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05 explorer loud humming noise while driving

brian smith

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August 13, 2009
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City, State
lufkin tx
Year, Model & Trim Level
05 explorer
last few weeks my wife has been complaining that her explorer has been making a funny noise. I just figured she was making a big deal out of nothing. So today, after her nagging me about it I went out and took it for a drive. Sure enough, its making a loud humming sound as i drive it. It doesnt matter if its low speed or highway it makes the same humming sound. Any ideas on what it could be. It has been maintained very well and it has about 70,000 miles. Its V6 and 2 wheel drive
 



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last few weeks my wife has been complaining that her explorer has been making a funny noise. I just figured she was making a big deal out of nothing. So today, after her nagging me about it I went out and took it for a drive. Sure enough, its making a loud humming sound as i drive it. It doesnt matter if its low speed or highway it makes the same humming sound. Any ideas on what it could be. It has been maintained very well and it has about 70,000 miles. Its V6 and 2 wheel drive



at a resonable speed swerve left and right does the noise go away and come back as you straighten out......

humming sounds like a wheel bearing
 






Jack up the front and see how hard it is to spin the wheels.

Sounds like a bearing. I've been there. Bought a hub on Ebay and saved some bucks.
 






ok I'll jack the front up today and spin the wheels. Your saying that if they dont spin freely then its safe to assume its a wheel bearing. I guess i should try all four and see which one is not spinning free huh?
 






Did you ever get the noise fixed? My wife's Mountaineer is making the same noise and I can't diagnose the issue. I changed the right front CV shaft and that wasn't it. I want to think it is a wheel bearing but I don't know. I checked the drive shafts and joints and they feel good. The noise begins at around 12 mph doesn't change noise levels when I turn left or right. The noise gets louder the faster I go but doesn't get any louder over 50 mph. Any insight on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Michael
 






Bump - Same issue:exp:
 






Just changed both front wheel end bearings - did not do the trick... I don't know where the noise/vibration could be coming from. Anyone?
 






are you sure its coming from the front? might wanna check the rears. also could be the differential problem lots of people seem to have. I have a humming coming from my rear differential and from what i was told (by a shop) it sounds like bad bearings in the differential.. i dunno
 






I have been tossing that idea around as well. I had my rear diff seal blow out on me at the beginning of the year. I was hauling a boat to Arkansas when it happened. I had read a post about front diff bearings going out. As hunting season is upon me that check will have to wait.
 






wifes 02 explorer does this. the noise stops while going through right hand corners. no idea what it could be
 






are your tires balanced? if they are outta balamce that could cause it
 






i have a feeling for my problem its going to be the right side rear wheel bearing. wonder how big of a pita this is going to be.
 






The rear differential whine is different... it only occurs at certain speeds, for example mine happens between 50 - 60 mph and if you let off the gas, it stops.
 






I have a slight humming too, but when i put it in 4 wheel drive it gets extremely loud and feels like a grinding. Could it be the front differential fluid? Or would mis matched tires also cause this. For summer i had 255/70/16 in the back and 245/70/16 in the front. I figured in snow the difference would matter and the tires would slip but its def grinding bad.
 






I have a slight humming too, but when i put it in 4 wheel drive it gets extremely loud and feels like a grinding. Could it be the front differential fluid? Or would mis matched tires also cause this. For summer i had 255/70/16 in the back and 245/70/16 in the front. I figured in snow the difference would matter and the tires would slip but its def grinding bad.

If you are running different size tires on the front and back and you have 4 x 4 then you are heading for trouble. The diameter size of the tires matters. The reason being because your crown gears in the front and rear differentials are the same gear tooth- in other words if the rear has 3:55 to 1 then so does the front. If it has 3:27 to 1 then so does the front.Running 255/70 on rear and 245/70 on front MAY be enough to cause the rear crown to rotate at different RPM than the front crown with 245/70 on when in 4x4. Something to keep in mind when you turn corners.
 






i agree with xcamp. I had my rear end make noise. There is a tsb out there for it as it replaces the ring and pinion and switchs to thicker fluid.

Mine made noise after it warmed up, go about 50-60mph and let off the gas it would go away, tap the gas lightly and you could hear it, let off and it goes away.

good luck
 












i agree wit bobbronco aswell...also some of the 02-05 explorers in the rear had a bit of a mix up as mine did. some of the gears in the rear the teeth were manufactured wrong thus making a humming sound from the rear and ford did not address that problem. i had to replace my ring an pinion an went ahead an replaced races, braces an serviced the rear end and the humming sound went away. so if you replace the rear wheel bearings an the sound is still there its your rear differental.:exp:
 






Humming noise

Having the same humming noises coming from the front end (driver side). I replaced the wheel bearing and noise did'nt go away. Also, rotated wheels (did'nt make a difference) and checked diff oil (it was full) Is there something else i should look at? wondering if it could be a u joint?
thanks for all the input!
 



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if you're still having trouble locating the noise, after driving it for a while, park it and feel for abnormally hot parts, friction = heat. so if one hub is far hotter than the other, it could be a sign there is a bearing bad in it and that's you're culprit. also, you're differential could be the problem too, i've had dif's make sounds very similar to what you're describing, if they're bad enough they'll do it at pretty much any speed. check dif fluid and see if it looks normal... if it looks silvery (full of metal dust) that would indicate a problem too.

good luck
 






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