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Whining noise from 40 ~ 70 MPH

outlier

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Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 XLT
Hello all,

Took our 2002 Explorer XLT (80K miles) up to Firestone as there was an uncomfortable sort of grinding and roughness and what the wife describes as "running heavy." I had noticed this along with a whining sound that rises in pitch as one accelerates. As the thread title describes, it is most noticeable from approximately 40 to 70 MPH, but only when I am pressing the gas pedal. If I am traveling at these speeds and let off of the gas, the whining stops.

I had not initially noticed this development in part as 1. I usually drive our Nissan Pathfinder and 2. When I drive the Explorer, I am usually taking it on short trips and am blasting Deep Purple, Motorhead, Yngwie Malmsteen, that sort of thing... ;) So I did not hear it at first... :D

After I did notice, it became painfully obvious to me at least. I started driving the Explorer a lot more. The Pathfinder sat in the garage for a good while, upon which I did take it out at one point. The problem then became even more conspicuous as the Pathfinder was nearly dead silent and like riding on air in comparison.

Shortly after I'd dropped the Explorer off, Firestone called me back, said that it was a common problem, that the wheel bearings had gone bad and that this was typical in Explorers with between 60K to 110K miles. I had noticed uneven tread wear on the front tires, and they pointed that out to me as evidence.

I told them to go ahead and do the work. Got it back and the roughness and uncomfortable vibration is definitely gone.

BUT, driving it, the whining is still there. It's getting loud enough that when listening to talk radio at a normal volume, the whining is starting to drown out the radio.

So there's obviously another problem there, but with this economy, we just don't have the money to blindly toss around in hopes of solving the problem.

I know that the vehicle is overdue for a transmission fluid service, but I'd be very disappointed if I spent more money I don't have right now on something that doesn't solve the whining noise problem. I'd definitely like to know if I can zero in on this whining noise first and then think about tackling some of the other scheduled servicing, etc.

Any thoughts? Recommendations?


Thanks in advance. :cool:
 



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The whining is the rear end. The only fix is to replace it or have it rebuilt, you can replace the fluid (always a good idea) and that may quiet it down some but will not fix it.
 






Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this info as to the specifics of what is occurring? Less than four years ago, we had the local stick-up dealership completely rebuild the differential/rear end as part of a warranty repair.

As a side note, they messed up our brakes which had a very bad pulsing after returning the vehicle. The service mangler, sorry, manager quoted me that it would cost a little over $100.00 to fix the brakes they finally admitted after much discussion were not in that condition when they vehicle was received. Took it up there, $100.00 turned into a quote of $1100.00 (yes, correct number of zeroes) because their "best guy" all of a sudden found all kinds of new work their "best guy" couldn't find the last time he had it. I basically told 'em to ... y'know ... and took the truck they broke somewhere else.

In any case, before I do anything, I need to be armed with the exact and precise info here. Thank you very much. :) :cool:
 






[>>>>>>>>>>>
Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this info as to the specifics of what is occurring? Less than four years ago, we had the local stick-up dealership completely rebuild the differential/rear end as part of a warranty repair. >>>>>>>>>>>>

I would say a whining noise coming from the rear end would be "bearings". There are bearings inside of the rear diff housing. I can't tell you anything on how to repair them, not having done them myself. Try changing the gear oil like Tower said. BTW, I like your choice in music, but try some Judas Priest or Iron Maiden because the higher pitched voices of the lead singers and screaming guitars will drown out that whining noise coming from the rear end. :)

>>>>>>>>>>>> Took it up there, $100.00 turned into a quote of $1100.00 (yes, correct number of zeroes) because their "best guy" all of a sudden found all kinds of new work their "best guy" couldn't find the last time he had it. I basically told 'em to ... y'know ... and took the truck they broke somewhere else.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sounds like the scum bag dealership service manager tried to make up the money he lost on you for the previous warranty repair on your rear diff rebuild by looking for bogus problems in your vehicle. I had a similar thing happen to me a few months at a transmission shop. The kid owner of this tranny shop had to replace the first rebuilt tranny he installed in my truck under his warranty after it fried out. After he installed his 2nd tranny, my current one, he told me that I would probably be bringing my truck back to him in a few months anyhow, and I said why is that, and he said because my rear end bearings are going. I asked him what was wrong with the rear end bearings and he said, there is oil leaking from the weep hole, which means the bearings are getting hot. He actually told me that when I bring it back to him for this rear end bearing repair, he will make up the money he lost for his 2nd tranny install work thru my own extended warranty I have for my vehicle. These repair shops over bill warranty companys for the price of a repair. Soon as he said this to me, I began to wonder if he intentionally tampered with the rear diff of my truck, so I changed all the gear oil in the rear diff. He had no business or permission from me to even be looking at other area's of my truck for problems. So far, no problems or noise in the rear end and I never had any gear oil leaking out of it as he said it was. Not a drop in the driveway. I had some other problems with this tranny guy as well and exchanged words with him. Little does he know, I'll never let this "crooked" piece of $hit ever touch my truck ever again for any type of repair. Wish I could help you more with your repair issue. BTW, how much did Firestone charge you to repair those front end bearings, just curious?
It has been my experience with Nationally chained repair shops like Firestone, Midas, Monroe etc, is that they will soak you for every little thing they can find on your vehicle. You bring it in for a brake job and leave with the entire suspension replaced if you get my meaning. I don't trust those places, dealerships either. The tranny shop I mentioned earlier, I didn't have a choice in taking it there since the dealership I bought the truck at had to pay for the transmission rebuild. No money out of my pocket other than a lot of aggravation and time lost with the vehicle.


