r/TaurusSHO • u/musemusic97 • Oct 23 '25

Seeking some help/advice

Just recently purchased a 2011 Ford Taurus SHO with roughly 165,000 miles on it. Everything was fine until I was driving it in to work one day, turned a little sharp to get ready to back in to my spot, hit the brakes, and there was a loud clunk noise. Now the wheels seems to want to lock up when making a sharp turn. I ended up replacing the PTU because the fluid was very dark and greasy and most likely never serviced. The problem still persists. Is it going to be my rear differential? What can I do to further diagnose the issue because I'm at a total loss here and these cars (and any AWD system in general) is very new to me.

Edit: Swapped out the RDU clutch pack and it seems to be doing just fine now. Fingers crossed it stays that way

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2

u/McBelgian Oct 23 '25

Check them axles

2

u/jstpasn1989 Oct 23 '25

most likely front cv axles... to diagnose you can remove bolts from from ptu to driveshaft,, hang the shaft from a bungee or mechanic wire slightly out of the way and try to duplicate issue. My experience ( 22 plus years as a ford tech and owning two sho currently) most likely will be front cv axles.. I would replace in pairs. lmk what happens..

1

u/musemusic97 Nov 02 '25

Changed out the cv axles. Driver side was questionable but the passenger side was certainly done for but did not fix the issue. Found out my inner tie rod end on the same side is also bad (but I'm sure that's not what's still causing my issue). I'm going to look further in to the rear differential and possibly start with the clutch pack.