Need moral support, getting worried about my ST

[Johnny Rinaldi]

I bought my ST on 10/20 with about 62k miles. The day I picked it up, the "Check Engine" light came on, I took it back, they changed a sensor. No big deal.

The brake pads and rotors were brand new when I got it, and squeaking really bad, I waited for it to go away and it didn't so I took the truck back last week,(less than 30 days after purchase) I also mentioned a shimmy at highway speeds, thinking it may need to be balanced.

They kept my truck for 4 days. They had to replace the clutch pack and bearings in the rear end. I had to pay a $50 deductible. ( I kind bitched about this a little). I picked it up, and on the way home, the shimmy was still there and the brakes were still squeaking. And to top it off, for some reason the wipers were making a horrible screech that wasn't there before!

So back it goes, that was Monday. I went for ride with the mechanic. We felt the wobble, then I put the rear window down so he could hear the "jet plane" sound and asked him if it was normal. I should get it back tomorrow. They said they need to replace some pinion bearing?

In 3 trips in less than 30 days, over $3000 in repairs have been done to my truck. The delay is because the Ext Warr. inspector has to come out and approve the repairs. I didn't buy Ext. Warr. , it was the dealers "90 days/3000 miles" deal.

I feel fortunate that I only paid $50 (which I still don't think I should have), but I gotta say that I'm a little worried about buying my first Ford. I guess it doesn't matter, I'm stuck with it now.

 

[Richard Toms]

could be a "lemon" maybe. Hope the best for you.

 

[Keola P]

I'm sorry to hear that your ST experience isn't a very good one at the moment...



IMO it isn't really about it being a "Ford". I'd question the previous owner and the dealer as my experience with my ST has been pleasurable thus far. Technically this is my second Ford...my first Ford was a hand me down 88' F150 from my Grandparents. She wasn't pretty (the F150), but she took all the abuse an 18 y.o. male could dish out and kept running like a champ...



I hope things work out for you and your ST, and you're in the perfect place to get any and all the great advice you would need to help get you rollin' along

 

[Johnny Rinaldi]

Thanks guys. I really like this truck, I really want it to work out. I have an 89 E150 that I was driving before this, but I don't consider it my 1st Ford, I only bought it because it was $400. I shopped for awhile and decided on the ST over many other cars and trucks in my price range. I really really wanted a Dodge Magnum until I read so much about Chrysler and reliability.

Maybe i can work out a deal on extending the Ext Warr. somehow?

 

[Don Donaldson]

Is the shimmy something you feel in the steering or is it more of something like a vibration?

Well here is some advise that may be High in sodium...



>Causes I know of for Vibrations in the 4wd drive line

I can only speak of what I have learned messing with my truck, But one thing that seems to be a common failure around 110k or so is the ball joints. Depending on how big the tires are and how bad the ball joints are that can mess with stuff and vibrations. Another thing I found out with my drive line "experimentation" is that the drive line is "balanced" which means the drive shafts and t-case are balanced and if you say take the drive shaft out and then put it back with a different alignment to the t-case it will cause a minor vibration at high way speeds. Also look at the drive shafts themselves, if a u joint is bad it will cause vibration.

One thing I would recommend is take the truck to something like an open field or non paved area and put the truck in 4wd and listen carefully. If you joints are bad there will be "slack" in the drive line. This may be hard to test for because there is some inherent slack in the 5r55e transmission. But what you do is go from N to D and if there is a THUD in to D then I would take a good look at the U-Joints. Another way to for u-joint problems that I found worked is Loading and unloading the drive line by Pulsing the accelerator with the transmission in 1st gear. When my front drive shaft had a CV joint that was going (yes not Universal stupid AWD) when I pulsed the gas with the transmission locked in 1st gear... it would go click thud click thud because under load it could move a good 2cm and then when coasting it would get loaded the other way due to engine braking. Another cause of drive line vibration that totally caught my by surprise is lose sway bar links. if the sway bar ends are loose then it WILL cause vibration at high way speeds! the car will shimmy and just drive really weird because the rubber linkage of the sway bar allowed it to move a bit before it would do its job. to check this inspect the sway bar ends and the *all of the rubber bushings.



>steering shimmies

Could be the tie-rod ends and those are really easy to check, However I have never really herd of those going bad on trac's (and explorers) unless the had been off roading a lot or had a crap ton of miles

As I said the ball joints and when the grease runs out of bad ones they will make a popping sound when making hard turns like when parking... to test these you jack up the car and see if yo can move the wheel by using a crow bar and trying to push the top or bottom of the tire out. If you get any movement then they are bad. dealer should be able to find out this is like the most common ford truck issue.

A bad CV joint will cause vibrations that you can feel in the steering wheel.



And for good measure is there fluid in both diffs and is it good?... won't really cause a vibration just a good thing to due every 50k or so.



So it could be:

un-Balanced drive shafts and tires (would not cause but a minor vibration at high speeds (like 70+ mph)

Bad Universal joints on drive shafts (*should* be cheap/ easy to test)

Bad Constant velocity joints (front axle) (sort of expensive as hell for labor)

Bad Ball joints (unfortunately kinda expensive)

Tie-rod ends (when they test the ball joints if they are worth a darn they would look at these)

loose front/rear sway bar (yes I had this happen recently -at high way speeds the car can shimmy and just drive really weird)





Good luck I hope this helps... take this info with lots of grains of salt this is just what I have "learned" from "Modding" my truck. I hope these problems do not ruin your "sport trac experience"

-Don D.

 

[Gavin Allan]

It's an 8-year old used vehicle. The previous party didn't trade it or sell it because it never broke down.



Hopefully you will get it caught up on needed repairs and maintenance and then things will settle down for you.



Eight years of abuse and neglect may have taken a heavy toll. Good luck.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

I agree with Don D. and Gavin.



There are a few people on this site that have stated that they are willing to help if you come to their place. Maybe they might step up and assist you.

 

[Richard L]

For all of those issues to pop up so soon after you bought it would indicate that you probably did not have a qualified mechanic look at the truck before you decided to purchase it. Consider yourself lucky that you got a warranty on an 8 year old truck, that is not something that most dealers will do.



If you read a lot of the posts here you will find those problems are not uncommon for the Sport Trac's however, having so many occur in such a short time can be scary. That's why you need a qualified mechanic to check out the vehicle before you buy it, not after.



...Rich