A couple of questions...

[Telnet]

Hello all,

I drive a 2005 GT that is all stock except for the axleback exhaust. It has 74,xxx miles on it.

Whenever I start it during the cold or after its been sitting overnight, I hear this loud tinny rattle. It kind of sounds like a penny in a can being shaken really fast, after the engine has warmed up it goes away and it drives fine. I also noticed today that when I step on the clutch pedal the noise level changes. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Also, I can hear the engine tick when the engine is on and i have the window down. Is that normal? I hear these engines just tick like that.

Sorry if these questions are stupid, I am a first time Mustang owner and am loving it! Thanks for the help!

 

[michael.konor]

In our cars, there are different kinds of rattles and ticks. The rattles and ticks come in two categories, things you should worry about and things that are just annoying. It's hard to tell which you have without some troubleshooting on your part.

For the "tinny rattle": Start your car while it's cold, get out of the car, and try to localize where the noise is coming from. Is it coming from underneath the car (front, back, side...), engine compartment (front, top, bottom, driver or passenger side)?

For the "tick": do the same things as the rattle above.

When's your last oil change? What kind/weight oil are you using? Any performance problems? Where do you live?

Welcome to the forums.

Mike

 

[97camastang06]

Hello all,

I drive a 2005 GT that is all stock except for the axleback exhaust. It has 74,xxx miles on it.

Whenever I start it during the cold or after its been sitting overnight, I hear this loud tinny rattle. It kind of sounds like a penny in a can being shaken really fast, after the engine has warmed up it goes away and it drives fine. I also noticed today that when I step on the clutch pedal the noise level changes. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Also, I can hear the engine tick when the engine is on and i have the window down. Is that normal? I hear these engines just tick like that.

Sorry if these questions are stupid, I am a first time Mustang owner and am loving it! Thanks for the help!

Do you know if the prior owner modded it? A lot of times people get lazy when there returning the car to stock and trade/sell it.

 

[Telnet]

In our cars, there are different kinds of rattles and ticks. The rattles and ticks come in two categories, things you should worry about and things that are just annoying. It's hard to tell which you have without some troubleshooting on your part.

For the "tinny rattle": Start your car while it's cold, get out of the car, and try to localize where the noise is coming from. Is it coming from underneath the car (front, back, side...), engine compartment (front, top, bottom, driver or passenger side)?

For the "tick": do the same things as the rattle above.

When's your last oil change? What kind/weight oil are you using? Any performance problems? Where do you live?

Welcome to the forums.

Mike

The rattle is definitely coming from the front of the car, almost in the middle. The ticks I think are lifter ticks as i notice they get faster as the revs go up.

The last oil change was done at the dealer I bought the vehicle from, so i am not due for another 3k miles. I dont really notice any issues with performance. I live in IL, and this past winter has been really bad.

Thanks!

Do you know if the prior owner modded it? A lot of times people get lazy when there returning the car to stock and trade/sell it.

I do not, as far as i can tell the only mod i see is the axleback exhaust. Luckily, there are a decent amount of dealer reported maint. on the carfax so i will be making some calls.

Thank you

 

[bjtheman1]

Rattle is probably one of 2 things:

1) heat shield tapping exhaust or something

2) bell housing rattling

There's tsb's for both of these I believe.

 

[Telnet]

Rattle is probably one of 2 things:

1) heat shield tapping exhaust or something

2) bell housing rattling

There's tsb's for both of these I believe.

Are these something that i can fix myself if they are the cause?

 

[2005Redfire6]

I would venture to say possibly the heat shield under the car near the transmission/or the pilot bearing.

 

[Telnet]

I would venture to say possibly the heat shield under the car near the transmission/or the pilot bearing.

Is this something that can hurt the car in the long run?

 

[bjtheman1]

Are these something that i can fix myself if they are the cause?

The cause- ford! lol

But yes, both are easy fixes. I have the rattle upon cold start up, it's very common. You can try to tighten or adjust the heat shield it's easy to bend.

The car ticking in the front is probably your fuel injectors which is fine, if they aren't ticking then I'd be concerned.

The bell housing issue is really only heard when driving, you would hear a rattle while under load

 

[Telnet]

The cause- ford! lol

But yes, both are easy fixes. I have the rattle upon cold start up, it's very common. You can try to tighten or adjust the heat shield it's easy to bend.

The car ticking in the front is probably your fuel injectors which is fine, if they aren't ticking then I'd be concerned.

The bell housing issue is really only heard when driving, you would hear a rattle while under load

When i am driving and/or when the engine is warmed up, the rattle goes away so i guess thats not a bell housing issue?

What exactly did you have to do to fix the rattle? Any pics by any chance?

Thanks

 

[michael.konor]

It's not so much a rattle, but a buzzing kind of sound when the RPMs go down. Only way I could fix it was to install the latest model of the engine block plate. Didn't matter if the car was cold or warm, buzzed.

