clicking noise while driving

[panamexplorer]

Okay... this may seem ridiculous but it is driving me crazy trying to locate!

A couple of months ago I had new motorcraft extreme duty brakes, front wheel bearings and new tires installed on my 98 XLT 4dr, 170,000m. Lately I have heard a 'clicking' sound similar to a baseball card clipped to your bike spokes as a kid. It increases as you accelerate past 20mph and seems to be getting louder. (or I’m just listening harder)

No it is not a stone in the tire, debris on the rotors or something loose rubbing the wheel or a under the hood engine noise etc. I have had them re-check the brakes as well as the front end. Having it on the hoist and turning the wheels by hand isn't enough to recreate the sound and I don't feel like hanging under the vehicle while my wife drives to listen.

It’s killing me because this is the first time I have gone to a mechanic, as I always did the work myself. Just to busy this time. I don't think it is just something stupid or a brake slider clip rubbing I am concerned it is more mechanical.

Has anyone heard of something in the wheel, front end or drivetrain that sounds like this, and might be a precursor to more serious trouble later??

Phil is frustrated and refuses to just ‘turn the radio up’ :navajo:

 

[ford_shooter]

Okay... this may seem ridiculous but it is driving me crazy trying to locate!

A couple of months ago I had new motorcraft extreme duty brakes, front wheel bearings and new tires installed on my 98 XLT 4dr, 170,000m. Lately I have heard a 'clicking' sound similar to a baseball card clipped to your bike spokes as a kid. It increases as you accelerate past 20mph and seems to be getting louder. (or I’m just listening harder)

No it is not a stone in the tire, debris on the rotors or something loose rubbing the wheel or a under the hood engine noise etc. I have had them re-check the brakes as well as the front end. Having it on the hoist and turning the wheels by hand isn't enough to recreate the sound and I don't feel like hanging under the vehicle while my wife drives to listen.

It’s killing me because this is the first time I have gone to a mechanic, as I always did the work myself. Just to busy this time. I don't think it is just something stupid or a brake slider clip rubbing I am concerned it is more mechanical.

Has anyone heard of something in the wheel, front end or drivetrain that sounds like this, and might be a precursor to more serious trouble later??

Phil is frustrated and refuses to just ‘turn the radio up’ :navajo:

I have the same problem with mine.. Front driver side...I cant' figure it out

 

[Gadget X]

Ok, shot in the dark here. My 94' was doing the same thing I think. It was driving me crazy until I found out what it was. It was the speedo cable! for some reason it sounded like it was coming from the brake area on the front driver's side. Wierd, huh?

 

[panamexplorer]

I'm not sure a 98 has a cable or if it is electronic.

I think the speedo sensor unit still has a drive gear in it, so I wonder if it could produce the same noise?

Was your speedo still working?

 

[williams.cory]

lol, I have the same problem, except its when I go in reverse. Starts clicking when going over 5 MPH and goes faster as speed increases. Have no clue what it is, havn't even checked into it (been like this since last summer). Just to lazy to check it out since its just in reverse. It'll be interesting to see what others say.

 

[Gadget X]

I'm not sure a 98 has a cable or if it is electronic.

I think the speedo sensor unit still has a drive gear in it, so I wonder if it could produce the same noise?

Was your speedo still working?

Yeah, it still works, it just "jumps around" a little between like 15 and 25 mph.

 

[jremington59]

lol, I have the same problem, except its when I go in reverse. Starts clicking when going over 5 MPH and goes faster as speed increases. Have no clue what it is, havn't even checked into it (been like this since last summer). Just to lazy to check it out since its just in reverse. It'll be interesting to see what others say.

I have the same rig as yours, only the XLT and I've heard the clicking a couple times in reverse. I'm sure it had something to do with the front brakes.

