2013 Explorer XLT 3.5 Weird popping/binding at front tires | Ford Explorer Forums

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2013 Explorer XLT 3.5 Weird popping/binding at front tires

beau.young

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February 19, 2021
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Smyrna
Year, Model & Trim Level
2013 Ford Explorer XLT
Hey everyone. I'm not usually the one to come to the web asking a question, but I'm hoping someone has dealt with this before and can get me pointed in the right direction for troubleshooting. I can mechanic, so no worries there.

My 2013 Explorer started making a very odd noise and action today. The last 4 days we have undergone an unusual winter storm. Lots of ice, sleet and snow. I drove my SUV 2 days ago, parked it fine, noticed no issues, didn't drive yesterday, and today went to drive, was in it for about 10 minutes before I ever made it to any roads clear enough from ice and snow to go above 30mph. When I made it to a clear road, I started to make my left hand turn, and I heard some extremely weird squeaking or "worn joint" sound on acceleration. I then noticed as I climbed in speed something towards the front of the car was "whirring" with the level of speed. So as I accelerated or maintained speed, I could hear this noise, but when I let off the pedal, the noise disappeared. I turned around and headed back to the house. When I went to back up to park it in the driveway, the front tires locked up, sliding across the snow. Pulled forward and it rolled fine. Backed up again, and once it hit that same spot, the front tires binded up. If you keep in the gas a little, it will "pop" past that point. Pulled all the way out of the driveway to turn around and pull in instead of backing in, and it pops going forwards too.

Does anyone have any insight on where to check with this? It does t have anything to do with turning, does it straight, forwards and reverse, etc. I feel like it's gonna be the front diff or something. I just pulled it into the garage, go na give it the night to thaw and drip all the frozen ice and snow off and check it out then.
 



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Hey everyone. I'm not usually the one to come to the web asking a question, but I'm hoping someone has dealt with this before and can get me pointed in the right direction for troubleshooting. I can mechanic, so no worries there.

My 2013 Explorer started making a very odd noise and action today. The last 4 days we have undergone an unusual winter storm. Lots of ice, sleet and snow. I drove my SUV 2 days ago, parked it fine, noticed no issues, didn't drive yesterday, and today went to drive, was in it for about 10 minutes before I ever made it to any roads clear enough from ice and snow to go above 30mph. When I made it to a clear road, I started to make my left hand turn, and I heard some extremely weird squeaking or "worn joint" sound on acceleration. I then noticed as I climbed in speed something towards the front of the car was "whirring" with the level of speed. So as I accelerated or maintained speed, I could hear this noise, but when I let off the pedal, the noise disappeared. I turned around and headed back to the house. When I went to back up to park it in the driveway, the front tires locked up, sliding across the snow. Pulled forward and it rolled fine. Backed up again, and once it hit that same spot, the front tires binded up. If you keep in the gas a little, it will "pop" past that point. Pulled all the way out of the driveway to turn around and pull in instead of backing in, and it pops going forwards too.

Does anyone have any insight on where to check with this? It does t have anything to do with turning, does it straight, forwards and reverse, etc. I feel like it's gonna be the front diff or something. I just pulled it into the garage, go na give it the night to thaw and drip all the frozen ice and snow off and check it out then.
Put all 4 in the air today, started it, put it in drive, no noise, put it in reverse, same popping, except I got video of it now. It seems to be coming from where the driveshaft goes into the transfer case, or in the area. Also got some Terrain Management System, ABS, 4WD off error messages today. There are lots of topics on the forum regarding TMS, but none with these symptoms that I seen. Any insight is appreciated. Video coming soon.
 






Put all 4 in the air today, started it, put it in drive, no noise, put it in reverse, same popping, except I got video of it now. It seems to be coming from where the driveshaft goes into the transfer case, or in the area. Also got some Terrain Management System, ABS, 4WD off error messages today. There are lots of topics on the forum regarding TMS, but none with these symptoms that I seen. Any insight is appreciated. Video coming soon.
for video
 






That looks very rough. You can see the drive shaft pause right before it pops and spins again.

It could be the a couple things.
CV Joint/axle on the front if it's every revolution.
The other possible issue is the transfer case.

How many miles on your Ex?
If that's the view of the drive shaft, how fast were the wheels turning?
Was the noise every wheel revolution?
 






Put all 4 in the air today, started it, put it in drive, no noise, put it in reverse, same popping, except I got video of it now. It seems to be coming from where the driveshaft goes into the transfer case, or in the area. Also got some Terrain Management System, ABS, 4WD off error messages today. There are lots of topics on the forum regarding TMS, but none with these symptoms that I seen. Any insight is appreciated. Video coming soon.
Welcome to the Forum. :wave:
I don't believe I've read anything about that specific issue. Have you checked to see if any trouble code(s) have been stored?

Peter
 






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