As for the ticking, it's pretty easy to figure out if it is your injectors or something else. You can put your ears close to the injectors and easily hear the ticking. It's there all the time.

In my experience, ticking lower than the injectors moves into a ticking under the valve covers. Which you can also isolate using a length of rubber hose as sort of a engine stethoscope.

Going lower than the valve train/cover area, you're now into the cracked exhaust manifold or leaking exhaust connection area. The rubber hose can help you there too, but you'll need to zip tie a single or double length of coat hanger to stiffen it up so you can guide it to where you want it.

Mike

 

[99horsey]

Is your car a manual? If so, my guess is the "rattle" you hear when the engine is cold is the transmission separator plate. Does it only do it when the engine is cold and only above 2500 or so RPM? There was a TSB but as you're out of warranty (as am I), you're SOL. The good news is that it doesn't hurt anything. I actually use it as a sort of alarm. When the engine is cold, if I keep the RPMs down it's quiet. If I hear the buzz, I know I'm getting up a bit high in RPM for a cold engine and wait for it to warm up. After it's warm, the noise is gone.

google TSB 09-18-16 for more info.

 

[Telnet]

Is your car a manual? If so, my guess is the "rattle" you hear when the engine is cold is the transmission separator plate. Does it only do it when the engine is cold and only above 2500 or so RPM? There was a TSB but as you're out of warranty (as am I), you're SOL. The good news is that it doesn't hurt anything. I actually use it as a sort of alarm. When the engine is cold, if I keep the RPMs down it's quiet. If I hear the buzz, I know I'm getting up a bit high in RPM for a cold engine and wait for it to warm up. After it's warm, the noise is gone.

google TSB 09-18-16 for more info.

Yes it only does it when it is cold, once the engine is warm it goes away. Are you aware of any home fixes for this issue? I havent had a chance to start it on a really warm day so we'll see if it still makes that noise. Thanks for the reply

 

[Telnet]

It's not so much a rattle, but a buzzing kind of sound when the RPMs go down. Only way I could fix it was to install the latest model of the engine block plate. Didn't matter if the car was cold or warm, buzzed.

As for the ticking, it's pretty easy to figure out if it is your injectors or something else. You can put your ears close to the injectors and easily hear the ticking. It's there all the time.

In my experience, ticking lower than the injectors moves into a ticking under the valve covers. Which you can also isolate using a length of rubber hose as sort of a engine stethoscope.

Going lower than the valve train/cover area, you're now into the cracked exhaust manifold or leaking exhaust connection area. The rubber hose can help you there too, but you'll need to zip tie a single or double length of coat hanger to stiffen it up so you can guide it to where you want it.

Mike

Thanks for the advice!

 

[99horsey]

Yes it only does it when it is cold, once the engine is warm it goes away. Are you aware of any home fixes for this issue? I havent had a chance to start it on a really warm day so we'll see if it still makes that noise. Thanks for the reply

I'm not aware of any home fixes. IIRC, the only way to fix it is to pull the transmission off. Once my clutch goes, I'll probably try to take care of it at the same time but as long as I keep the RPMs down on a cold engine, mine doesn't do it - so it hasn't been a high priority at all for me.

 

[michael.konor]

I'm not aware of any home fixes. IIRC, the only way to fix it is to pull the transmission off. Once my clutch goes, I'll probably try to take care of it at the same time but as long as I keep the RPMs down on a cold engine, mine doesn't do it - so it hasn't been a high priority at all for me.

You don't have to pull the transmission completely off. The block plates are like a horse shoe with an opening at the top. Use a transmission jack to hold everything in place. Then loosen and remove the bolts. Slowly pull back on the transmission until you get just enough space between the alignment dowels on the engine block and the transmission face. The friction/pressure of the input shaft still inside the pilot bearing and the clutch will keep things in place. Remove and replace block plate.

Then slide the pieces back together, bolt together, and you're done.

FYI. I've also heard of people using a regular floor jack, along with some ratchet straps to stabilize. Personally, the angles will be off.

 

[WuStangClan]

I have actually fixed my seperator plate issue by unbolting the bottom two bolts on the trans/plate and fitting in two small washers between the plate and the bell housing. Noise went away and hasn't returned, took 30 minutes tops.

 

[99horsey]

I have actually fixed my seperator plate issue by unbolting the bottom two bolts on the trans/plate and fitting in two small washers between the plate and the bell housing. Noise went away and hasn't returned, took 30 minutes tops.

Wow, that sounds easy enough! Good info.

 

[michael.konor]

Without pictures to know for sure, I would be concerned about affecting the input shaft angle and the load on the input shaft bearing over the long term.

 

[WuStangClan]

Yup, Infact if you google "2005 Mustang GT separator plate noise" I found a fairly good write up with photo's from allford mustangs on exactly how I fixed mine. Worked great!!