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A new noise on my '02

Druidrv

Member
Joined
November 21, 2008
Messages
13
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0
City, State
Mineral Wells, WV
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 Explorer XLS
My 02 XLS has developed a thumping noise while driving. It sound like it is coming from the front end, and usually when u are coasting or breaking not under acceleration. It will stop if u engage the 4WD on the fly and return when u switch it back to 4W auto. It only does it about half the time. The rest of the time it sounds fine. That thumping sound is almost like the sound that you get when you are in 4X4 auto and the rear wheels start to slip in the snow and the 4 wheel kicks in, just not as hard or loud. Or, several years ago we had a miss-matched tire mounted on the front end when we got new tires. As we went down the road, it made a "thump, thump, thump" sound. We thought it was a bad tire and took it back and got the tire replaced with the correct size and the sound was gone. Now we have new matched tires on it. (put on 4 months ago) It also seems to pull to the left slightly when it starts to thump and then pull back to the right when it stops. I am clueless. I have a friend that works at a trans shop and he said it sounded like one of the hubs was engaging. He said that they work off a electric or vaccume solinoid depending on the year. That sounds hinky to me, but who am I. I know my way around this thing pretty good, as I have personally replaced the 4X4 module, rear wheel bearings, rear diff seals, fixed a broken ground wire in the drivers side door, rear abs speed sensor, air bag clock spring, replaced the heater diverter door motor and I am currently in the middle of replacing the diverter door itself. And let me tell u that is turning out to be lots of fun. There also seems to be a very slight grinding noise coming from the front end but only when the 4WD is engaged. Probably front wheel bearings, but I dont know if that would cause my thumping noise. Any ideas? I dont want or can afford to take this thing to ford. :confused:Thanks for any help, Ron
 



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Hi Ron,

1. All 4 tires need to match and have equal wear.
2. When are you using 4wd hi and 4wd lo? If you are using them w/o reason, then you may be damaging your 4wd system.

Just for clarification, your 02 has 4x4 Auto, 4x4 Hi, and 4x4 Lo... correct? Thanks!
 






all tires are equal size and age. (new) Its not the tires. As far as the 4WD, I never use 4W low and the 4W high is used as needed. I have owned this thing since it was new and it has never been beat on or off roaded. Let me repeat, it is NOT in the tires. The noise is there in 2WD and disappears when placed in 4WD.
 






I forgot, it does have 4 wheel auto, 4W high and 4W low. thanks for the impute. Ron
 






The more I read on this site the more I am reading about auto hubs. People are saying that they can engage when they are not supposed to. That sounds alot like my problem. Is this true and if so how do I check them. May be my friend in the transmission business is on the right track. Ron
 






The more I read on this site the more I am reading about auto hubs. People are saying that they can engage when they are not supposed to. That sounds alot like my problem. Is this true and if so how do I check them. May be my friend in the transmission business is on the right track. Ron

I have exactly the same problemin 03 6cyl explorer no one seemes to be able to help ,Local dlr is useless they spent half a day testing and did not come up with a fix,Ron like you i am a tech with 50 years as a field service engineer with Jaguar cars incmy explorer has gone at least12k miles and about 14 months and nothing has broken but it is very annoying. Mike
 






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