch out, push it in and then put it into gear (or not even fully into gear). You hear this CLUNK, that's coming from the rear of the vehicle. My U-Joints are perfectly fine.

This just started happening maybe 2 months or so ago and I haven't really been driving it. My mechanic and I thought it would be my clutch cable because it's stretched, so I ordered the MM Kit. Which now I'm annoyed/pissed because I believe I just wasted money on the MM Kit for no reason.

Edit: I may be wrong, but after understanding what a Syncros in the Tranny is, I believe that is my problem. I will get my mechanics to check it out soon, but I'm pretty sure that's my problem from what my mechanic explained to me. I've also noticed the car moves a little.

Story: I think I know what caused it, but I'm not sure. I bought my self a new computer, so I left the area and got onto a main road. I noticed that there was a car coming up behind me pretty fast, so I got on it and got far ahead of the person. Well there was some curves coming up and usually (at least with Motorcycles) I downshift right before the corner so I can power out. I ended up throwing it into 2nd gear (I was only in 3rd) at a high speed. I don't think my car liked that what so ever, but after that day is when I noticed the problem. I'm not completely sure how fast I was going.

[hotmustang95]

Before you go crazy check that the rubber on the rear end counter weight isn't worn and allowing it to move freely causing it to hit the pumpkin and make that clank noise. I got rid of mine years ago and recently my stepfathers fox was making the same noise and he was convinced it was the drive shaft hitting the exhaust. Turned out to be that counter weight again. I ripped it off for him. If you don't know what it is it's a huge piece of metal that hangs off the center of the rear end rite where the drive shaft ends.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by hotmustang95 Before you go crazy check that the rubber on the rear end counter weight isn't worn and allowing it to move freely causing it to hit the pumpkin and make that clank noise. I got rid of mine years ago and recently my stepfathers fox was making the same noise and he was convinced it was the drive shaft hitting the exhaust. Turned out to be that counter weight again. I ripped it off for him. If you don't know what it is it's a huge piece of metal that hangs off the center of the rear end rite where the drive shaft ends.

Could you possibly get a picture or something? Because I'm kind of confused. My rear tranny seal is leaking tranny fluid. I'm going to get it checked and/or get more feedback before I go any further. I'm probably going to buy another vechile for now.

[hotmustang95]

Here you go. Cheap fix if that's what it is.

[mayosailor27]

just remove it. there is a reason why its there but perhaps the reason for it to be on yours now is to make noise and be removed.

[BikerSk8rKid]

That's what I was thinking it was after I replied and looked at some pictures of underneeth.
What is the point of that thing anyways?
How would that cause it to Clunk only when the car is on, and trying to put it into gear. Everytime you try, you have to let the clutch out and push it back in.

Edit: What kind of noise was his/yours making exactly?

[hotmustang95]

Originally Posted by BikerSk8rKid Edit: What kind of noise was his/yours making exactly?

He'd put the car in gear and when it started moving you'd hear a clanking. Every time he'd go over a dip in the road or pull into a driveway he would hear it. Mine was making the same noise years ago.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by hotmustang95 He'd put the car in gear and when it started moving you'd hear a clanking. Every time he'd go over a dip in the road or pull into a driveway he would hear it. Mine was making the same noise years ago.

Yeah, see mine isn't doing that though, mine is a hard CLUNK. Mine only does it when it's not moving (or at least I can't hear it when moving), but the car has to be on. I will still check it tomarrow.

I should check if it's lose or what?

[mayosailor27]

Check out the u-joints mang. Those get shitty after awhile. what about shocks?

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by mayosailor27 Check out the u-joints mang. Those get shitty after awhile. what about shocks?

As I stated in the first post, the U-Joints perfectly fine. Shocks are pretty much brand new. This sound should only have to do with the Tranny/Driveline/Rear Diff. Remember, it's when the car isn't moving and barely going into gear. The owner of the shop said we need to take off my driveline and check.

What it sounds like is like the drive line is being rammed into the rear diff.