]
 






Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this info as to the specifics of what is occurring? Less than four years ago, we had the local stick-up dealership completely rebuild the differential/rear end as part of a warranty repair.

You got 4 years out of a rebuilt one? Sadly that's not that bad. As to what is occurring, the gears wear/slightly shift and make noise. If you do a search you will find countless post that mirror yours, noise under power in the 40-70 mph range.

I had mine replaced at around 112k after it gave up (blew a hole in the case). I then changed my gear oil every 10k on the new one and guess what the gears are humming away :(.
 






I have a lot of Priest and Maiden CDs, though of the latter, I prefer the Paul DiAnno-era Killers and he does have a lower voice... So I may have to match the whining sound with the artists recommended.

About the repair, it was a hair over $700.00. I hope this is an alright amount. I have trusted this garage for some time now and they've always been pretty much straight with us in the past.

Thing is, we have an aftermarket Platinum warranty coverage still. Through some confusion between my wife and me, I didn't submit the claim through the warranty company, but may still be able to. The wife spoke to the company on the telephone today and told us how to proceed with this so that we might be able to have them pay for some of it as we had some other service done at the same time that wouldn't be covered. I will add that the company told the wife that they would cover rear end rebuild work.

Since posting, did some searching on the internet and saw that this is a common problem and complaint. Amazing that we can only reasonably expect four years out of a rebuild, particularly in that we both work from home and most driving is done locally. Very often, it's not driven at all for days at a time as we do not have commutes, obviously. That said, we've had to make several 2000 mile round trip business trips in the past year and a half. There were consecutive months in which two weekends out of every month were spent driving. Not very fun.

I have no doubt that some shops tamper with and deliberately damage vehicles in for service. I have a few stories of my own... I'm amazed that these thieves would rather go for the short-term score of padding a bill and breaking components, rather than go in for building a long-term positive relationship.

And without getting too sidetracked, it's something not limited to auto repair, but a local gun shop comes to mind and is much the same: They rip off newbies and those who haven't educated themselves with their insane prices. Upon this, most wise up and then move on to build a relationship with a different gun shop. The interesting aspect to all of this is that there seems to be quite a good income available to those who will rip off the unsuspecting, uninformed and new-to-the-area with the full knowledge that these customers will eventually become disgruntled and move on.

Speaking of the dealer again, they have numerous BBB complaints listed online and elsewhere: Yahoo, etc. And I even knew someone from the dealership owner's family and that didn't seem to help much. This person mostly just treated me to a bunch of BS about how their mechanics were oh so trained and why they have to be paid practically just for glancing in your vehicle's direction. Even though this person apparently runs the Service Department, when I used terms like "engine fan" and "firewall," this individual professed to have no knowledge of what these items even were. Judging by other aspects of our conversations, I am pretty sure that claim of ignorance was one of the few honest claims made to me.

All that said, Firestone told us today that that type of rebuild is not something they do. There is another dealer I took the truck to for a recall repair and they seemed to be OK. So if need be, I'll go with them and keep my fingers crossed.
 






You got 4 years out of a rebuilt one? Sadly that's not that bad. As to what is occurring, the gears wear/slightly shift and make noise. If you do a search you will find countless post that mirror yours, noise under power in the 40-70 mph range.

I had mine replaced at around 112k after it gave up (blew a hole in the case). I then changed my gear oil every 10k on the new one and guess what the gears are humming away :(.


My rear end on my 2004 has been rebuilt twice in 140,000 miles and is starting to whine again...

