Intermittent squeak, driving me crazy!

[bex]

I have a 2003 explorer,v8 4x4. I have owned in since December and have had no problems, it has 66k miles on it.

For the last few months, maybe even 6 months or heck, even when I bought it, there has been this intermittent squeak occuring. I only noticed at the beginning of this summer, but really realized it this weekend that there was in fact a squeak occuring and that I may have even heard it in the spring or winter.

The squeak is defintly coming from outside and from the rear of the car. It occurs every 12 to 20 seconds no matter what speed I am driving. It is just a quick little "squeak!" that is very noticable with the windows down but can still hear it with the windows up but it is not as noticable.

I tested this weekend, it seems no matter how fast or slow I drive, curves I take or bumps, the squeak still sounds the same and occurs at the same 12 to 20 second intervals.

The explorer has a warranty on it that I bought when I bought the car used, can I just take it to any dealership? Or does it have to be the same one I bought it from? The one I bought it from is a long ways away and rather not make the long drive.

I hope someone can tell me what is wrong, perhaps a wheel bearing? But I would have thought it would have gone out by now, any bearing I would think.

Thank you

 

[02mountaineerv8]

I'm just taking a wild guess, but do you have ur AC on at the time of this squeak? If so, its the air compresser, mine does it as well.

If there is no AC on, then I'm at a loss right now? Not really sure at this point then.

 

[bex]

Well, tried that out and no kidding, it did not make the squeak with the AC off. Thanks!

Do you know why it makes the squeak?

At least I can rest my mind a bit now, was scraed it was the wheel bearings or some wierd drive train problem.

 

[02mountaineerv8]

Well, tried that out and no kidding, it did not make the squeak with the AC off. Thanks!

Do you know why it makes the squeak?

At least I can rest my mind a bit now, was scraed it was the wheel bearings or some wierd drive train problem.

I'm not sure why the compressor makes that squeak when the AC is on. I took mine to the dealers when I first brought my Mountaineer becuase of this squeaking, and they told me it was normal. So I paid attention to other Explorers on the road when I know they had there AC on, and sure enough, every 15 or so seconds, the same squeak would sound from theres. Seems like almost every Explorer does this with the AC on from 02-05, same with the 04 F-150 we have, same thing.
As far as I know, it doesn't hurt anything, just bothersome a little bit, but I hardly pay attention to it anymore, just got used to it.