Pop, Tink = broken welds

I found the source of my pop, tink; 4 broken spot welds on the wheel well/ rear shelf support in the trunk.

Took it to the dealer when a month old, they did the re-torque TSB, no change, figured I'd drive it till I couldn't stand it. After a year it turned into a pop, tink, groan, creak, bang, rattle...

Once I ripped out the rear seat and trunk liner, it was plain to see (when wiggled). Jamming a screwdriver into the broken joint immediatly eliminated the noise!!

Other people on this forum have found the same thing and posted details, but I know there are others still chasing it (14mm bolts, halfshafts, splines, bushings, etc.).

Given the prevalence of this issue, I recommend checking this first, before even looking under the the car. The Official TSB doesn't mention this possibility, the SVT service rep was happy when I showed him the root cause. He had just replaced the shocks on a custoers car in another unsuccessfull attempt to fix it.

My welds are broken on the drivers side. I found the passenger side bracket to be all bent, warped and crooked from an "accident" of some sort when they built my chassis, like the frame was welded wrong and the took a pry bar and hammer to it to "line things up", or the robot smacked it. They broke some spot welds and then took a sloppy MIG gun to it, but it is holding. The dealer just said "I've seen worse", yeah, on a top of the line car.

Dealer's supposed to weld it up next week, I'm putting soud deadening in while it's apart to kill more of the extrainious noises. I also found numerous extra hardware floating around loose back there from slobs on the assembly line.

Do I need permission to post a pic?

You can post pics here :http://imageshack.us/

then cut and paste the URL

Pictures

L/H side with broken welds where screwdriver is jammed in:

http://home.comcast.net/~thomaslterry/PICT2310.JPG

Assembly damage on R/H side:

http://home.comcast.net/~thomaslterry/PICT2305.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~thomaslterry/PICT2308.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~thomaslterry/PICT2309.JPG

Had the same problem on the right side. No more pop after I bent this up and filled it with sealer.

My car has a creak from the rear end area too. I'll have to check mine out and see if I have the same problem. Thanks for the heads up.

BTW - I see you're fairly new here. Welcome to SVTPerformance. :beer:

-Blaise

I had the same problem. The big red circle is the spot weld that broke and was making noise. The others I just reinforced while I was at it.

http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spotweld7ng.jpg

I still get a creaking when the chassis is loaded like taking sharp turns or going up or down an incline. I have a rear strut tower brace comming so hopefully that will help.

Wow! That's bent up pretty good! Have you owned the car since new? It sure looks like a repair was done there...and not very well at that.

I think a lot of these broken spot weld issues are from torque. These cars can really twist. A good set of subframe connectors will help this. I have actually seen photos of race cars leaving the line with waves in the sheet metal at the top of the quarter panels. Yet when you look at the car parked, nothing shows until it happens often enough to start breaking welds, etc.

^ I agree. The chasis on the 94-04 is fairly weak, and with a butt load of torque like you guys make it has to flex alot. I would get a good set of subframe connectors and a strut & shock tower brace. That should help alot.

Mine seams to have broke after I had too many people in my car. I'm over 200 and I had 2 buddies that were like 260 and 280 jammed in the car one night when we went out. I went over some bumps and I think thats when it happened because I noticed the noise shortly after.

Damn!

That could be why when some people put on subframes, their noise goes away.

Hmmm.. :dw:

I am lucky to have a great SVT Tech...and he found my creak to be a broken weld in that area too. He mentioned that this was the first he had seen.

Another area that can develop a similar noise, or at least did in my '02 GT.. is the rear seat back "frame" that has the hooks to hold the seat up. This black frame chafes against the car body (where the above mentioned welds are) and makes a noise that drove me nuts. In that car, I padded the frame so that it no longer contacted the body.

FORD- Quality is job one! :kaboom:

Matt M said:

I am lucky to have a great SVT Tech...and he found my creak to be a broken weld in that area too. He mentioned that this was the first he had seen.

Another area that can develop a similar noise, or at least did in my '02 GT.. is the rear seat back "frame" that has the hooks to hold the seat up. This black frame chafes against the car body (where the above mentioned welds are) and makes a noise that drove me nuts. In that car, I padded the frame so that it no longer contacted the body.

Click to expand...

