noisy rearend

[hwt03]

Hi all, I'm new here!! Just bought a 2004 Thunderbird with metallic merlot paint and only 4200 miles. I love it . I have both tops, heated seats and tan convertible top.

I have one question and concern. At about 40 MPH, if I accelerate, I get a whiring, whining noisy from the back of the car. It sounds like it is coming from the rearend. It goes away when I take my foot off the gas. Is it the gears in the rearend? Or low on oil? I bought it from a Ford dealer and they say they did a 200 point inspection on it. The dealer is 100 miles away and don't really want to drive back there. Does anyone have any ideas or the same problem? Any info would be helpful.

Thanks Harold

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[George]

Hi Harold:
Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on your purchase. You definitely should return under warranty, since there have been a few complaints from owners.
I'll cut and paste some of those comments I found while searching your particular issue It appears from what I’ve read that there have been a few issues as you have stated. Here’s one:

“When I decelerate I hear a whining noise coming from my rearend. Reminds me of some of my older cars from the 70's. Is this common or should I have it looked at? I have 14K mileage"
Answer:
"After a trip to the Ford dealer and 1600 bucks later I have a great car again. Hope this is the last of the problems.”
Another owner:
"I just got my 'Bird back from dealer for repair of whining in rear at 60-65 mph. They replaced gear set, bearings, shims and reset backlash. Noise gone. Mine is an '03 with 23k miles and premium care ext warranty."
Another:
“ I noticed a slight whine coming from rear after car was on road for a while -- first at 65-68 mph, then it seemed to be between 45-68mph after we got in traffic. Anyone else have a whining rear end and if so, was it corrected and what was problem?”

“Yes we had it too. You could hear the rear end whine upon decelerating from about 55 MPH down to 35 MPH. We had to have the rear differential gear set replaced (under extended warranty) and the gear lash re-adjusted. It still whines a little on deceleration, but only from about 50 MPH down to 45 MPH. My service mechanic said that is the best they can do with the Ford gear sets now.”
Another:
“I kept hearing a whine from the rear of the Bird, especially from 40 to 65 MPH. It kept occurring while my foot was on the accelerator pedal, but would disappear when I took my foot off the pedal. I took it in for a 20,000-mile service and told my service rep about my concern. He had the mechanics look at it, and they ordered a new ring and pinion gear to replace the OEM one in the differential."
Answer:
"Got it back today, total cost to the dealer was $438.22 for the rear differential gear replacement. We had to the pay the $50 deductible, for the Ford ESP Extended Warranty work. It is good thing that we had the Extended Warranty.”
Others:
“Only the ring and pinion? I had the very same problem on my '04 with only 2400 miles. They replaced the whole rear axle, half-shafts, and rotors. I now have 6500 miles and no whine.”
“I Had The Same Whining, In The Rear End, At 45 Mph. They Replace The Differential, At 12000 Miles“

I hope these notes help. Good luck and please let us know how you make out!!

 

[hwt03]

Thanks for the reply and info George. The Ford warranty has ran out since it is beyond 3 years old. I do have a 30 day warranty from the dealer(ford) that I bought it from. I'll have to check with them and see what they'll do about it.

 

[George]

That's great Harold. Hopefully its with a Ford dealer, so just be sure that they write up a service order and you shopuld keep a copy. That way your issue is recorded.
I would urge you to print what I sent you and take it with you since there seems to be a history of these going bad.
Don't let them soft talk you. If they do tell them to write on the order that they will fix after the 30 days if it continues. Best of luck!!😎

 

[hwt03]

I talked to the Ford dealership I bought the car at. It is going in on monday. I did print out the info that George sent to me and I'll bring it with me. They seem to be pleasent about doing the repair and they are giving me a car to use while mine is in their shop. Hope it all works out and they do a good job on it, or I'll be back!!!

 

[George]

Good for you hwt03, and Best of luck. Let us know how you made out.

 

[George]

More info on whining but it was from Transmission:
This owner said : "I have an '02 Bird with 44,000 miles. Just had it serviced, including a transmission flush, and now I noticed a slight whining sound when it just starts up--maybe a loose belt? In any event, when I rev it up a bit, the pitch of the whine goes up with the revs.
End of may Follow up:
The dealer replaced the solenoid body, filter, and fluid in the transmission, and the noise is gone. The transmission was about the last thing I would have suspected. It was covered under the extended warranty (total-$515), minus the $50 deductible. Unfortunately, I paid $135 two weeks prior for a transmission flush. I can't complain though, as this is my first problem in 6 years of ownership."

