Front end groaning/warranty work
 

Took my car in today for warranty work. A few thousand miles ago my front end developed a groaning noise when turning left or right, at a slow speed, from a dead stop.

The groan vibrates the clutch pedal, gas pedal, and passenger floor board. noise is dependent on wheel speed (noise speeds up or slows down).

has anyone else developed this issue, if so, what was the result?

while I was in I tried to get them to fix the excessive toe in issue the gen2 has...no luck. But I had my drivers seat fixed from the notorious pop/squeak.

Thanks for any info.

Wheel bearing.

that was my suggestion to the tech. however 5 hours later and they're still stumped.

+1

Dealership called me back and said the issue was "blah blah...friction modifier for the LSD"

I'm not sure exactly what the guy said because every other word was Uhh..Umm...

But I picked up on "friction modifier for the LSD".

It looks like the dealer slapped a bandaid on my car that will probably last long enough for my warranty to expire.

Oh, and it took TWO DAYS for them to do this.

wait...so it doesn't vibrate anymore?

I dont know, they wont let me pick the car up until tomorrow.

The tech could never duplicate the noise and vibration when I took in the car origionally.

I went in and had to duplicate it for them. The service counter worker said they couldn't hear the noise when they added friction modifier..

but considering they could never duplicate it in the first place, im not too sure they actually cured it, or just cant duplicate it..again.

Hm,I'll stay away from that dealership, for the future

ya, I went 26000 miles without ever needing a dealership (still on OE tires too..with tread)

But I figured i would use my warranty for something.

hrrm...if the friction modifier actually did the trick, i'd be really worried about your trans/LSD. are you still on the stock fluid, or did you swap it out?

FWIW, I get the groan noise when I am turning at slow speeds when the transmission is cold. Car has done it since new. Groan is a bit more noticeable with the Motorcraft transmission fluid..

What did they do to fix your squeaky seat?

I just started getting a groan once in a while when turing at low speed/from a dead stop. It has only happened about 5 times so far, but the car only has 3300 miles on it. I was going to check the lug nuts and wheel area for any signs of issues. I would hope it is not a wheel bearing already.

Make no mistake, the LSD in this car is relatively noisy (to a car without an LSD). A bit of a moan along with a bit of stickiness to the steering wheel during the first turn of the day (or more if it is very cold outside) is normal operation of an LSD. The question for the OP is how much is normal versus how much indicates pending failure of the differential. Having this documented is very important. Friction modifiers may help. So has this differential been abused (extensive one wheel peels? Different diameter tires left versus right?) Non OE fluid or level too low? Do you tend to hear things more than other people? Just thinking out loud. Without hearing it it is hard to say if this is within tolerance or not. If it goes away when warmed up, the friction modifiers help, and you get it documented, then I wouldn't continue to worry about this 'issue'. My $.02

I Have heard that but more of a popping noise from mine quite a bit today. It was a pretty cold day today tho, but to note my car has only about 4700 miles.

picked up the car, the friction modifier did stop the groan.

however, it takes a bit more effort to shift gears, that makes me a bit nervous...like I said in an above post, it seems like they only slapped a bandaid on the issue.

I did swap trans fluid about 10k miles ago to motorcraft synthetic. but I'm not hard on my car by any means.

my groan noise was constant, it never went away with temp changes, or after driving for a while. the sound was a definite mechanical rubbing sound that vibrated the floorboard and clutch pedal. it started several thousand miles ago and only seemed like a normal characteristic of the car. it became very loud and much worse within the past few months.

the dealer said the issue was the LSD slipping when turning...Im no expert about the transmission or differential in my car, so I just nodded my head and said "ok".


and my seat pop was cured by them replacing and adjusting a bolt in the rail; seemed to do the trick

If it was me I'd put oem trans fluid back in without the friction modifiers.

Hrm, I get a popping kinda clunking noise but i'm pretty sure its from my suspension and not related to stearing/LSD.
It only happens when I go over a bump or a dip, feels like its only the drivers side, both front and back.
I have a 2010, has almost 7k miles on it now, planning to have it looked at via warranty, but I'm not sure if they will be able to replicate the problem.
Also, I have a very slight alignment problem, but I bought the car used so I'm not sure if they will want to do anything about it. There is no damage to the rims,but maybe the alignment and clunk is related, since it pulls to the drivers side...

As far as OP goes, try another dealership? 2nd opinion wouldn't hurt

Hi-
I am new to this forum but am having same problem at 4,500 miles. Dealer has so far replaced the inner drive shaft bearing and one of the motor mounts. Problem abated for a BRIEF time but is now back.

Hope this helps.

NW MS3 Guy:drive:

I had a similar experience to the OP - had the groan with factory tranny fluid, but it got noticeably worse with the motorcraft fluid. I haven't noticed any shifting improvement from the motorcraft, so I'll be switching back to factory.

My rear clunking issue ended up being blown struts, milage not in the 10's yet... Replaced under warranty with no issues
They told me the 2010s come with shit struts and they replace them with another brand,

Same here. Just noise for me. No huge vibrations