Dying Diff, Need Advice

[2000SVTC]

2000 Contour SVT, 130k mi, totally stock and in excellent shape, except diff is bad.  I mulled over selling cheap vs fixing and have decided to fix. 90% chance I'll send trans to Terry for repair but need to make a plan:

 

1.  Pull trans or engine+trans?  I've read lots of posts and there does not seem to be a broad consensus as to which is easier/safer.  I have a cherry picker engine hoist but no car lift.  Terry has recently advised against dropping subframe wrt spinning captive nuts, OTOH my car is a lifelong Southern car with little corrosion so maybe not too risky?  Having said that, I've seen some posts by Spridget that seem to indicate maybe pulling bothout the top is easier anyway???

 

2.  What else to replace while it is apart?  (Whichever way it comes apart)  Things that come to mind include:

 

A.  New clutch kit?  Clutch works fine (tiny bit of chatter lately) but I guess at 130k it would be dumb to put it back in.  Is Ford the right option?  Replace slave cylinder as matter of course?

 

B.  New rear O2 sensor - again works fine but I already have it and no easier time to change!

 

C.  New CV axles??  Working fine but very easy to change at this point.  OTOH Ford parts cost a fortune, and are rebuilt or cheapo Chinese new ones actually better than functional but old OEM parts?  Could disassemble and lube existing w/ new boots maybe??

 

Anything else come to mind?  Alternator was fairly recently rebuilt or I'd do it as pulling was a pain.

 

Thanks!!

 

Al Seim

2000 Contour SVT

 

 

 

 

 

[imadrid]

I would keep OEM axles over the Chinese ones any day, they seem beefier and the OE boots are thicker.

[SVTDEMON]

What do you want the car to do? 

[2000SVTC]

It's my daily driver, just want it to work well and be reliable.  I've got a dedicated race car and an autocross car so really don't need any specific performance upgrades such as ATB/LSD or 3L etc.  So basically want to fix it and hopefully make it more reliable - though 130k to major failure isn't all that bad....

 

So goal is a cost effective repair to yield the nice DD sports sedan that I had until it died!

[spridget]

1.  Pull trans or engine+trans?  I've read lots of posts and there does not seem to be a broad consensus as to which is easier/safer.  I have a cherry picker engine hoist but no car lift.  Terry has recently advised against dropping subframe wrt spinning captive nuts, OTOH my car is a lifelong Southern car with little corrosion so maybe not too risky?  Having said that, I've seen some posts by Spridget that seem to indicate maybe pulling bothout the top is easier anyway???

 

 

Both together out the top has always been the easiest method for me. I just have a cherry picker and jack stands.

2.  What else to replace while it is apart?  (Whichever way it comes apart)  Things that come to mind include:

 

A.  New clutch kit?  Clutch works fine (tiny bit of chatter lately) but I guess at 130k it would be dumb to put it back in.  Is Ford the right option?  Replace slave cylinder as matter of course?

 

B.  New rear O2 sensor - again works fine but I already have it and no easier time to change!

 

C.  New CV axles??  Working fine but very easy to change at this point.  OTOH Ford parts cost a fortune, and are rebuilt or cheapo Chinese new ones actually better than functional but old OEM parts?  Could disassemble and lube existing w/ new boots maybe??

 

 

If you are looking for long term reliability, then sure, if you can afford to replace the CV axles, now is the time to do it. More importantly though, change the lower control arms while the drivetrain is out, assuming they show wear. Replace the clutch for sure.