Mine still makes a creaking when the chassis is loaded like when taking a tight turn or going up or down an incline. Where did you pad it exactly? I already have subs and have a rear shock tower brace comming. I had the subs before any of this happened.

Oh Three Cobra.....If you fold down the rear seats...you will see the hooks that retain the seatbacks in the upright position.

If you remove the three screws that hold the vinyl part over the seatbacks...and remove it....you will see teh two bolts that retain the black frame. Once loose...you may see where it chafes against the body. I put some foam tape in mine.

Thanks. If mine still makes the noise after I install the Kenne Brown rear shock brace I will look into it.

Same prob here on driver's side. Waiting for this 90*+ weather to break to rip it apart.
Fred

welcome to SVTPerformance!

good post, Tom :thumbsup:

Car is at dealership now for some warranty work and I told them to investigate the noise.

All fixed

Had the dealer weld it up last week, also had them pound the other bent-up brace straight on the other side and seal up a seam they blatently missed at the factory. The bent up side was definitly done at the factory, I got the car new. We'll see how long the welds hold, I'm sure a strut tower brace would help; it's the body twisting when going up a drive way that stresses them the most and pulls them loose.

Mine took 8K miles for all 4 spot welds to break, it got progressivly worse as more let loose and was easy to find since all were broken, started at about 1000 miles. If looking for this noise source, it won't be obvious if only one or 2 are broken. Jamming a screwdriver on the joint and test driving may help.

Also found a bolt on the upper car seat bracket screwed 1/2 way in and galled tight, a loose fender nut rattling in the body behind the side scoop (a factory spare), 3 extra plastic fasteners loose by the spare. Snapped in a couple cable clips they left off, glued up the rear seat frame trim that had all come loose, peeled off a bunch of sound deadener adhesive backing and re-stuck it on the wheel well, taped up the paper covers behind the side scoops that had come loose. All signs of lazy or disgruntled assembly line workers.

Installed a Dynamat Extreme trunk sound deadener kit (don't ever use that cheap Storm Gaurd stuff as some have, trust me on this), only a few sporadic pieces come with the car (more weight in the back is a good thing, right?). I'll probably put more in the front some time. Also installed eye bolts on the wheel wells and rear panel for trunk tie downs.

The popping noise is completly gone and it's alot quieter over all, the slight resonance buss my FR500 catback had is gone. Of couse I still have the other usual sloppy drive train clunks. I hoping the GS D3's are going to be quieter when I get em (opinion on this?).

musttom said:

Had the dealer weld it up last week, also had them pound the other bent-up brace straight on the other side and seal up a seam they blatently missed at the factory. The bent up side was definitly done at the factory, I got the car new. We'll see how long the welds hold, I'm sure a strut tower brace would help; it's the body twisting when going up a drive way that stresses them the most and pulls them loose.

Mine took 8K miles for all 4 spot welds to break, it got progressivly worse as more let loose and was easy to find since all were broken, started at about 1000 miles. If looking for this noise source, it won't be obvious if only one or 2 are broken. Jamming a screwdriver on the joint and test driving may help.

Also found a bolt on the upper car seat bracket screwed 1/2 way in and galled tight, a loose fender nut rattling in the body behind the side scoop (a factory spare), 3 extra plastic fasteners loose by the spare. Snapped in a couple cable clips they left off, glued up the rear seat frame trim that had all come loose, peeled off a bunch of sound deadener adhesive backing and re-stuck it on the wheel well, taped up the paper covers behind the side scoops that had come loose. All signs of lazy or disgruntled assembly line workers.

Installed a Dynamat Extreme trunk sound deadener kit (don't ever use that cheap Storm Gaurd stuff as some have, trust me on this), only a few sporadic pieces come with the car (more weight in the back is a good thing, right?). I'll probably put more in the front some time. Also installed eye bolts on the wheel wells and rear panel for trunk tie downs.

The popping noise is completly gone and it's alot quieter over all, the slight resonance buss my FR500 catback had is gone. Of couse I still have the other usual sloppy drive train clunks. I hoping the GS D3's are going to be quieter when I get em (opinion on this?).

Click to expand...

haha what did I tell you on the Storm guard? It must have been worse then I tought though.. Will let you know on the D3s next week the new wheel should be he tues/wed time.