67 mustang noise in engine - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

morlock · 07-23-2003, 12:07 PM

I recently washed my car, which I believe is just a coincidence but when after I pulled out of the driveway it started making a sound like something is stuck in the engine. I have no idea what it could be. I have been having a problem with the radiator. There is a hole in the top part of it next to the seam that leaks water/spits out steam. I don't know if that could cause it, but it runs and got me home, but it still has that noise happening. Any suggestions? It is really bad at low RPMs and goes away as the RPMs get higher, but you can still tell it is there throughout the range. This just started, and I am pretty stuck for what this is. Any help is greatly appreciated.

otter · 07-23-2003, 12:24 PM

Sounds odd o.O

Maybe describe the sound more? Vacuum leak perhaps?

Moonduck · 07-23-2003, 12:31 PM

Need more description. A hole in the radiator is never good, and a slow leak like that can easily lead to an overheat, which in turn can lead to a blown head/engine. The fact that the noise seems worse at low RPM does seem to be more indicative of a vacuum issue. I'd ask if you hear any hissing noises, but with a holed radiator, you'll likely hear a hiss even without a vacuum leak.

Get that radiator fixed!

BigTruck1956 · 07-23-2003, 03:59 PM

it could be the sound of the water stream hitting the fan. the same thing happened to me--i though i had a bad valve noise and it turned out that a radiator hole was apraying water into the fan.
other possibilities:
valves need adjustment...
fan hitting the shroud...
many possibilities--try to describe the sound a little more

ltdaywalker · 07-23-2003, 04:26 PM

Ya obviously wanna fix the radiator issue, but i wouldnt be TOOO worried about overheating and warping the head. If its the stock head its cast iron, which wont warp as a aluminum head would. But as for your noise, ya gotta explain a bit more. Does the car feel like its gonna die at low RPMs, any other symptoms?

WarWagon · 07-23-2003, 07:08 PM

Just curious, what was the weather like and what compression are you running? Ever have this problem before?

morlock · 07-28-2003, 08:25 PM

Actually as it turned out, it had nothing to do with the radiator, overheating, heads, or anything of that sort, nor was it a really simple fix. My girlfriend's dad had a look at it while it was running as did I one more time, and this time we noticed an exhaust leak from the exhaust manifold to the pipe. The flange gasket had burnt up, when I pulled it it was all fried and toasty, and uncoiled. I got a new one and put it in, and it still had the problem, tried lots of liquid gasket stuff around it as well, still the problem. Noticed that it wasn't all the way tightened because the studs were stripped. Pulled the manifold and tried to replace the studs. No luck, they were stuck in, had to cut them off, drill and tap them, get new studs, and try it. Put everything back, still had the problem. Turns out the hole we plugged in the manifold before that was orignally supposed to go to the carb for the choke, but the line had gone missing before we got the car, so we plugged it up early on. It came undone, I pulled it again, and filled it with liquid epoxy (JB weld like) It worked for about 6 blocks before it burned it up and popped it out, then the noise started again. Also put that stuff on the radiator hole, stopped it down to a slow drip rather than a shooting spray. Took it to my dad's shop, welded the hole in the manifold shut, applied more epoxy to the radiator, pulled the thermostat out, which was stuck closed, now it's constantly open, going to have to put one in before fall sets in. That solved the radiator and engine getting too hot, now the radiator doesnt have that extra pressure to spit out when it gets hot because it actually cycles now. So basically everything is fixed except for two things. My wheel cylinders in the back which I rebuilt but I am going to replace because the rebuild helped, but didn't fix the problem. My amp, which now has a inversed remote, where when the face is on the amp is off and when the face is off the amp is on (not a good combination) The amp still works, because I can pump sound through my mp3 player to it with the face off and it works. Any help is extremely wanted on this part, because I don't do much work with car audio electronics. I also have a blown speaker and a stripped regulator, but those are easy replacement fixes, no repair can be done to them at this point. Also I think my starter is going out soon and my front wheel cylinders have a very very slow leak. I also need to replace those. But basically everything is fine with my car now except for the amp which is the only thing I'm stuck on and need help with.

gigawatz · 07-28-2003, 09:23 PM

well....it sounds to me that you have the wrong remote wire connected to your amp. If your head unit has a remote wire and power antenna wire then most likely you have your remote hooked to the wrong one. I could be wrong but you may want to check your connection again.

