Service Slants

Motor, Oct 2004 by Rosario, Tom

Ford Truck

Driveline thump, clunk, vibration. Ford says that some 1998-2004 automatic-equipped 4WD Ranger Super Cabs with steel driveshafts may exhibit a low-frequency thump, clunk or vibration on light acceleration or while coming to a stop under moderate braking. The venerable truck maker has traced the problem to a sticking or slipping condition at the rear driveshaft slip yoke splines. Installing a new-design grease that's part of a kit (Part No. F87Z-4K277-AA) should help eliminate the problem relatively quickly. You'll also need a new slip yoke boot (Part No. F1TZ-4421-B) to complete the fix. Here's the repair drill:

Begin by placing index marks at the transfer case and rear pinion flanges, then remove the driveshaft from the truck. Next, place the shaft on your workbench and mark the orientation of the boot clamp crimps so the new clamps can be installed in the same location. Now index the slip yoke to the driveshaft with a grease pencil or dab of paint. Cut the clamps, remove the boot and separate the slip yoke from the shaft. Using parts cleaner, remove the grease from the slip yoke and drive-shaft splines and examine them for excess wear. Replace any damaged parts.

Continue by installing the new slip yoke boot onto the driveshaft, small end first. Now install the smaller of the two clamps from the kit, index it to the mark previously made and crimp the clamp. Pull the boot toward the driveshaft, then completely coat the slip yoke and shaft splines with the grease from the kit. Install the larger clamp onto the boot, but don't crimp it at this point. Next, align the marks you made previously and install the slip yoke onto the driveshaft.

Now it's time to set the boot length. Remove excess grease from the boot and splines, then position the slip yoke boot into the groove in the yoke. Using the illustration above as a guide, slide the yoke as necessary until the boot length is 3 in., as measured between the inner sides of both clamps. Using a screwdriver, burp all air from the boot, then crimp the large clamp. To complete the fix, line up the index marks at the transfer case and rear pinion flanges, install the driveshaft and torque the retaining bolts at both ends of the shaft to 83 ft.-lbs.

GM

Clunking noise from front end. Some 2000-03 Chevy Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunfires equipped with the five-speed manual gearbox may produce a loud clunking sound from the front end during hard left or right turns. According to GM, the noise is most prominent when starting from a stop, and is due to the driver-side transmission mount bushing binding within the mount. Replacing the bushing with that from the rear transmission mount of the car (Part No. 22617128) should help alleviate the noise complaint. Here's how to go about performing the swap:

Begin by getting the car up on a lift and removing the left front wheel. Then remove the inner and outer wheel well shrouds, followed by the fender support bolt and windshield washer reservoir. Support the transmission with a block of wood and screw-type jack, then remove the side mount's three attaching bolts, followed by the through bolt. Remove the entire mount from the car.

All the transmission mounts on Cavaliers and Sunfires are directional, meaning they're designed to absorb vibrations in one direction only. So it's imperative that you orient the replacement bushing in the same manner as the original. To do it, look for an "up" arrow and two rubber dimples at the 6 and 12 o'clock positions of the original bushing and mark the metal portion of the mount in these locations. Next, bend the lour metal tabs on the bushing upward and tap the bushing out of the mount from the opposite side.

Using the procedure outlined above, remove the bushing from the rear transmission mount you purchased from a local dealer. Using the reference marks made earlier, install the replacement bushing into the driver-side mount, then bend the metal tabs down to retain it. Install the side mount back into the car, torquing the attaching bolts to 60 ft.-lbs. and the through bolt to 44 ft.-lbs. To complete the repair, reinstall the windshield washer reservoir, fender support bolt, inner and outer wheel house shrouds and left front wheel. Then lower the car and take to the road to confirm that the clunking noise has been eliminated.

Chrysler

No-start, start and stall and/or rough or fluctuating idle. Some 2003 V6-equipped Town & Countrys, Caravans and Voyagers built between 10/25/02 and 3/14/03 could suffer from no-start problems, may stall after starting and/or produce a rough or fluctuating idle. Chrysler says the problems are most likely to occur when the ambient temperature is below freezing, and may illuminate the MIL and store DTCs P0508 (IAC Value Sense Circuit Low) or P0509 (IAC Value Sense Circuit High) in computer memory if the codes are stored hard. Internal problems within the PCM itself are the most likely cause of the complaints.

Replacing the black box with an upgraded unit (same part number as the original) should help eliminate the concerns. After ordering up the new PCM, don't forget to program it with your DRB III using the latest level software.