Front end "clunking"

JONI WRIGHT

MEMBER
MERCURY MOUNTAINEER

I have a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer with almost 118,000 miles. It is automatic with the 5.0 V8 engine. On a trip it began "clunking" on takeoff from a stop. This increased in frequency. We took it in to a shop and were told it was a part in the suspension that had to do with the all wheel drive. We were told that it would not hurt to drive it like that and was safe to drive back home where we could probably have the repair done at a more reasonable price. A mechanic at home removed the front drive shaft and said he would get a used one to replace it. We were told it was fine to drive as it was, only it would be 2 wheel drive instead of all wheel drive (this was confirmed by 2 other shops). He never came through with the needed parts. We just bought a new drive shaft to replace the one he removed, and the "clunking" immediately returned. What now?

Thursday, November 1st, 2007 AT 9:17 PM

2 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Don't worry about the heat be concern with the combustion leak.

HC's still in the cooling system-could be the head or block is cracked have the head magnaflux for stress crack/s. No crack there you know the deal.

Or you can re-torque it down again and see what happens. It might seal. BTDT

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Sunday, August 19th, 2007 AT 4:28 AM

MIKE H R

MECHANIC
3,094 POSTS

With the new axle in place have it checked sometimes even new parts are bad. And check the cv joint on the other side of the mountaineer, it can be checked by raising the front of the vehicle and with it in park try turning the wheel back and forth that is around, you should be able to hear the clunking. Sometimes the sound seems like it comes from one side but can be bad on the other. The reason it may have stopped when he took the one out was that there was no tension on the other one.

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Friday, November 2nd, 2007 AT 9:53 AM