I have never seen this situation occur like you have explained it, however this was the most logical situation I could think of. Also more information about the head unit would be nice.

Good luck.

Ashton · 07-28-2003, 10:42 PM

I suppose since you have the heat tube hole in the mainfold welded up that means you have replaced the carb with one that has a electric choke? The reason there is a heat tube from the manifold is to allow the heat to travel up the tube as the engine warms up to the bimetallic coil in the choke..... which uncoils as it is warmed and kicks off the choke. If you have a standard carb without the heat tube hooked up your choke will work but will take forever to kick off in the winter

Ashton · 07-28-2003, 11:03 PM

As to the amp.... usually there is a blue wire coming off the head unit, this is the power antenna wire...... unless there is a wire on the head unit just for powering the remote to the amp, the blue power antenna wire is what you want to hook to the remote wire for the amp..... when you turn on the head unit the blue wire is energized, usually to raise the antenna..... but in this case sending power to turn on the amp. so Gigawatz is right... you have the wrong wire hooked up to the remote on the amp.

Ashton · 07-28-2003, 11:24 PM

As to the stripped regulator....... I guess you mean the Voltage Regulator? by 'stripped' you mean the screws that hold it to the firewall are stripped? If you do mean the Voltage Regulator I would fix this as soon as possible..... the voltage regulator is grounded to the body of the car by the screws that hold it in place...... if they are loose the regulator won't work right and your battery will either be overcharged or undercharged....... resulting in a dead Diehard. The wheel cylinders are another thing that needs to be fixed as soon as you can...... brake fluid ruins brake shoes, just a small leak will soak into the linings of the shoes and then they're shot....... wheel cylinders are cheap and seeing that Mustangs have 4 wheel drum brakes I would suggest fixing that problem as soon as possible.

morlock · 07-29-2003, 12:24 AM

First off, the amp was working perfectly with that configuration for the past 6 months, and I did not change any wiring, simply adjusted the bass and trebble settings for each channel using the dials on the amp. By stripped regulator, I meant window regulator, for manual crank windows, the regulator is stripped on one side, so the handle just spins and wont make it go up or down. For the wheel cylinders, it leaks out about 1/3 of the way over 150 miles, I am going to replace them asap. They are about $30 each though. Thanks for the information though.
So to wrap up. Misunderstanding on regulator. The amp is wired correctly, since there have been no changes to it and it has worked until it got grounded out. And I need to replace my wheel cylinders.
Also I am getting a new 302 engine for it, a swap from a 73 ranchero. Is there anything I need to make the conversion complete? I am getting the entire Ranchero and going to gut it for parts, is there anything I need to make the swap really successful.

morlock · 07-29-2003, 12:26 AM

Oh and the carb I assume wasn't the original when I got it, but it still had an automatic choke, not electric, I replaced the carb from a carter to a holley and ran a tube from it to the manifold, but just not into the hole, since the hole wasnt threaded or anything. I put it directly to the manifold.

Ashton · 07-29-2003, 08:05 AM

Ah, a window regulator....... those are somewhat of a pain in the ass to replace, I can't remember if the Mustangs regutator's are rivoted in or if they have bolts...... even if it has bolts it's a two man job, someone to hold the window up while you replace the regulator. in the meantime you can clamp a small pair of visegrip pliers to the regulator to raise and lower the window......

