help w/ 96' T-Bird

NYSpeed Automotive
1

The car is a 1996 Ford Thunderbird 3.8 v6 non sc’ed

okay, so about a week ago i was driving when all of the sudden i noticed a slight vibration between about 1-2k rpm mostly on decel… So i stop check it out a bit, everything seems to be normal. Go get a quick oil change just cuz im due for one, get it back still same problem…

I was supposed to drive to the southern tier that day, but ended up just leavin the car at work and gettin a ride down. Come pick it up the next day and the vibration is at least 10 times worse through all rpm’s. Now its more of a violent shake, like the shake you’d get with a bad plug or two.

So first thing i think is misfire on a cylinder… WRONG. Pulled plugs and wires, plugs looked alright, normal tannish brown, couple were a little darker. Anyways replaced plugs and wires, NO CHANGE whatsoever. Checked oil/coolant no mixture of either is apparent, so i have semi ruled out headgasket/intake gasket(known common problem on these cars) also ruled out any misfiring, obviously. Someone on another forum mentioned broken motor mounts possibly?? how could i check that out?

Anyone got any ideas?? This is drivin me crazyy and its my only way of transportation to school/work.

Any suggestions you’ve got let me know, im about ready to scrap it.

2

first thing i would look at are the mounts like someone mentioned already, is there a CEL on? are you sure you dont have a chunk of ice stuck underneath there?

if you’re really going to scrap it ill give you 200 for it, considering youll get like 150 =p

3

nah not scrappin it yet, and if im gonna, its gettin a nasty beating out in the fields before it gets to the junkyard!
And yeah, definitely no ice stuck in there, no the CEL is not on, thats what has got me so confused

4

Silly question but it seemed like it was mostly while moving. Does it do this in park/neutral as well?

If so, does that version have a distributor, or does it use coil packs?

If not, check your driveshaft for a bad u-joint.

And of course checking the mounts as mentioned above can’t hurt.

5

Check and see if the transmission fluid is burnt. The torque converter will shudder if you have burnt or incorrect fluid in there.

Check the level while it is hot and in park.

It should be pink in color.

6

it sounds like your torque converter is shuttering, it happens with almost all early 4r70w transmissions. Fords fix is to replace the transmission fluids with Mercon V.

7

x2^^^, when my tranny was down on fluid after a flush the car shook like a motherfucker till i filled her

8

does it in park and neutral, its got coil packs, no distributor.

And ill check out the tranny fluid and get back on that, although that shouldnt be the problem if its doing it in park and neutral right?

9

oh it does it in park and neutral? probably not the tranny fluid.

10

post your question on tccoa.com then…

11

balancer coming apart

12

Already on tccoa, not enough traffic there for anyone to help me

What do you mean balancer coming apart? How does that work?

13

did you post on tccoa? they usually would have answered a question like this by now.

14

on tccoa already, nothin more than what you guys have said. Thats where the broken motor mount idea came from.

put a cherry picker on the motor and it wiggles around in the bay a good amount- is this normal, or should it stay pretty tight in there? And when i say it moves a good amount i mean it would rock side to side 4-5 inches or so.

15

Check your balancer, the rubber seal may have dry rotted causing the outer ring on the balancer to shift throwing off the inbalance

16

+1

            BHJ Harmonic Balancer SFI Aproved. This precision made BHJ harmonic balancer is already zero balanced and fits into the 1989-1995 Ford 3.8L or 4.2L Thunderbird
17

4-5 inches is an awful lot of play. you should be bale to see the mounts and visually verify if they are torn or not.

18

they are rubber correct? and they should look solid and not like they have seperated?

19

they appear to be rubber encased in metal. there should not be that kind of movement on anything.

20

fill them with urethane