[95five-o]

to me it does sound like the clutch cable is loose somewhere or stretched out. if it were syncros, usually its when you're down shifting or when you're going from first gear, stopping, and then putting it into reverse. syncros are basically a mini gear that kinda lets everything line up to go into that specific gear smoothly from my understanding. a lot of times when you dont press the clutch in quite enough, itll let you shift into that gear, but you'll hear a loud clank, and depending on how far the clutch is released, itll start moving the car. so its not that you're not pressing the clutch in far enough, its that the cable is stretched out or loose somewhere. i dont know if thats it, but it makes sense to me.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by 95five-o to me it does sound like the clutch cable is loose somewhere or stretched out. if it were syncros, usually its when you're down shifting or when you're going from first gear, stopping, and then putting it into reverse. syncros are basically a mini gear that kinda lets everything line up to go into that specific gear smoothly from my understanding. a lot of times when you dont press the clutch in quite enough, itll let you shift into that gear, but you'll hear a loud clank, and depending on how far the clutch is released, itll start moving the car. so its not that you're not pressing the clutch in far enough, its that the cable is stretched out or loose somewhere. i dont know if thats it, but it makes sense to me.

That's exaclty what my mechanic and I thought.
I just replaced my cable with a brand new MM cable, along with the Quadrant and Firewall Adjuster. I had it adjusted all the way out where it would release and engage at the top of the peddle. Then I moved it down to about a couple inches from the floor (lined up next to the brake peddle). It still makes the sound.
I tried to get it to make the sound earlier today when driving, but I couldn't or at least I couldn't hear it.
It's not a clanking sound, it's more of a CLUNK. I'll see if I can get a video.

[95five-o]

try adjusting it so its not so close to the floor. maybe the pedal needs more room to travel.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by 95five-o try adjusting it so its not so close to the floor. maybe the pedal needs more room to travel.

I don't think you understood what I mean. It's not that close to the floor, it's actually where it's supposed to be or close to it.

Like I said I had it engage/disengage at the floor, Middle of the peddle and at the beginging of the peddle. It did NOT change the problem. I tried to take a video with my camcorder, my Cell Phone and Voice Record on my Cell Phone. None of them will show up, yet it's loud enough.

Your not to far, take a 2 hour trip down to Portland, I'll show you. ahah

[95five-o]

haha a road trip does sound nice. but my wife is about to pop my son out anyday now so we have to stay local.

hmm..well you are leaking tranny fluid. but i dont see if making a clunking noise. is it just 1st gear or all gears? and when you press the clutch in, does it not want to go in gear, so you release the clutch and try again and thats when its clunking? if so that is a syncro. but if you start it, release clutch, engage clutch, and go into gear it shouldnt clunk.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by 95five-o haha a road trip does sound nice. but my wife is about to pop my son out anyday now so we have to stay local. hmm..well you are leaking tranny fluid. but i dont see if making a clunking noise. is it just 1st gear or all gears? and when you press the clutch in, does it not want to go in gear, so you release the clutch and try again and thats when its clunking? if so that is a syncro. but if you start it, release clutch, engage clutch, and go into gear it shouldnt clunk.

Congrats. How much longer do you two have? I might be coming up there if I don't find someone that lives down there. I need to get some calipers for my Motorcycle and the guy wont ship.

Yeah it's leaking, but barely at all and I don't see that making the noise, but very possible. I know for sure 1st and 2nd, but not sure about the rest. The gears go in just fine I'm pretty sure. It only makes the sound when the vechile is turned on and not moving. The only way it'll make the sound is when you release the clutch and put it in every time.
So lets say you go to make the sound the first time. You have to release and then push in the clutch to do it the next time and so forth.

I'm going to try and put the my Camcorder/Cell Phone under the car and see if it'll work.

[95five-o]

hmm..so you start the car, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, and put it into gear, and clunk? sounds like it could be the syncro, but usually you'd have to be in a different gear or slowly moving or something. try putting it into gear very slowly. you know that spot when you shift, you go to put it into first and it hits a hard spot, then goes in? try hitting that hard spot and barely giving it pressure until it slides into gear. if the syncro its bad, it should grind or make some kind of horrific sound. if it slides into gear, it shouldnt make any sound.

