01 Taurus SES driveline problem

[ted g]

Thanks again TD-

The one luxury I have this week is time. I'd like to see the car back on its tires by the end of the week.

I posted a picture of the actual seal. There is also something else bothering me here. Looking past the seal to the splines the halfshaft engages note, hard to see, the missing spline (around 6 o'clock). It is probably something to do with the machining process but looks a little wierd. I tried the new shaft, sliding it far enough to feel it smoothly engage the splines, it seems ok.

http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll199/SomersetTed/

Now, I have to decide whether to proceed the much cheaper way as we are discussing. The other choice is the Ford tools. The middle ground is enough of the Ford stuff to remove that outer ring only. Then I could work on the inside stuff. I am still concerned that I haven't already damaged the seal enough that the Ford tools won't work. In that case, the decision is made.

[ted g]

Just in case anyone is still watching this thread===


I finally got the car back together. Not having it all this time was fortunately a minor nuisance for me. Otherwise I would have had to get help with this.

I didn't test drive it yet but it is back together. The seal that held up the show was finally extracted using Ford\Rotunda Tools. That alone is a multi-page story. You have to go to the distributor\manufacturer for these tools. Any other source is going to charge too much. No good on that. The tools, by the way, cost about $225 with all the shipping. Not the worst thing in the world. I have the tools for the other side if I need it and they also handle crankshaft seals on a Taurus engine. Besides, it's still cheaper than having the work done. They do also have a set of tools referred to as essential service tools for the car. I didn't check the price but should have. Bet its over a grand though.

The seal itself needed something to seperate its two parts or getting it out was problematic. Hence the Ford tools. The inner part was still a minor problem. Even the Ford tool couldn't get that out. I finished it off with a slide hammer now that i had enough space to get in there.

Anyway, end of story---------I hope.

[shorod]

Thanks for the update!

Are you going to set up a rental program, or "Tool Share" for other Taurus owners on this forum....

-Rod

[ted g]

Thanks Rod--

You know, that might not be a bad idea. I could buy a bunch of oem tools and do some kind of Web Site that rents them. Maybe that would replace my former employment, doubt it, but you never know.

After all that work, by the way, the problems are better but not totally solved yet. I also may have spotted some other stuff also. I'll start a new thread after I actually do a full inspection on the beasty. In spite of everything I did I never did a full run through. I am still getting too much noise out of the front. If I hadn't just put in a new hub bearing-----I'd be sure it needs-----a new hub bearing. Crazy ain't it?

It's a good thing this car is so darn purdy or I wouldn't be bothered with all this. I really got lucky on the appearance of this used Ford.

Ted

[tripletdaddy]

If you feel like you have ruled out everything on your vibration/noise problem, but can't eliminate it, I have a similar project where after replacing things that would have likely caused the problem, I discovered I have an out of round tire. I need to see if the rim is bent or it's just the tire. The tire is perfectly smooth but when spun, has a discernable high point when holding a steady reference point next to it..

[inafogg]

Good to here ted,thanks for update

[ted g]

Hey all

Sorry bout the slow response sometimes. I can't seem to get email out of this thread. I did try to subscribe. Not that important.

Out of round tire? Seen that one before. I installed four new Michelins on the car when I bought it some months back.

The noises that are left may be coming from the motor\trans mounts. I took a fast look at the drivers side. That one seemed ok but I will take a more careful look.

On the passenger side the torque strut is in need of replacement. Some cracking in the rubgber. I eliminated an amazing amount of noise just by flipping it. At least that's what I think I did. The engine end is still at the engine end though.

I am going to try to take a look at the engine mounts over the weekend. Haynes suggests lifting the engine a little to check. Sounds good to me. They also recommend lifting by the oil pan if they need replacement. Done that before with other cars. If I use Ford tools on that one I'll need another mortgage on the house.

My suspicion is that at least one of the right side mounts is bad.

The symtoms that are left are some noise on the road. Not as defined as originally. Especially since I got the old torque rod turned and tightened. It was also too loose.
The other symptom is one heck of bang sometimes when going from drive to neutral or park. As the load comes off it really lets you know. If you go from Drive to reverse and then neutral, nothing. Really sounds like a mount to me.

To add to the hilarity I understand these beasties have an issue with the ECM needing to be reflashed if the idle tends to a little funny. It is very strange. It's smooth and seems at the right rpm. However, you can feel the engine pulling hard against the brake at times. Pull it out of gear and the rpm is about right. It's wierd but it matches the symptoms outlines in a TSB I found. The trick I guess, after all the other nonsense is done, is to get a Ford dealer or someone else with the equipment to just do what I want . I hate those conversations where they treat you like you're a fool and they are some kind of diefied expert on all things auto.

This is only part of the list of interesting problems. I can deal with most of them without a problem. The only thing is getting motivated.

Did I mention the exploding springs that Ford wants to put shields over. ----Now that's a really great solution. And then they wonder why folks buy the asian cars. On the other hand I would bet more than a nickel that those springs are made in a certain People's Paradise.