Sways when driving and makes abounch of diffrent noises

ADAMT1984

MEMBER
1996 FORD ESCORT
1.8L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
105,000 MILES

Welli just had a friend help me put a clutch in it because it was sliping real bad and the power sterring was out because the belt broke any ways now it drifts to each side when I hit the gas to take off and even when I put it in netrual it does it to its hard to explain but its weird filling scares me to even drive it and also now its making like a clunking sound some times when I hit bumps and when I take off a littile fast and push the clutch in it makes a clunking sound to and if I turn the wheel back and forth while driving it makes a poping sound our like a clunk but not like when I push the clutch in that clunks but real fast and about five ratles our clunks it was not doing all this before we changed the clutch do u have any ideas

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Wow, that's one major sentence! In your next reply, please use some punctuation so I can't misread what you're trying to say.

Did you have to drop the cross member down to remove the transmission? I never did this on an Escort so I'm not familiar with the design.

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Thursday, February 19th, 2015 AT 4:58 PM

ADAMT1984

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I don't really no. I can find out though. My friend did the work I just watched what he did. Whats it look like and wheres it located at? I might be able to tell u if we had to.

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Thursday, February 19th, 2015 AT 5:20 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

The cross member is the structural support that runs under the engine from side to side. It is either going to bolted to the body or it will be welded on. If it's welded, I'll have to rethink my story. If it's bolted on, it is likely it was removed to get the transmission out. Doing that causes a real lot of headaches on GM front-wheel-drive cars. Chrysler doesn't have that problem. I'm not sure about your car unless I had one nearby to look at.

At issue is reinstalling that assembly in exactly the same place it was before. Chrysler has theirs designed so you can't mess it up. On GMs, that assembly can be slid to either side a little. That will cause a major alignment problem AND all the symptoms you described. An alignment will not solve the problem unless the mechanic knows the history of the recent repairs. Then he will look at "steering axis inclination", (SAI), on the alignment computer. SAI has to be corrected first, then the car must be aligned.

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Thursday, February 19th, 2015 AT 5:30 PM