 

[George]

“Hello hwt03 - Billy said;

What did you find out about that rear end whine - I think my car has it also - very faint but it seems to whine -”

 

[hwt03]

Its still noisy...the Ford Dealer said that it is an acceptable whine. So far I've just tried to tune it out with the radio. It really annoys me though, so I'm probably going to sell it and get something else.

 

[George]

What a shame!! Totally unacceptable - No wonder Ford is in trouble.
It makes you wonder if it was the owners car and complaint, would they tell him, "it's an acceptable whine"

 

[z06bigbird]

Its still noisy...the Ford Dealer said that it is an acceptable whine. So far I've just tried to tune it out with the radio. It really annoys me though, so I'm probably going to sell it and get something else.

I recommend that you approach service mgr (very professionally) seeking his help with the problem. Offer to split the cost with him. You can also escalate to the GM or dealership owner.

If all of that fails, here is a partial solution. Pull up the felt materials from trunk area and place some (home) insulation everywhere. Camaro, Corvette, and Trans Am people do this all the time. Camaros and Trans Am vehicles have a similar problem.

By the way, a good mechanic can tell you what specific parts need to be replaced depending on how you describe the noise. If the noise occurs upon accleration, it is a different part (or set of parts) than if the noise occurs when deceleration. You can probably google that topic to identify specific source in the rear end.

By the way, a major overhaul of rear can cost about $2000. You might be able to locate a complete rear from a Lincoln LS. I could be wrong, but I suspect the rear ends are the same, except perhaps for final gear ratio.

Good luck.

 

[tlfmd]

I had it too.. but get this...

At about 5 k, I noted the 30-40 MPH whine..
The Ford store (10 blocks from my home) couldn''t hear it. Said all make some noise. (huh)
At 12k, after the 3 year warranty was up, they found shavings on the differential plug. Kept the car for four days took 'er apart and decreed that nothing was wrong. Put it all back together. Whine included. They said it was left over from manufacturing. They wanted me to pay the deductible on the FSP extendo warranty.
I have decided to forget about it, but bring this up every time they try to pull something on me.

 

[gsarvey]

Noisy Rear end

I have a 2002 Ford Thunderbird. It has about 39000 miles on it. My wife is the primary driver so I don’t often drive it. When I did finally drive it a few weeks ago I detected considerable noise coming from the rear. It sounded like a bearing, but the question was, which bearing? I checked out the TB FAQ at http://forums.thunderbirdforum.com/. I immediately saw that I was not alone. I have the complete service manual set for the car and studied up. I figured I could replace wheel bearings if I bought the special puller for the hubs. I also figured I could to the half shafts if I bought the special tool to deal with the axle clip. I might even be able to deal with a differential remove and replace, but figured an overhaul would best be left to a specialist. I then went on a quest to find someone who could pinpoint where the problem was. I called Currie Industries noted for bullet proofing Ford 9” rear ends. They offered to rebuild the rear end, if I did the R&R . They then recommended I take it to a nearby place that specializes in 4 x 4 and truck lifts. I took it there and they test drove it. The guy said he couldn’t hear it but then told me he didn’t care for cars, just trucks. He finally said he thought he heard it but I had my doubts. Back at the shop he said he would charge $387 to remove the differential cap and take a look. If it needed a rebuild there’s be another $600 in labor plus about $500 in parts with another $350 if the ring and pinion needed replacement. I asked about when and how long. He adjourned to the back for a powwow with the boss. He came back and said three days and they could do it the following week. Here’s where it fell off the track. He said he’d need $500 up front for the parts. He also told me there was no guarantee that an overhaul would make the noise go away. I took this to mean they didn’t have a clue what was wrong, but just to humor me they’d rebuild the differential for $1400 - $1800. Such a deal.
I then took it to a local Ford dealership. They wanted to write it up but I talked them into test driving it first. The service writer seemed pretty sharp. He said it’s the right rear wheel bearing and estimated about $300 plus parts. Ok let’s narrow down what the parts are. This is where this fell off the track. Ford doesn’t sell just the bearing. They make you buy an assembly which includes the bearing the hub and suspension knuckle for the low low price of $1050. Total estimate $1400 per side. This, in spite of the fact that the service manual clearly describes the process for pressing the hub out of the bearing and then pressing the bearing out of the knuckle. What does Ford gain by purposely making their cars so expensive to fix? Could it be they’re jealous of Ferrari?
I decided to double check by going to another Ford dealership. In this case the service writer admitted he didn’t know enough to pinpoint the problem so he got a mechanic to test drive it. The mechanic said the differential needed rebuilt. They estimated the labor at $900 plus $500 for parts plus $400 for a ring and pinion. I pressed him to give me an estimate on the wheel bearings. He said $400. I asked if that included the bearing. He said it did. I asked him to check with the parts department to make sure. Surprise surprise, the assembly would be $1140 and the estimate jumped from $400 to $1400 per side.
My next step was Tustin Transmission, in Tustin, Ca. They said they would need about 2 hours to diagnose the problem. The diagnosis involved a test drive plus an inspection up on a lift. They estimated $900 labor and $350 for parts plus another $300 for a ring and pinion if it turned out to be the rear end. The estimate for a wheel bearing was under $400. I took the car to them on Monday morning. By 10 am they called and said it was the right rear wheel bearing and they’d be done by that evening. That afternoon they called and said I needed brake pads all around. They offered that for $500. I told them to proceed. I picked the car up the following afternoon. The total bill was $866. That’s for the wheel bearing, all new pads and turning all four rotors. The work is warranted for 12 months. They knew what they were doing, they did a proper diagnosis and they fixed what was wrong. If I need anything else done they are absolutely first on my list.