Thinking about going from 3.55 to 3.27 to help with highway fuel economy on the next rebuild :eek:
 






>>>>>>>>>
About the repair, it was a hair over $700.00. I hope this is an alright amount. I have trusted this garage for some time now and they've always been pretty much straight with us in the past.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm assuming these were wheel hub bearings that were replaced right? I know the hub assemblies can cost between $125-$250 each. It depends on were you buy them at and when the repair shop orders the part, they always place a "shop surcharge" on the price for each part. They usually don't tell you about the shop surcharge for the part, just give it to you as one parts price on the repair invoice. You can check the price surcharge difference by asking the shop what parts store or dealership they got your parts from and then call that parts store and see what it would cost you if you bought them yourself. Since repair shops don't have to send their own people to pick up these parts and the parts suppliers have free delivery to repair shops, I think it sucks that the repair shops tack on this fee or surcharge to your bill. I know from reading up on this type of repair there is some work involved in removing them. I guessing, but it appears the shop charged you at least 4-5 hours labor to R&R them. Even if they did the job in less time, they would still charge you what ever the "Hourly/job rate" book calls for for that repair. The price they gave you was probably right.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Thing is, we have an aftermarket Platinum warranty coverage still. Through some confusion between my wife and me, I didn't submit the claim through the warranty company, but may still be able to. The wife spoke to the company on the telephone today and told us how to proceed with this so that we might be able to have them pay for some of it as we had some other service done at the same time that wouldn't be covered. I will add that the company told the wife that they would cover rear end rebuild work.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I hope the warranty company covers the work you already paid for, but I would be surprised if they do, since you never had the repair shop that did the work, phone them to submit a claim on your behalf prior to the start of repairs. On my last and current aftermarket warranty rules, I had to take my vehicle to a repair shop, have them diagnose the problem and give them my warranty claim number and the repair shop has to call it in for you to the warranty company to start the claim. Every repair shop I've spoken to says you should never speak about repair issues or costs with the warranty company, to let the mechanics/repair shops deal with them. You can call the warranty company for general information, like if they paid on a claim etc, but do not discuss the mechanics diagnosis or repair costs with them. They will try and screw you on a claim if they can so becareful how much info you give them.

>>>>>>>>Amazing that we can only reasonably expect four years out of a rebuild, particularly in that we both work from home and most driving is done locally>>>>>>>>>>>

Once rebuilt, it should last forever as far as I'm concerned. Forever meaning for as long as you own the vehicle. Nothing is built to last anymore.

>>>>>>>>>>>>I have no doubt that some shops tamper with and deliberately damage vehicles in for service. I have a few stories of my own... I'm amazed that these thieves would rather go for the short-term score of padding a bill and breaking components, rather than go in for building a long-term positive relationship.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Absolutely! All these money grubbers care about is the fast buck $$$$. I guess being in business for yourself means you can lose your morals and conscience and do what ever crooked is necessary to put money in their pockets. I trust very few repair shops. It takes years to build up that trust.

>>>>>>>>Speaking of the dealer again, they have numerous BBB complaints listed online and elsewhere: Yahoo, etc. And I even knew someone from the dealership owner's family and that didn't seem to help much. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Same here. The tranny shop I went to has (5) BBB complaints against him in the last 3 years, with 2 going never resolved and the complaintants got fed up in dealing with him and went else where. He has also been sued in court for failing to fix someone vehicle properly. Thats a lot of complaints when you are in business. I spoke to another repair shop owner and he knows the tranny shop I was at, and he told me this tranny shop has an 80% return rate for problems with the rebuilt trannys he sells. He said the tranny shop will fix the problems under it's warranties, but people still have to go through that BS of bringing their vehicles back to him. I learned all this after the fact. Sad thing is, this is a high volume, nationally named chain of Transmission shops and the one I was at, has been there over 30 years and the family that runs it, owns 2 locations of them. The one I was at was taken over by the younger son and the father is at the other one. The younger son is the dirt bag.

>>>>>>>>This person mostly just treated me to a bunch of BS about how their mechanics were oh so trained >>>>>>>>>>

They will tell you anything to get you in the door and get your money. This tranny shop guy told me I was getting this great rebuilt transmission with all these new parts installed in it, it lasted a whopping 32 days or 650 miles before it shorted out. Then he kept my truck another 5 days to install the 2nd rebuilt tranny.

>>>>>>>>>All that said, Firestone told us today that that type of rebuild is not something they do. There is another dealer I took the truck to for a recall repair and they seemed to be OK. So if need be, I'll go with them and keep my fingers crossed>>>>>>>>>>>

Transmission shops should be able to do rear diff rebuilds. The one I went to said he does that type of work. He said he works on anything in the drive train, but no engine work. A transmission shop maybe cheaper than a dealership due to the lower labor rates they charge. Try one of them if you trust the place. Good luck!
 






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