Hi everyone,

I just picked up my 5.0 Thursday night and spent a couple hours today driving around town breaking in the engine. I'm at about 150 miles right now and I noticed the transmission is not nearly as smooth as my other car (02 Maxima SE 6spd). I noticed that in the Mustang, if I'm stopped at a light and make a turn left or right, and then shift from 1-2 while turning and accelerating, there is a very noticeable clunk coming from the clutch when I press in the clutch (note if I'm driving straight, the clunk doesn't really happen or is minimal). Is this normal?

On another note, I noticed what seemed like rattling coming from the exhaust around 2500rpm this morning when I started driving, but this seemed to go away as soon as everything heated up.

I found a small cut in the leather on the passenger's seat (pic attached) so I need to take the car in to get the seat repaired and want to make sure I get any other problems fixed. Please let me know if the clunkiness with the clutch is normal in the situation I described.

 

Yeah, my Chinese tranny clunks as well on the 1-2 at low speed, and isn't exactly silent on the 2-3.

 

these transmissions are designed to shift reliably at 7000rpms. its difficult to design blocking rings that a smooth when shifting a low rpm/part throttle AND allow 7k shifts.

with that said, i dont personally like it that mine clunks at low roms either. they will also periodically grind a gear at part throttle also. they seem to like shifting hard even around town. ie, go from gear to gear quick and not easy.

 

thats what I was gonna say. The tranny runs better when its run hard. This pony likes to ride baby!

 

Is part of that seat stitching black and some blue or is it a trick of a camera flash?

 

That's what 401a looks like... it has which ever color you chose but it seems like the outer stitching on the seats is black, its not very noticeable really


Mine is a little clunky as well, doesn't bother me though

 

Mine is very smooth into all gears. Must be the Job 2 fix.

 

When I got my 07 it loosened up after a while , then with a SCT Tune & some decent driving like I almost stole it all went away !

 

Hmm. I noticed that first even with the finger pointing to the cut in the seat. Maybe because my Taurus has white stitching on the seats, but not white on the steering wheel, shifter, or console lid. I guess that kinda thing irritates me.

 

if you took the car like this I'd wanna new cover as it will grow in time , if the case Ford wiould keep old one , I'd then offer to buy at a really reduced price !

 

I scratched the side bolster and tore the perforated leather slightly on my 400a seat back from the snap of an open pocket on my shorts! That "leather" is THIN!

Mine has more of what I'd call a slight "crunch" going into second and third when it's cold. Not really a concern however, or the same thing.

Some clunks from the driveline too at low speeds when working the clutch, pretty normal for these cars due to the driveshaft design I believe.

 

Yeah, I get some clunks in my '10 when shifting up and down at low speeds / light throttle, I always thought it was from play in the drivetrain combined with my less-than-perfect throttle/clutch/shift technique -- if I keep the drivetrain always loaded in the same direction, it doesn't do it.

 

Thanks everyone for all the replies! You've definitely put my mind at ease regarding the tranny. Regarding the seat, I've already emailed my salesman the pic above and I'm going to absolutely insist they completely redo that section of the seat. Since the car just came from the dealer a few days ago I'm not going to accept any patch work that they might try and recommend.

 

Our 2007 GT/CS had two tears in the passenger bucket seat leather when we bought it. The dealership agreed it should be fixed. They ordered and installed the new replacement leather piece about a week later. And all is well now! Good Luck. And yes our drive train has that same low speed clunk also. You just adjust your driving style and that pretty much goes away. CalStang

 

The mt82 may be made in china, but it is built by german getrag. I have been in another getrag plant, and you could eat off the floor. One of the cleanest industrial plants i have seen, and i have been in many in my travels with at&t.
I have drivetrain lash, but i think the transmission may work out alright.

 

Yea mine grabs a bit between 1st and 2nd as well. I notice it seems to go away when it gets warmed up, and when shifting higher.

I'm right around 2000 miles now, so I dont anticipate it getting any better. But since most other people are experiencing the same thing, I'm not too worried.

My '02 GT grabbed a bit between 1st and 2nd, but way worse than this new one.

 

The tramission is made/built/manufactured/produced in CHINA. It cannot also be built in Germany. It may have been DESIGNED in Germany, or it may be 100% completely German engineered, but no German facility built this tranny. It is MADE in China from materials that are found somewhere and sent to CHINA to be made into the MT82.

 

Maybe my transmission is missing something. I have no clunks.

 

Mine is really pretty smooth most all the time, the only thing I've really noticed is the bloody skip shift, which... does things. I'm still not clear what, but I note that around that period where it flashes up the skip shift it's like the shift from 1-2 is rather difficult, but not impossible, and is very clunky as a result. Now I may just happen to pull the shift **** back relatively firmly, as I have read that you can force it into second anyway despite the skip shift, and I will say that if I try to shift gears with purposeful gentleness it does seem like there's something guiding the stick into 4th instead of 2nd.

Anyway, that was the only thing I noticed. Other than that, my transmission shifts wonderfully smooth as far as I know, but take that with a grain of salt, my experience with manual transmissions with extremely limited. This is the only manual I've driven for more than 20 minutes.

And if we want to talk build days, if there's a difference I doubt it's much, but for what it's worth mine was built in May, and as far as I know was in the quality control hold around that time, for whatever the reason ended up being. It was off site for about a week.

 

You sure it is not the skip shift trying to engage? Trying to make a left or right turn behind traffic usually keeps me right around the skip shift rpm's. But if you take your time when you shift it will still go into second but it will be clunky. The skip shift will disengage again as rpms drop under there parameters. It may be during this process that you are trying to shift into second before it has fully disengaged.