 

[George]

Excellant post. Thanks for the info and I'm glad you're back on the road again.

 

[04tbirdjerry]

Hi Harold:
Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on your purchase. You definitely should return under warranty, since there have been a few complaints from owners.
I'll cut and paste some of those comments I found while searching your particular issue It appears from what I’ve read that there have been a few issues as you have stated. Here’s one:

“When I decelerate I hear a whining noise coming from my rearend. Reminds me of some of my older cars from the 70's. Is this common or should I have it looked at? I have 14K mileage"
Answer:
"After a trip to the Ford dealer and 1600 bucks later I have a great car again. Hope this is the last of the problems.”
Another owner:
"I just got my 'Bird back from dealer for repair of whining in rear at 60-65 mph. They replaced gear set, bearings, shims and reset backlash. Noise gone. Mine is an '03 with 23k miles and premium care ext warranty."
Another:
“ I noticed a slight whine coming from rear after car was on road for a while -- first at 65-68 mph, then it seemed to be between 45-68mph after we got in traffic. Anyone else have a whining rear end and if so, was it corrected and what was problem?”

“Yes we had it too. You could hear the rear end whine upon decelerating from about 55 MPH down to 35 MPH. We had to have the rear differential gear set replaced (under extended warranty) and the gear lash re-adjusted. It still whines a little on deceleration, but only from about 50 MPH down to 45 MPH. My service mechanic said that is the best they can do with the Ford gear sets now.”
Another:
“I kept hearing a whine from the rear of the Bird, especially from 40 to 65 MPH. It kept occurring while my foot was on the accelerator pedal, but would disappear when I took my foot off the pedal. I took it in for a 20,000-mile service and told my service rep about my concern. He had the mechanics look at it, and they ordered a new ring and pinion gear to replace the OEM one in the differential."
Answer:
"Got it back today, total cost to the dealer was $438.22 for the rear differential gear replacement. We had to the pay the $50 deductible, for the Ford ESP Extended Warranty work. It is good thing that we had the Extended Warranty.”
Others:
“Only the ring and pinion? I had the very same problem on my '04 with only 2400 miles. They replaced the whole rear axle, half-shafts, and rotors. I now have 6500 miles and no whine.”
“I Had The Same Whining, In The Rear End, At 45 Mph. They Replace The Differential, At 12000 Miles“

I hope these notes help. Good luck and please let us know how you make out!!

George, thank you. My 2004 has over 100k miles, am I SOL,

 

[Frankie the Fink]

That last post is over 8 years old..