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My ford... IS a problem

bassistofbodines

New CEG'er
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
Messages
5
Location
Willypo
oi... I mostly need moral support over anything... I've had this car well.. since I began driving... and a little over a year ago I wrecked it and now I'm fixin 'er back up... mainly.. to get it inspected I need a front bumper, and a rear tail light cover (driver side) I actually got a bumper... (mind you throughout this whole story... the bumper that was on it was covered in duct tape for almost a year so I didn't remember what it looked like) anyways... got this bumper home tried putting it on my car.. and there's huge gaps up by the headlights... needless to say the idiots at the junk yard gave me a bumper for what would probably be a 1996 contour.. (mine's a 98.. new body style and what not) so... here I am.. with a bumper they're giving me a hard time about getting back to them...

anyways.. onto the main problem I haven't figured out yet... put a new battery in it.. and it won't stay charged... me and dad have been argueing about it for a while now.. he thinks it's a wire shortage.. I think it's an alternator problem... (granted I have more of a limited knowledge of these things than him but...) any thoughts? we plan on getting it legal enough to where we can get it hooked up to a computer and be told what's wrong with it....

thanks all...

-Joe
 
Recharge the battery with a battery charger, start it up, with no accessories running, the voltage should be 13.8-14.4 volts. If it is only 12.6 or less the alternator is not charging. You could have a short, or maybe the hood light stays on (if you have one, it requires the hood to be seated tightly.)
 
thanks

thanks

well... the hood is closed as tight as it can be... which... may not be a good thing... as far as the front of the car goes.. it has no bumper, no grille(someone stole it while i was at work...) both headlight mounts are broken... the fenders were bent up.. but bent right back without a problem..... I will try that though.. when it's not 10 at night heh..

anyways.. thanks a lot I appreciate it

-Joe
 
As stated, using a multimeter on a FULLY CHARGED (trickle charged, etc) battery, you should get the following:

Car running, across the terminals should be
13.7-14.2ish Volts DC.
Faulty voltage readings here indicate either a failing/failed alternator, megafuse (between the alternator and battery) or wiring between the alternator and ground, alternator and battery, or battery and ground.
With most of those possibilities, a "battery charge" indicator light should be illuminated on the dash to let you know.


Car OFF, headlights on for 60 seconds to remove the surface charge, should be
12.0-12.5 or higher.
faulty voltage readings here indicate a failing/failed battery.
 
Welcome :) bassistofbodines. Post again after these tests and we should be able to offer more advice and help.
 
well not yet.. but...

well not yet.. but...

I haven't got a chance to test the thing out, but I did remember another issue I've been having... whenever i put the car into Reverse it makes a clunk sound... then is fine... it's done this for a long time without getting worse.. so I'm assuming it's nothing to worry about.. maybe something just needs cleaned? I have no clue... any thoughts??

(lol.. remember... this car.. is a problem...)
 
How many miles on the car? Zetec 2.0L 4 cylinder or Duratec 2.5L 6 cylinder?

Sounds like an automatic (is it?). Check the engine/tranny mounts.
 
miles.. uhhhh

miles.. uhhhh

I'm not 100% sure but I believe it's somewhere between 115,000 and 120,000... if you can imagine.. I've driven it a lot... when I started driving it it had... oh.... 65-70 thousand on it... so.. I did all that in about.. a year and a half... yes it's automatic.. and I'm sorry I forget it's the Zetech 4 cylindar 2.0 litre....
 
I'm not 100% sure but I believe it's somewhere between 115,000 and 120,000... if you can imagine.. I've driven it a lot... when I started driving it it had... oh.... 65-70 thousand on it... so.. I did all that in about.. a year and a half... yes it's automatic.. and I'm sorry I forget it's the Zetech 4 cylindar 2.0 litre....

Zetec*

The clunk you hear when putting it into reverse is a worn out trannie mount, probably the one on the driver side. The trannie is bumping the subframe when the torque from the engine causes the trannie to shake a little when shifted into reverse.
 
marvelous!

marvelous!

that's exactly what I wanted to hear! not really.... anyone have a flame projectile type weapon? I have half a mind to put the thing out of its misery...

haha...

I'm gonna keep workin on it..
 
Zetec*

The clunk you hear when putting it into reverse is a worn out trannie mount, probably the one on the driver side. The trannie is bumping the subframe when the torque from the engine causes the trannie to shake a little when shifted into reverse.
I started working on this, yesterday, and stopped after about one/two hours. Long story but I fell very ill and one bolt refused to come out, and I tried to get away with not removing the battery, still did not remove the tray (but will do it if I have to do it again).

Anyway for anybody out there planning to do this, I will write a how to when I am done. Car is on jack stand now. 1996 V6 Duratec Automatic.

