Fiesta noise and gearbox whine.

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Mon 14 Oct 2002 16:56
Fiesta noise and gearbox whine. - madf
I bought a 1 year old 4000 mile Fiesta 1.6 Ghia 2 weeks ago. Drives very nicely, rather like a gokart and very nimble.

I tested 3 others and this was the quietest: one was appallingly noisy under breaking and all had gearbox chatter in neutral and whines at speed .

Upon investigation, I found that the aluminium housing on which the gearlever is mounted protrudes into the cabin: about 26cm ahead of the gearlever and just beyond the end of the end of the plastic transmission tunnel. I also discovered that the steering wheel column exits through the floor in a 6cm diameter hold which is plugged by a plastic/nylon part of the steering rack.. The key point is that neither has any form of soundproofing on them so they act as perfect conductors of noise from the engine compartment and gearbox. In addition the soundproofing over the exhaust under the rear seat and in the rear wheel arches is .. negligible ... so no wonder I could hear the brakes being applied in one of the cars I tested.

It's a great car but really Ford should and could have done a lot better..

I hate all noise in a car so I have covered both with soundproofing felt and added further soundproofing to the car (with a kit from HJ's recommended www.noisekiller.com/). Total time taken about 2 hours and have just tested it on the local motorway and high speed country roads. Although still not perfect, engine noise is much reduced, the gearbox chatter is less and I can no longer hear the exhaust booming or the brakes being applied.

Seems so simple.. I fail to understand why Ford produces a very good car and then spoils it..

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