new member

I'm a new member and have been fumbling around and have finally figured out (with help from Joe and Pete, thanks guys) how to post a new message.

So, here I am. Can anyone give me pointers on a few items. I'll list them below:

-Is there a way to check on the amount of play in a posi differential? If the car is in gear (not running) and the parking brake is off, the car can roll a total of about 4" to 5" before the inner workings of the diff., drive shaft, transmission, etc. Is this normal and if so, is there a way to tighten it up (hope this makes sense).

-What is the school of thought on synthetic oils. I got some info from Joe yesterday and he recommended Bob is the oil guy's site. I'd appreciate anymore info on this topic.

That's about all I can think of right now. Hope to hear from you, soon.

MJ

Hi MJ..

Welcome to the board~

On your first question.. What you are measuring by your "roll it back and forth" test is actually the play in the entire drivetrain..the rear end, the u-joints, the tranny, even the motor mounts to some degree. 4-5 inches back and forth seems a little excessive.. you might want to put the car on a lift and carefully check the u-joints, tranny mount, motor mounts and you can also check for play in the rear end at the same time.

As for sythetic oils.. Personally, I run them in all my turbo vehicles. I do however let them go 5000 between changes instead of 3000. They (in general) are less likely to break down in high temp conditions. Just be sure to take care of your turbo no matter what oil you choose. Don't get into the boost till the motor is up to operating temperature, and if you've been on the boost within the last couple minutes, let the car idle for a minute or 2 before shutting it down. These 2 things are pretty important for long turbo life.

I'd also consider changing your trans oil and rear diff fluid as well.. Unless you know for sure when the last time it was done, it's probably been a very long time.. I use redline sythetic fluids for those items.

Spend plenty of time in the search feature.. If you think of an area of the car you want information on..just type a couple keywords into the search function and you should get many, many threads having something to do with what you are wondering about.

Please don't take that statement as a "don't bug us with questions" remark.. it is not intended that way. It's just to point out that there is hours and hours of information to be had by using the search feature~

Take care and good luck with your car~

Hi guy,
The play can be in a few areas of the diff if not all combined.
First, the main pinion and ring gear. This is called backlash and is usually between 8-12 thou.
It is measured with a dial indicator tool at the gears themselves, though can be guessed by experienced mechanics.
Second area for play is the side and spider gears. The side play is usually measured with feeler gauges.
The axles and side gears can be worn and have quite a bit of play on the splines.
And also general bearing wear will create play in the rearend.
The clutch packs in Ford Traclock wear out pretty quikly depending on use, you have to jack one wheel up and measure the torque that the wheel brakes free.
I like synthetics myself but have read a few reports by rearend specialists that they are bad for the Torrington wheel bearings.
Supposedly the oil is so slippery the bearing does not roll, it slides on the axle shaft, prematurely wearing the axle.

Thanks for the info, guys. It will all come in handy as I learn more about Fords. It's been awhile since I did any kind of auto work and that was on VW's 26 years ago. Kev, thanks for the advice to go to the search site. I will definately check it out, but in the meantime let me pick yours and Gary's brains a little. I just came back from checking on synthetic oil prices and asked the guy behind the counter about synths. He asked how many miles I had which is 106,000 plus, and he said synthetic oils can cause a high mileage car to start burning oil. Any truth to this? Redline oil is not available around here and is also kind of pricey. This is the second time since I've joined this site that I've heard about Redline and I don't think you guys are endorsing their products. Are there resonably good alternatives out there or is this "the" way to go? Also, in the beginner mods the first one is to change to a K&N cone filter which I plan to do along with a decent tune-up. There is a rectangular box right under the VAM which is kind of greasy looking (in my car) and it has 3/4" and 1/4"
(+/-) lines coming from it. What is this and does it have to be reconnected? I told you, it's been along time. More to come, later.

Thanks again.

MJ

The "greasy box" is the carbon canister. It hold fumes from the gas tank until the engine runs and draws them out of th ecanister to be burned in the cylinders. Some of us run without it connected but you may get a gas smell throught the ventilations system It would be best to hook it back up

I ususally run Mobile 1 synthetic oil in my TCs and some of my other vehicles.

I've heard of oil burning and leaking past seals when switching to syn in a higher milage motor but I've never had a problem with over 200km now.

Thanks for the oil recommendation, Pete. Now, if I install a K&N cone filter, what is the best way to reconnect the carbon canister?

Thanks.

MJ