Broken exhaust bracket.

[10clock]

part number is 5A204. Its after the catalytic converter behind the motor.
Noticed a rattling noise upon startup and shifting into first. Put the car up on stands and felt around and found a crack running the width of said bracket. Just ordered the part from ford today: cost is 100.22. Cost for ford to put it on is 100 dollars an hour so I'm going to put it on myself.

I will keep you all informed as to how the installation went.

[mchedd]

10clock - I had something simular thing happen. The service writer had the tech pull the bracket and he welded it. (too long to wait for the part which was under warranty)
BTW Sceol to the bottom of this page to see if this addresses the issue you're experiencing:
http://www.svtownersassociation.com/svtoaforums/showthread.php?t=4865&page=2&pp=15

[Ataru]

I had that bracket break and had it welded....

twice....

It will break again as it fatigues over time. You need to order a new bracket. I replaced mine by myself in about 30 minutes with my car just up on ramps.

[10clock]

It must have taken me an hour and a half to break lose the four bolts holding on the the bracket. The crack by the time I got to it today had completely broken the bracket. Aside from that install was pretty easy with everything falling back into place. I actually have access to a lab which can find the cause of the crack. A defect, over stress and so forth. I should have the results sometime next week so we can identify the exact cause and take steps to avoid such a failure from occuring in the future.
Thanks for the input, the rattle it was making really made it hard to drive the car with a chick in it. "So your looking rather fine to.." (horrible rattle)
thankyou all for the input.

[keitho51]

I'm getting the same bracket repalced. The original rusted in half. Also getting a FREE brand new tranny, clutch and flywheel due to a little known Ford TSB

[Blkmamba03]

ford charged me 75 for the cat bracket and 75 for labor. Mine broke at 53,000 miles from the weak bracket.i also had 10-30 oil in it for a short time ,i dont suggest changing for the climate. Ford changed my oil to 5w 20 synthetic and told me all fords are running 5w20 year round. The car starts really well now in freezing temps. Oh Keitho51 u are really going to enjoy the updated clutch/flywheel/pressure plate upgrade.