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front end making a creaking/squeaking noise???

nicole7

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Year, Model & Trim Level
2001 Ford Explorer Sport
Hello everyone,

I have a 2001 Ford Explorer SUV Sport 2WD
and sometimes makes like a creaking and squeaking noise. Sometimes it is very faint sound and sometimes its louder. I hear it when turning a sharp turn, going over speed bumps , and hitting pot holes. (I do have a lot speed bumps in my neighborhood and there's a lot of potholes that i can't avoid sometimes.) I don't hear the sound when I am just driving straight. And when my car is parked and I am getting in and out of my car it makes the noise a little.
I do notice when driving the ride isn't as smooth but more bumpy.


When I bought the car the man said it needed all the shocks replaced soon. Could this just be the shocks?

I did take my car to the mechanic my mother goes to. He said Its the ball joints and all 4 of them need be to replaced and it will be expensive. (But he didn't look at my car or test drive. He just made a guess from the sound at a distance). I am not sure if this correct and he has cheated my mother before regarding repairs. I am just tight on money as a college student. This is my first car and i'm a new driver so im fairly new to this. All answers, advice, and responses are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 



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I had a similar noise. Turned out to be front shocks. See the pic below. When I've had ball joints go bad it's been more of a clunk clunk noise, but may be different for you. If it's any ball joints you'll need an alignment after. Shocks are super easy to replace and no alignment needed so hopefully that's it.

681FC0F2-D592-4611-B325-B9C8C08907C5_zps9d92l8eu.jpg
 












By the way, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your first car!! Lots of friendly and helpful people here.
 






By the way, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your first car!! Lots of friendly and helpful people here.

Thanks, i really like the car and got it for a good price when i bought it.

I had a similar noise. Turned out to be front shocks. See the pic below. When I've had ball joints go bad it's been more of a clunk clunk noise, but may be different for you. If it's any ball joints you'll need an alignment after. Shocks are super easy to replace and no alignment needed so hopefully that's it.

thanks for the reply.

I am not sure if im describing the sound correctly but heres youtube video my car sounds like his when I turn and go over speed bumps : http://youtu.be/0evGYOpEXGw (starts at 0:47). It was loud like his in the video 2 days ago but today the sound is more faint. Is the ball joint sound you're mentioning?
I am curious how much does shocks replacement and ball joint replacement repairs typically cost?
I wish I could learn to do it myself but I have little knowledge about cars.
The mechanic i talked to said the cost to replace all 4 ball joints would cost me about $1000 including parts and labor ? Is that reasonable, doesnt seem like it to me ?
If it is ball joints how long can i wait to repair because money is tight.
But I am daily driver who drives about 50-100miles to work and school every day all together.
 






Here's a good video showing some of the parts. http://youtu.be/IvBm2kvoMQw

Are you able to safely jack the car up at all (floor jack, jack stands?). If not it's going to be hard to find the problem short of crawling under it on the ground. Don't use the stock supplied tire change jack for anything other than removing the tire and looking. As in dont put head hands etc in there.

I forgot about sway bar link bolts since I removed my sway bars years ago (it's an off-road only truck). Also super cheap and easy and went bad on all 3 explorers in my family. They are the bolts with the round blue rubber in the video. Those usually lose their rubber before the sway bar frame mounts and could squeal and clunk.

Look at those things and maybe post some pictures of the components. Link bolts. Ball joints. Shocks. Etc.
 






As for $1000 replacement, I know you can get 4 Moog replacements for $200 max (parts only), and add $75-100 for an alignment. So that's a lot of labor cost to get to $1000. I think book time (labor hours) on a job like that is 3-4 hours. So the mechanic would be charging $175/hour. That's really high. If the mechanic cheated your mom take it to someone else.
 






How many miles are on your 2001? I had one that started squeaking at 35,000 miles. I injected a bit of oil in the ball joint boots to find the problem. After a few miles, no more squeak so I injected them with grease. I have had no problem since. It was my lowers that were dry.
 






reply

As for $1000 replacement, I know you can get 4 Moog replacements for $200 max (parts only), and add $75-100 for an alignment. So that's a lot of labor cost to get to $1000. I think book time (labor hours) on a job like that is 3-4 hours. So the mechanic would be charging $175/hour. That's really high. If the mechanic cheated your mom take it to someone else.

Okay thank you so much, you're very helpful.
It just somewhat hard to find reliable and honest mechanic
 






You could squirt some rubber safe lubricant onto various parts one at a time to see if that shuts it up.
I'd be betting on the sway bar mounts and link rubbers.

It's ok to put oil and grease into tie rd ends and ball joints but definitely don't put oil or grease on rubber, it will destroy it.

I think silicone spray lube is safe on rubber. Anyone?
 






like another poster said lube the ball joints ,if it does not go away do this .

or you could just do this with the help of a friend .

have someone get up under the front end close to the tire .now you push down on the fender ,make it bounce and have the helper listen for the squeak.

i can tell you this ,when the front end of an explorer squeaks its more than likely the control arm bushings ,been there done that .

easy to tell is to bounce the corner of the truck up n down and you should be able to hear the squeak .
you can shoot some lube (i tried this spray grease in a can) on the bushings and see if it clears up or gets better but this is a temp fix at best .

if it is in fact the control arm bushings you need a mechanic to replace them as a spring compressor is needed to remove these arms .
good luck .
 






Okay thank you so much, you're very helpful.
It just somewhat hard to find reliable and honest mechanic

If you are anywhere near the NW side of Atlanta GA I can recommend someone.
 






Hello everyone,

I have a 2001 Ford Explorer SUV Sport 2WD

and sometimes makes like a creaking and squeaking noise. Sometimes it is very faint sound and sometimes its louder. I hear it when turning a sharp turn, going over speed bumps , and hitting pot holes. (I do have a lot speed bumps in my neighborhood and there's a lot of potholes that i can't avoid sometimes.) I don't hear the sound when I am just driving straight. And when my car is parked and I am getting in and out of my car it makes the noise a little.
I do notice when driving the ride isn't as smooth but more bumpy.


When I bought the car the man said it needed all the shocks replaced soon. Could this just be the shocks?


I did take my car to the mechanic my mother goes to. He said Its the ball joints and all 4 of them need be to replaced and it will be expensive. (But he didn't look at my car or test drive. He just made a guess from the sound at a distance). I am not sure if this correct and he has cheated my mother before regarding repairs. I am just tight on money as a college student. This is my first car and i'm a new driver so im fairly new to this. All answers, advice, and responses are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Ball joints are easy to do urself
 






Ball joints are easy to do urself
Hey yes they are (welcome to the forum,) this thread is from 2015 though so it's almost 10 years old! Haha
 






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