she's due apr. 27th but our due date was kind of a guess. haha. and all of the times where the baby is supposed to do something at some week, our baby always did it a few weeks earlier. for example babys are supposed to start kicking at like 17 weeks or something, and i kicked my hand at like 14 weeks. and when he was supposed to weigh 3lbs, our doctors said he was probably weighing in at almost 4.5. haha. and he's already dropped and she's having all those signs and what not so everyone thinks itll be within the next week or so. haha. and im not complaining. i cant wait for my son to help me make my mustang a beast. haha.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by 95five-o hmm..so you start the car, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, and put it into gear, and clunk? sounds like it could be the syncro, but usually you'd have to be in a different gear or slowly moving or something. try putting it into gear very slowly. you know that spot when you shift, you go to put it into first and it hits a hard spot, then goes in? try hitting that hard spot and barely giving it pressure until it slides into gear. if the syncro its bad, it should grind or make some kind of horrific sound. if it slides into gear, it shouldnt make any sound. she's due apr. 27th but our due date was kind of a guess. haha. and all of the times where the baby is supposed to do something at some week, our baby always did it a few weeks earlier. for example babys are supposed to start kicking at like 17 weeks or something, and i kicked my hand at like 14 weeks. and when he was supposed to weigh 3lbs, our doctors said he was probably weighing in at almost 4.5. haha. and he's already dropped and she's having all those signs and what not so everyone thinks itll be within the next week or so. haha. and im not complaining. i cant wait for my son to help me make my mustang a beast. haha.

When I mean by not putting it all the way into gear, I mean that spot your talking about. Where it kind of stops it before it goes into gear. If you hit that spot it makes the sound, put it all the way into gear it makes the sound. The harder you do it the louder it is. It does it in all the gears, but harder to hear 5th and Reverse. I do believe if you put it into gear SLOWLY it doesn't make the sound. Every once in awhile it would grind in 3rd gear. That started happening after the new clutch. Could possibly be because of me not pushing the clutch all the way down or bad shifting or stretched cable.

Aw your such a lucky guy. Got a name for him yet?

It's hard to get a video from under the car when my stupid muffler baffle is rattling, ugh. You can hear it at 41 and 43. You can hear the shifter right before I do it on 49 and 52.

YouTube - VIDEO0015

YouTube - VIDEO0015

[95five-o]

Hmm well that does sound like syncros then but its weird that most of your gears are doing it. Was this all over a period of time like the clunking got louder and did it more often over time, or was it just out of nowhere? If each gear started doing it over time and got worse than its your syncros for sure. Especially if you like to shift hard and fast or double clutch, that'll definately do it.

Yeah I'm very excited to meet the little guy, hopefully one day he'll be able to help me build this car into a badass street/weekend car that he can take to his prom when he gets that age. His name is aiden.

[BikerSk8rKid]

Originally Posted by 95five-o Hmm well that does sound like syncros then but its weird that most of your gears are doing it. Was this all over a period of time like the clunking got louder and did it more often over time, or was it just out of nowhere? If each gear started doing it over time and got worse than its your syncros for sure. Especially if you like to shift hard and fast or double clutch, that'll definately do it. Yeah I'm very excited to meet the little guy, hopefully one day he'll be able to help me build this car into a badass street/weekend car that he can take to his prom when he gets that age. His name is aiden.

Yeah I believe it's that after my mechanic explained to me how it works. He said if it doesn't line up right, it will still try to catch and will cause that. or something along those lines. I still need to get it looked at again. It hasn't gotten louder or anything. It gets louder the harder you shift into gear and only when not moving. I can't hear it what so ever when moving. It's just annoying not knowing what it is. I don't double clutch because well I don't think I know how. I don't think I shift hard, maybe here and there and sometimes I do shift fast, but just depends.

Just remember to get him his first Mustang. That's a cute name, I have a bunch of friends who named their get that, maybe spelled differently. haha

Edit:/Update: I took it out for a spin, to see if my check engine light would come on for another problem. I decided to floor it while getting onto the highway. I think I was doing roughly 60 and then I shifted into 3rd gear, it grinded. It only seems to grind 3rd gear and only when I'm like racing/flooring it, but doesn't happen all the time. I noticed that my shifting isn't like butter, that hard spot kind of makes it harder to go into gear. When coming to a stop (I don't use 1st to downshift much) I put it in first and it seemed that it was still moving or something. Then when I was going into reverse it seemed to be a little diffcult getting it into that gear. This doesn't happen ALL the time, but it just happened to day for sure.
My mechanic still wants to take a look at it, but hell if I know when that'll be since they do it for free and only do it on their time. haha I'm pretty positive that it's my Syncros after having a talk with them about it some more.