Strange noise
 

Female Mustang owner, new to this board and need some advice before taking my car to shop.

Every time I crank my car, I hear a "clacking" nose. It continues when I accelerate and shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Once I begin "highway driving" there is no noise. I never hear it again until I stop and begin accelerating from 1st again.

There are never any lights that come on; no odd smells; no other odd noises.

I have a 99 V-6, has been kept in good condition. Has LOTS of miles since I am a mega-commuter, but I regularly had oil changes and regular maintenance done on the car.

Any advice on what could be causing this problem? Thanks.
Nye

Not a lot to go on but a cracked flywheel would
do that.
(been there)

I'm assuming since you only said shift into 3rd, then highway driving that your car is an automatic. I'd probably say it's a bad torque converter. When you're at freeway speeds the torque converter locks up and spins as a unit, when under load the impeller and turbine inside the torque converter spin at different speeds. I'd probably guess there is a clearance problem inside the converter causing there to be grinding, quite possibly the turbine and impeller are rubbing against each other. This is of course, my guess. Keep us posted as to what they find.