I had to share, as in our fleet, ONLY the wife's Mustang (and I take it in stride). I feel like once a year it does something to mess with me.... Firs toil change I did on it and the filter wanted to fit me. I've had issues with the rear brakes due to the pins for the calipers being jacked up (and Ford puts a cable you can't move in the way of removing one pin for both sides). The convertible lift cylinders had to be changed, job was easy, but for her year Mustang the cylinders were EXPENSIVE!

Anycase, today, after work, I decided I'll trade off from working on the bathroom remodel I'm in the middle of, enjoy some good weather and summer prep the Mustang (as it sat parked all winter). Usually that means check fluids, change oil/filter, check tire pressure. This year, I added "change trans fluid and filter" ('01 Stang, 70K miles, trans fluid filter still factory).

Breaking the bolts loose on the pan, 2 are "TOUGH" (they break but getting the, other is not feeling good). One snapped, but the other made it out. I spent tonight under the car and drilled the old bolt out. OH but during that process it tried to take my eye out!!! I had an incident years ago that taught me a valuable lesson, wear safety eyewear. Despite that, a shard of metal got in my EYE!! It's all out and freaked me out "NOT AGAIN" (last time I had an ER visit).

Hopefully this weekend, I will re-tap the hole and I intend to replace ALL the bolts with stainless steel (they all look like crap and after this episode, I think it's worth it). I think while I have the pan off, I will clean it and paint it (looks a little gross IMO).

Anycase, to those who read, thanks for letting me share this evening's fun with the Pony.... Lol....

 

Dang Ford's...lol

 

Jason:
Thats a lesson well learned!
Dont buy Fords! just kidding...

Saftey glasses arent all there cracked up to be IMO...

Sorry to hear your haveing such issues with it!
Hope the rest goes better than it started out!

 

I swear fords of the late 90's early 2000's have some rust issues my moms sable was parted out young because she didn't wash the car and let the new england weather rust it to pieces

 

This Mustang my wife bought in '07 I believe (about a year before we got married). It had not seen a winter since. It was a rental car for less then a year in Hawaii of all places and then the sold to the guy she bought it from.

But it's a '01 Mustang, v6 convertible. She loves the car and I treat it like I treat the rest of my fleet (keep it's maintenance up and and make sure it's in proper working order). But for a car that has not seen winter in a long time and had about 50K miles when she bought it (70K on it now), once in a while it has some odd-ball issues (snapping a trans pan bolt being one of them).

On the plus side, it's undercontrol for the moment. Today on my way home from work, I will be getting 14 stainless bolt and some lock washers. Problem about to be solved

 

^ that ought to explain everything, lol.

 

LOL love it!! Thanks for the video.

 

no problem man cool to see they added the video feature where you don't have to click a link to see it, that's new to me!


now go fix it again, tony!

 

So today... Uhm, well, I guess at the time of this post, I should say yesterday (Saturday), things were off to a good start, tapped the holes where I had problem plugs. Go to finish dropping the pan, snap another bolt. So, got the drill out. Sadly, this one did not end as well as the other. I had to tap it a bigged size (and it appears either the size I used from the tap set is strictly for use with a heli-coil thread repair OR it's a truly odd ball size). Tomorrow, making a trip to a store that sells a crazy selection of bolts.

But, all the rest went good. I also just had an odd ball answer to a mystery. When I dropped the pan, a small white plastic piece with an o-ring on it was in there. I could not find where it went and got to the point of "the car's trans worked fine, I'll set it aside and research it". The shop book made NO mention of it. So, I hit Google for answers. Appears it's common during assembly for Ford to pop this "stemmed plug" in where the trans dip stick goes. When the stick is put in, this piece just pops out and sits in the bottom of the pan. It's a throw away. Good grief lol!! Had me worried but now it makes sense!!!

The Stang is ALMOST done lol!! Tomorrow I hope.

 

I hate working on anything that isn't GM made. I spent an hour trying to pull a starter bolt on a Nissan only to find out the bolt was on top and went through the engine block.