 

[panamexplorer]

I also think it may be the brakes, as I installed Motorcraft 'extreme' duty parts. They are thicker and I wonder if I'm hitting the dust shield?
I can't make it do it up on a jack or rotating the wheels by hand because I think the characteristics change when the tires don't have load on them.

Has anyone else changed their wheel bearings? I wonder if my new ones have a fault?

I need a dynameter or power roller!

 

[jremington59]

When it's clicking and you first press the brake pedal does it stop?

 

[panamexplorer]

No it doesn't change with braking, I though at first it may be a slider clip etc, there is no pulling or driving problems, no grinding etc.

Just the clicking, it increases with speed and slows down when you decelerate, regardless if you hit the brake pedal.

it doesn't get louder or quieter just faster and slower.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

which drivetrain do you have?

 

[panamexplorer]

4.0L sohv automatic 4x4

 

[SmoothJimmy]

is that still a Dana 35 IFS front axle on the '98 auto4WD? Checked your halfshafts boots for contamination/leaked grease? Front driveshaft ujoints feel ok? I believe your front train moves all the time whether powered or not so those parts are in play. Measured the runout of your brake rotors? Dial indicators can be had cheap from Harbor Freight. While it sounds like a broken record cuz I ref it often, I recently purchased two new hub assemblies and one was badly out of spec.

 

[MXLT]

Universal Joint Ball Kit

It might be that! It just happened to my 96. I checked everything you all have mentioned and couldn't find the noise. After a week I wasn going crazy so I went under again and I was doube checking U-Joints at the front driveshaft, which by the way were pretty firm, I heard this hard to hear noise while rotating it so I decided to take the front DS out. Once out, I tried to move the double cardan and it was very, very hard to move from one side to the other.

Maybe that's it. Check it out, not very difficult to take out DS.

 

[jremington59]

For some reason mine started the clicking again tonight.

I have had a prob with my truck and finally figured that out today and she's fixed. So it's only natural that the other one has a problem now, lol.

Tommorrow I'l get it into the air and see if I can get this one figured out...

 

[panamexplorer]

In answer to the brake question... The 'clicking' does Not change when braking, steering, putting the truck in neutral and coasting... although some days it disappears completely!

really starting to piss me off.. but I will find it!!

Thinking it could be the front u-joint as well

 

[williams.cory]

In answer to the brake question... The 'clicking' does Not change when braking, steering, putting the truck in neutral and coasting... although some days it disappears completely!

really starting to piss me off.. but I will find it!!

Thinking it could be the front u-joint as well

I just realized, it could be a CV joint. It would make sense since you just had a wheel bearing replaced, maybe playing around with the CV joint to replace the wheel bearing caused the bad CV joint to finally reveal itself? Just a thought.

 

[panamexplorer]

I thought that too, but the CV seems fine when turning by hand on the hoist and the boots are good.

Also... the 'clicking seems too light, like a small piece of tin... not steal or heavy sounding.

That's why I first suspected a brake clip. Could be wrong about the CV though, I'll check it out further.

 

[jremington59]

Mine hadn't done it for over a month until tonight.

I don't think it means anything, but it started doing it after I went to the carwash and blew the salt off the rotors and wheels through the slots in the wheel. And both times it didn't start doing it until I went in reverse. I'm also thinking it has something to do with a brake clip or maybe a loose caliper bolt, but I don't know why we'd both have a loose bolt. Last time it happened I jacked it up but couldn't get it to make the noise. Mine sounds like it's in the front drivers side wheel.

 

[panamexplorer]

I had the clicking once before on a Dodge Ram, turned out to be the front rotor.

The ridge that builds up along the edge of the rotor surface where the pad runs had a rust lump that was hitting the caliper everytime it rotated making the clips bounce. I took a file to the edge while turning the wheels and it was fixed.

However on my Explorer I just had new calipers, pads, rotors, wheel bearings, ball joints and tires.

So I can't see a build up of rust yet. Could be the tolerances, but still it is a light tin sound and isn't making any sense!!