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Need advice on 3.8l v6

3K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Cope 
#1 ·
I have a 2000 3.8l mustang and it now has 126,000 miles on it. Recently, since it has gotten cold around here, it has started making a bad squeeking/grinding sound when i crank it up in the morning or after it has been sitting all day while i'm ay work. It usually goes away after a few minutes and so I went and got belt dressing and sparayed it on the belt quite a few times but that never really made any difference. The noise sounds like it might be coming just a little farther back from the belt on the bottom left side of the motor. Any ideas on how i get rid of this horrible noise?
 
#3 ·
bottom left might be the starter but that would only do it when it was first being started not while running. If it around the belt area just down low on the belt drive or back in the motor a bit.
 
#5 ·
you can put some water on the belt and if it goes away its the belt if it doesnt its the bearings on the pulleys hopefully. When you put new one on make SURE you tq them correctly to factory specs.
 
#8 · (Edited)
we have been having the same problem with our 2003 V6 Mustang.. I have replaced the idler bearing twice, the tension pulley once and now I just replaced the water pump. It's not the weather, we live in Florida and it did it in the heat of the summer and the cool days here in Tallahassee, when it really gets loud it will at times sound like its binding and you can feel the car shake a bit and it will stall, this has happened while stopped or driving at slow speeds...........oh yea also replace the belt all this has been done in the last 60 days........... any one have a idea?
 
#9 ·
take the belt off and spin the pulleys look for any grinding/rubbing places as well. See if you can rule out any pulley. You can also crank the car with no belt on (just for a couple seconds) to see if the crank pulley/balancer is causing the problem. Just make sure you be careful if you do that and do it at your own risk.

Other than that if you can rule out any of the pulleys then I would start to look at other things. See if you can narrow down the sound to the front of back of the engine.
 
#10 ·
Slightly long reply to an old thread, but bear with me:

I had the exact same noise (and occasional shudder/stall), mostly when it was cold, mostly right when it started, but sometimes when coming to a stop as well. I had just been putting up with it literally for two or three years.

Two weeks ago while on vacation in New Jersey, it started getting pretty difficult to get in and out of gear, so I dropped the car off at Kindle Ford in Cape May Courthouse so they could look at/replace the clutch.

Turns out the transmission has a steel housing, but apparently there is an aluminum cone-shaped piece that is press-fit into the front, behind the clutch and pressure plate. Somewhere down the line, that cone started to work itself out of the main housing and was actually rubbing up against the back of the clutch/pressure plate assembly, wearing it out prematurely (and making the nasty metal shrieking noise).

They were going to replace the aluminum piece but they couldn't get the part in time for me to head back to MA, so they worked it back into place (I assume with some fancy rubber mallet work). Their logic was if it took 100k miles or so to work itself out of there, I would be good to go for at least a little while. A new clutch, a new shift fork (see what happens when you shift like a maniac with a worn clutch? Pay attention kids!), and some labor, and I was good to go (minus about $865).

I'll bet that's what is wrong with MrKrinkle and dpizzi's Stangs...
 
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