As to the engine swap, the 302 should drop right in and hook up to the C4 tranny...... I did this to a 67 Cougar years ago, one thing I would buy is two new motor mounts.... the old ones are prone to breaking (the drive torque side.... drivers side). You'll probally have to get a muffler shop to rebend or replace the exhaust system outlets..... I can't remember if the 302's will match up with the 289's...... I think I just had a new dual exhaust system installed. My Cougar was a fast little car, a good trick is to install air shocks.... pump them up tight and drop a 100 pound sand bag in the trunk to drop the ass end down, you'll corner like you're on rails!

morlock · 07-29-2003, 08:33 AM

Actually 67 Mustangs have a C6 tranny, C4s came out in the 68 mustangs. Also I have a L6 200 in there right now, the straight 6. So it only has one exhaust. I am going to take the exhaust off the ranchero as well and put it on. I know it will drop right in and go onto the C6 because 67 started to have 302s in them as well as 289s and they only had C6 on 67 Mustangs, so obviously it has to match up to the tranny. But I was saying like stuff I might want to take from the ranchero, I know I'm taking the bigger radiator, the exhaust, probably the brakes, but is there anything else you could list that I would need to take from it or buy to add. The Motor Mounts sound like a good idea.

Ashton · 07-29-2003, 10:29 AM

Hmmmm, I looked up your car in my Hollander exchange book and it says the 67 Mustang's have a C4...... anyway, a few things you're going to need from the ranchero is the block plate and the bell housing from the transmission.... as well as the flexplate or the starter won't line up properly, you'll also need the motor mount to frame brackets..... I don't know if the ranchero's will fit the mustang..... my exchange book only goes up to 1968, the only other thing I can think of is the wiring harness..... also I've heard that the fuel line for the six cylinder is smaller than the V8's, and can cause vapor lock if it isn't changed to the larger size..... but this I couldn't say for sure.

If the ranchero's transmission is in good working order and has a floor shift I would just swap the whole engine / tranny combination, another thing I've heard is that the torque converter in the six cylinders tranny isn't built to take the V8's power..... and should be changed to a V8 model, and that after 1970 the input shaft is larger so the converter from the ranchero won't fit in the mustangs tranny..... of course this is second hand information so I'm not positive, I've never swapped a 6 to a 8..... I've only owned V8's and swapped V8's to larger V8's.

gigawatz · 07-29-2003, 12:52 PM

Ok, back to the radio, with this new information, my next diagnosis is that you have a short in your remote wire somewhere with a hot lead. This would cause the amp to turn on when the radio is off, however this short could also cause some sort of conflict when you turn on the radio, however, I would then be lead to think that you would blow fuses if this was to occur.

However, at any rate, I think you have me stumpt. I am at a complete loss as to why your amp would act in the nature you describe.

If this were my car I would remove the whole system (and wires) check for breaks / rubs / and hang-ups where wires could be having problems and double check all of my connections at the radio & amp.

Once again, good luck.

morlock · 07-29-2003, 01:02 PM

Actually I called around to a couple stereo shops and they say that its a blown transistor and that its gonna cost me $60 to replace a $2 part. But I'm just going to work around it. I'm going to run the remote to a direct power source in my fuse box thats always on and put a toggle switch on the wire, that way I can control when the remote gets power its off and when the remote doesnt its on. I will basically have a manual on/off switch for the amp instead of it being through the face. Anyone have any reasons why this wouldn't work?

gigawatz · 07-29-2003, 02:17 PM

Sounds totally logical to me....

It is still going to work backwards, but it will work.

morlock · 07-29-2003, 03:34 PM

Tried it. It works. Love it.

07-23-2003, 12:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
morlock Loser	67 mustang noise in engine I recently washed my car, which I believe is just a coincidence but when after I pulled out of the driveway it started making a sound like something is stuck in the engine. I have no idea what it could be. I have been having a problem with the radiator. There is a hole in the top part of it next to the seam that leaks water/spits out steam. I don't know if that could cause it, but it runs and got me home, but it still has that noise happening. Any suggestions? It is really bad at low RPMs and goes away as the RPMs get higher, but you can still tell it is there throughout the range. This just started, and I am pretty stuck for what this is. Any help is greatly appreciated.