1. Disconnect battery (10 mm), remove battery (10 mm), remove battery tray (I think 10 mm).
2. Remove air filter housing (top and bottom) by removing worm clamp near the MAF. Disconnect MAF connector and IAT connector.
3. At this point you can see the driver side engine/transaxle mount. Spray bolts with "Power Lube" or "WD-40". Remove air filter housing to tranny mount bracket (2 bolts, 10 mm). Note that the Ford CD says to remove the 4 nuts on the tranny bracket. This is not necessary and if you do remove them, you need to get new ones as Ford says they are self-locking nuts.
4. Remove rectangular wiring box on right of air filter housing near the strut tower by unscrewing bolt on left of box (can't remember size of bolt). Remove the wiring box. Note that this is not the Power Distribution Box next to the battery. This black box is the one closest to the driver side strut tower and cruise control. You need remove it so that you can unscrew the horizontal bolt on the fender closest the firewall. An Electric Ratchet at $200 would solve this problem in a heartbeat.
4. Place a 18 to 24 inch length, 2 by 4 under the engine/tranny and jack up to lift weight off the engine/mounts.
5. Remove the "through bolt" (15mm). (having a breaker bar helps. I used a 15 inch length 3/4 inch inner diameter PVC pipe on the ratchet). This is the horizontal bolt on the tranny mount going from the radiator side to the firewall side. If you did not remove the battery tray, this will take you half an hour. I'm sure it will be less than 5 minutes if I had removed the tray.
6. Remove top vertical bolt (15 mm) on top of driver fender.
7. Remove first of two "horizontal bolts" (15 mm) going into the fender. I am stuck on the second one, the one closest to the firewall, managed to remove about 1/3 inch before I became very ill yesterday. It was suppose to rain today plus I was recovering. Will continue tomorrow and try from below the car. The bolt must have been cross threaded as it is taking a lot to turn 1/8 turn each time. This bolts have about one and one half thread lengths in them.

I have taken some pictures and will do a how to when I am done. Just in case someone wants to continue on before I am done. This my plan for the rest.
8. Remove horizontal bolt closest to firewall. And then remove battery tray and set aside Power Distribution Box (should have done this much earlier).

Reinstall.
1. Place new mount on tranny and fender. Push screwdriver from firewall side through horizontal hole (for "through bolt) from firewall side to radiator side on the mount side near the tranny.
2. Screw vertical bolt and horizontal bolts on fender but don't tighten to specs yet. Need freeplay for horizontal "through bolt".
3. Make sure screw driver is still loose, if not, adjust the jack underneath.
4. Remove screw driver halfway. Start threading horizontal "through bolt" from radiator side towards firewall side. This should slowly push screw driver out. The inner diameter thread for the bottom bracket of the tranny mount is only on the side closest to the firewall. So it should be easy until you push or screw all the way until the screwdriver is on the verge of dropping out. Tighten to 52 - 70 lb-ft.
5. Tighten fender bolts (vertical bolt, and two horizontal bolts). Do the horizontal bolt closest to the firewall side first as this is the hardest one. Tighten to 52 - 70 lb-ft.
6. Reinstall air filter housing to tranny mount bracket. Tighten retaining bolts to 15-22 lb-ft.
7. Reinstall air filter housing.
8. Reinstall wiring box next to strut tower/cruise control.
9. Reinstall all electical connectors (MAF, IAT, wiring box).
10. Reinstall battery tray and Power Distribution Box.
11. When you reinstall the battery, remember to have your keys in your pocket (outside the car), as the locks will lock by themselves as you tighten the battery clamps.

Good luck.

Edit. Anchor Mount 2873 for 1996 V6 ATX. You can purchase from www.Autozone or www.rockauto.com. Get the correct mount for your year, engine and transaxle by checking on www.anchor-online.com. The transmission mounts (tranny to driver fender known as "[Transmission Mount] Att To fender apron; Ford, Trans Code: CD4E", and tranny to rear subframe known as "[Transmission Mount] Att To crossmember (Insert); Ford, Trans Code: CD4E") are under "transmission"

and the engine mounts are under "engine mounts" (engine to front subframe, and engine to passenger fender).


Battery tray removal instructions from 1996 Ford CD.

1. Remove battery from vehicle.

2. Remove battery insulation from battery tray.

3. Remove power distribution box retaining bolt from battery tray and position power distribution box aside.

4. Remove battery tray retaining bolts from LH front fender apron.

5. Remove battery tray from vehicle.


Installation
1. Position battery tray to front fender apron in engine compartment.

2. Install retaining bolts. Tighten each to 8-12 N-m (6-8 lb-ft).

3. Install power distribution and retaining bolt to battery tray. Tighten retaining bolt to 8-12 N-m (6-8 lb-ft).

4. Install battery.

5. Tighten hold-down bracket nuts to 3-5 N-m (27-44 lb-in).
 
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