I have a 2000 Ford Mustang V6 that has recently started shaking like crazy. About 6 months or so ago I had a crack in my exhaust that also caused my car to shake uncontrollably and sounded like a jet engine trying to take off every time you cranked it. I would consider the current rattling comparable to that, but without the deafening roar. I actually work at a car dealership, but I'm trying to not spend any more money than necessary on diagnostics, and this site has been very helpful in the past, so here is a list of the information I do have. 1. The day before the shaking began, some kind of fluid was leaking from the passengers side of the car, no idea what type though. 2. It rattles all the time. It seems to be at its worst when accelerating, but it constantly shakes, when in park, neutral, idling, always. 3. It's progressively getting worse. 4. I passed the service manager in the parking lot at work a couple of days ago, and without any knowledge of the problem, he told me it sounded like I had a power steering problem, and that I should check my fluid. 5. The power steering fluid was a little low, so I filled it up and took the car out driving around for a bit, and it seemed to be a little better, kind of like it did when the problem first started, before getting worse. There is a small chance that this could be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm about 90% sure there was a slight improvement, though again, it's still bad. Checked for leaking fluids before and after drive, saw none at all. At this point I called my father. He's been driving Mustangs almost exclusively his entire life and does nearly all of his mechanical work himself. Without being able to see or hear the car, he believes it's most likely a transmission fluid problem, but he couldn't rule out a power steering problem. This could also explain the leaking fluid, but not why the shaking would improve albeit little with the addition of more PS fluid. Tomorrow I plan on checking the transmission fluid and just visibly checking to see if I can pinpoint the source of the shaking, but with the entire car rattling and minimal knowledge of these two systems, I don't have high hopes for that. I just want to try to narrow it down as much as possible on my own before sticking it in a shop and paying someone else to do it. So I guess what I'm asking is, does this situation sound familiar to anyone? Can anyone help me narrow it down between transmission or power steering, or is there a way to determine which one is the problem? Or could this problem be something else entirely that none of us have thought of? Any and all help is greatly appreciated! Side note, forgot to mention, but my power steering did completely go out a few years ago, so I know what it feels like for it to not work. There does seem to be a bit of resistance when turning if the wheel is turned all the way to the left or right, but nothing even close to previous experiences. And unless it's a sharp turn, there's no problem at all.
It's very difficult to see how the power steering could cause your car to shake and vibrate. If the power steering was leaking you would see fluid somewhere .. and the steering might be heavy.
You say this also happens when the car idles?
What springs to mind here is defective engine or gearbox mounts. I would also suspect that the cause of the vibration is what caused your exhaust manifold to crack.
If you let the car tickover and open the hood can you see the engine physically move? Check those engine mounts ..
Another possibility (and this once happened to me) is that the flywheel -on manual transmission or torque converter -on automatic transmission is loose. If those bolts which hold it onto the rear of the engine are loose it can cause vibration severe enough to make the teeth in your head rattle, not to mention make the car vibrate and rattle as if you're continually driving over deep potholes with out of balance wheels...
Transmission fluid problem? No.. that doesn't seem to be the fault. If the transmission fluid level was low, or it was dirty, the autobox would have difficulty in changing gear. It wouldn't cause any vibration problems.
It's very difficult to diagnose problems without actually seeing the car, but .. but .. I would guess that the cause of the vibration is within the transmission .. a loose torque converter or a torque converter problem
This is for shaking problem. Assume you mean entire car and not engine. Therefore you mean while rolling down street. Bent rims or bad tire belt, bad wheel bearing, loose tie rod ends. Bad U-joints or ball joints. Sometimes motor mounts.
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