07-23-2003, 03:59 PM	#4 (permalink)
BigTruck1956 Psycho Location: norcal	it could be the sound of the water stream hitting the fan. the same thing happened to me--i though i had a bad valve noise and it turned out that a radiator hole was apraying water into the fan. other possibilities: valves need adjustment... fan hitting the shroud... many possibilities--try to describe the sound a little more __________________ so much to do, so little time.....at least i aint bored.

07-28-2003, 10:42 PM	#9 (permalink)
Ashton PORNHOUND Location: California	I suppose since you have the heat tube hole in the mainfold welded up that means you have replaced the carb with one that has a electric choke? The reason there is a heat tube from the manifold is to allow the heat to travel up the tube as the engine warms up to the bimetallic coil in the choke..... which uncoils as it is warmed and kicks off the choke. If you have a standard carb without the heat tube hooked up your choke will work but will take forever to kick off in the winter Last edited by Ashton; 07-28-2003 at 10:44 PM..

07-23-2003, 12:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
otter Upright	Sounds odd o.O Maybe describe the sound more? Vacuum leak perhaps?

07-23-2003, 12:31 PM	#3 (permalink)
Moonduck Junkie Location: SE USA	Need more description. A hole in the radiator is never good, and a slow leak like that can easily lead to an overheat, which in turn can lead to a blown head/engine. The fact that the noise seems worse at low RPM does seem to be more indicative of a vacuum issue. I'd ask if you hear any hissing noises, but with a holed radiator, you'll likely hear a hiss even without a vacuum leak. Get that radiator fixed!

07-23-2003, 04:26 PM	#5 (permalink)
ltdaywalker Upright Location: Chicago, IL	Ya obviously wanna fix the radiator issue, but i wouldnt be TOOO worried about overheating and warping the head. If its the stock head its cast iron, which wont warp as a aluminum head would. But as for your noise, ya gotta explain a bit more. Does the car feel like its gonna die at low RPMs, any other symptoms?

07-23-2003, 07:08 PM	#6 (permalink)
WarWagon Loser	Just curious, what was the weather like and what compression are you running? Ever have this problem before?

07-28-2003, 08:25 PM	#7 (permalink)
morlock Loser	Actually as it turned out, it had nothing to do with the radiator, overheating, heads, or anything of that sort, nor was it a really simple fix. My girlfriend's dad had a look at it while it was running as did I one more time, and this time we noticed an exhaust leak from the exhaust manifold to the pipe. The flange gasket had burnt up, when I pulled it it was all fried and toasty, and uncoiled. I got a new one and put it in, and it still had the problem, tried lots of liquid gasket stuff around it as well, still the problem. Noticed that it wasn't all the way tightened because the studs were stripped. Pulled the manifold and tried to replace the studs. No luck, they were stuck in, had to cut them off, drill and tap them, get new studs, and try it. Put everything back, still had the problem. Turns out the hole we plugged in the manifold before that was orignally supposed to go to the carb for the choke, but the line had gone missing before we got the car, so we plugged it up early on. It came undone, I pulled it again, and filled it with liquid epoxy (JB weld like) It worked for about 6 blocks before it burned it up and popped it out, then the noise started again. Also put that stuff on the radiator hole, stopped it down to a slow drip rather than a shooting spray. Took it to my dad's shop, welded the hole in the manifold shut, applied more epoxy to the radiator, pulled the thermostat out, which was stuck closed, now it's constantly open, going to have to put one in before fall sets in. That solved the radiator and engine getting too hot, now the radiator doesnt have that extra pressure to spit out when it gets hot because it actually cycles now. So basically everything is fixed except for two things. My wheel cylinders in the back which I rebuilt but I am going to replace because the rebuild helped, but didn't fix the problem. My amp, which now has a inversed remote, where when the face is on the amp is off and when the face is off the amp is on (not a good combination) The amp still works, because I can pump sound through my mp3 player to it with the face off and it works. Any help is extremely wanted on this part, because I don't do much work with car audio electronics. I also have a blown speaker and a stripped regulator, but those are easy replacement fixes, no repair can be done to them at this point. Also I think my starter is going out soon and my front wheel cylinders have a very very slow leak. I also need to replace those. But basically everything is fine with my car now except for the amp which is the only thing I'm stuck on and need help with.

07-28-2003, 09:23 PM	#8 (permalink)
gigawatz Crazy Location: Pittsburgh	well....it sounds to me that you have the wrong remote wire connected to your amp. If your head unit has a remote wire and power antenna wire then most likely you have your remote hooked to the wrong one. I could be wrong but you may want to check your connection again. I have never seen this situation occur like you have explained it, however this was the most logical situation I could think of. Also more information about the head unit would be nice. Good luck.

07-28-2003, 11:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
Ashton PORNHOUND Location: California	As to the amp.... usually there is a blue wire coming off the head unit, this is the power antenna wire...... unless there is a wire on the head unit just for powering the remote to the amp, the blue power antenna wire is what you want to hook to the remote wire for the amp..... when you turn on the head unit the blue wire is energized, usually to raise the antenna..... but in this case sending power to turn on the amp. so Gigawatz is right... you have the wrong wire hooked up to the remote on the amp.

07-28-2003, 11:24 PM	#11 (permalink)
Ashton PORNHOUND Location: California	As to the stripped regulator....... I guess you mean the Voltage Regulator? by 'stripped' you mean the screws that hold it to the firewall are stripped? If you do mean the Voltage Regulator I would fix this as soon as possible..... the voltage regulator is grounded to the body of the car by the screws that hold it in place...... if they are loose the regulator won't work right and your battery will either be overcharged or undercharged....... resulting in a dead Diehard. The wheel cylinders are another thing that needs to be fixed as soon as you can...... brake fluid ruins brake shoes, just a small leak will soak into the linings of the shoes and then they're shot....... wheel cylinders are cheap and seeing that Mustangs have 4 wheel drum brakes I would suggest fixing that problem as soon as possible.

07-29-2003, 12:24 AM	#12 (permalink)
morlock Loser	First off, the amp was working perfectly with that configuration for the past 6 months, and I did not change any wiring, simply adjusted the bass and trebble settings for each channel using the dials on the amp. By stripped regulator, I meant window regulator, for manual crank windows, the regulator is stripped on one side, so the handle just spins and wont make it go up or down. For the wheel cylinders, it leaks out about 1/3 of the way over 150 miles, I am going to replace them asap. They are about $30 each though. Thanks for the information though. So to wrap up. Misunderstanding on regulator. The amp is wired correctly, since there have been no changes to it and it has worked until it got grounded out. And I need to replace my wheel cylinders. Also I am getting a new 302 engine for it, a swap from a 73 ranchero. Is there anything I need to make the conversion complete? I am getting the entire Ranchero and going to gut it for parts, is there anything I need to make the swap really successful.

07-29-2003, 12:26 AM	#13 (permalink)
morlock Loser	Oh and the carb I assume wasn't the original when I got it, but it still had an automatic choke, not electric, I replaced the carb from a carter to a holley and ran a tube from it to the manifold, but just not into the hole, since the hole wasnt threaded or anything. I put it directly to the manifold.

07-29-2003, 08:05 AM	#14 (permalink)
Ashton PORNHOUND Location: California	Ah, a window regulator....... those are somewhat of a pain in the ass to replace, I can't remember if the Mustangs regutator's are rivoted in or if they have bolts...... even if it has bolts it's a two man job, someone to hold the window up while you replace the regulator. in the meantime you can clamp a small pair of visegrip pliers to the regulator to raise and lower the window...... As to the engine swap, the 302 should drop right in and hook up to the C4 tranny...... I did this to a 67 Cougar years ago, one thing I would buy is two new motor mounts.... the old ones are prone to breaking (the drive torque side.... drivers side). You'll probally have to get a muffler shop to rebend or replace the exhaust system outlets..... I can't remember if the 302's will match up with the 289's...... I think I just had a new dual exhaust system installed. My Cougar was a fast little car, a good trick is to install air shocks.... pump them up tight and drop a 100 pound sand bag in the trunk to drop the ass end down, you'll corner like you're on rails!

07-29-2003, 08:33 AM	#15 (permalink)
morlock Loser	Actually 67 Mustangs have a C6 tranny, C4s came out in the 68 mustangs. Also I have a L6 200 in there right now, the straight 6. So it only has one exhaust. I am going to take the exhaust off the ranchero as well and put it on. I know it will drop right in and go onto the C6 because 67 started to have 302s in them as well as 289s and they only had C6 on 67 Mustangs, so obviously it has to match up to the tranny. But I was saying like stuff I might want to take from the ranchero, I know I'm taking the bigger radiator, the exhaust, probably the brakes, but is there anything else you could list that I would need to take from it or buy to add. The Motor Mounts sound like a good idea.

07-29-2003, 10:29 AM	#16 (permalink)
Ashton PORNHOUND Location: California	Hmmmm, I looked up your car in my Hollander exchange book and it says the 67 Mustang's have a C4...... anyway, a few things you're going to need from the ranchero is the block plate and the bell housing from the transmission.... as well as the flexplate or the starter won't line up properly, you'll also need the motor mount to frame brackets..... I don't know if the ranchero's will fit the mustang..... my exchange book only goes up to 1968, the only other thing I can think of is the wiring harness..... also I've heard that the fuel line for the six cylinder is smaller than the V8's, and can cause vapor lock if it isn't changed to the larger size..... but this I couldn't say for sure. If the ranchero's transmission is in good working order and has a floor shift I would just swap the whole engine / tranny combination, another thing I've heard is that the torque converter in the six cylinders tranny isn't built to take the V8's power..... and should be changed to a V8 model, and that after 1970 the input shaft is larger so the converter from the ranchero won't fit in the mustangs tranny..... of course this is second hand information so I'm not positive, I've never swapped a 6 to a 8..... I've only owned V8's and swapped V8's to larger V8's.

07-29-2003, 12:52 PM	#17 (permalink)
gigawatz Crazy Location: Pittsburgh	Ok, back to the radio, with this new information, my next diagnosis is that you have a short in your remote wire somewhere with a hot lead. This would cause the amp to turn on when the radio is off, however this short could also cause some sort of conflict when you turn on the radio, however, I would then be lead to think that you would blow fuses if this was to occur. However, at any rate, I think you have me stumpt. I am at a complete loss as to why your amp would act in the nature you describe. If this were my car I would remove the whole system (and wires) check for breaks / rubs / and hang-ups where wires could be having problems and double check all of my connections at the radio & amp. Once again, good luck.

07-29-2003, 01:02 PM	#18 (permalink)
morlock Loser	Actually I called around to a couple stereo shops and they say that its a blown transistor and that its gonna cost me $60 to replace a $2 part. But I'm just going to work around it. I'm going to run the remote to a direct power source in my fuse box thats always on and put a toggle switch on the wire, that way I can control when the remote gets power its off and when the remote doesnt its on. I will basically have a manual on/off switch for the amp instead of it being through the face. Anyone have any reasons why this wouldn't work?

07-29-2003, 02:17 PM	#19 (permalink)
gigawatz Crazy Location: Pittsburgh	Sounds totally logical to me.... It is still going to work backwards, but it will work.

07-29-2003, 03:34 PM	#20 (permalink)
morlock Loser	Tried it. It works. Love it.