HELP 2004 Ford explorer has an intermittent bang / clunk

[Bri2004]

2004 Ford explorer 4x4 V6 65,000 miles

It has an intermittent bang / clunk well driving at any speed.

Sounds like somewhere near the transfer case or rear end.

Only does it once in awhile in any kind of weather dry, rain, snow.

It can go 200-300 miles and not do it then all of the sudden it does it again.

It's really sudden then stops instantly. No change in the RPM’s or speedometer change.

Does it with the cruise on or off, in 4x4 and out of 4x4, with overdrive on or off.

The tranny shifts fine in all gears, all u joints are good, all axles, transfer case and tranny are full of fluid and no idiot lights on.
What gives?

 

[shadowless127]

How is tread wear?

uneven tread can cause the automatic 4wd to engage and then disengage. When I worked at a used car dealer, an ex almost identical to yours (03, same mileage, same engine) had the same problem and it wound up being the tires. So instead of listening to me when I said change the tires day 1, the wasted about 1500$ in parts and labor, plus 4-days of a rental car, only to find out it was tires.

 

[Bri2004]

I have heard that before about the tires. I am going to pull fuses 17 & 18 to eliminate the 4x4 system and see if it still makes the noise. If it stops I will put the fuses back in and rotate the tires and go from there.

 

[Mustangman66]

Sound like 4x4 is engaging, i just had a similar problem, if it starts do do it quickly hit it into 4x4 high, see if it goes away.

after i put all new tires on it, the problem went away

the symptoms i experienced were a strange gear grinding noise and a feeling of the car being held back, like the brakes were sticking, and a jerking/clunking randomly when cruising and always when decelerating.

 

[Bri2004]

2004 Ford explorer 4x4 V6 65,000 miles

It has an intermittent bang / clunk well driving at any speed.

Sounds like somewhere near the transfer case or rear end.

Only does it once in awhile in any kind of weather dry, rain, snow.

It can go 200-300 miles and not do it then all of the sudden it does it again.

It's really sudden then stops instantly. No change in the RPM’s or speedometer change.

Does it with the cruise on or off, in 4x4 and out of 4x4, with overdrive on or off.

The tranny shifts fine in all gears, all u joints are good, all axles, transfer case and tranny are full of fluid and no idiot lights on.
What gives?

Well I pulled fuses 17 & 18 to eliminate the 4x4 system and it still does it? Any ideas what it might be?

 

[Cjpooch]

Possibly the rear wheel bearing?

 

[Bri2004]

2004 Ford explorer 4x4 V6 65,000 miles

It has an intermittent bang / clunk well driving at any speed.

Sounds like somewhere near the transfer case or rear end.

Only does it once in awhile in any kind of weather dry, rain, snow.

It can go 200-300 miles and not do it then all of the sudden it does it again.

It's really sudden then stops instantly. No change in the RPM’s or speedometer change.

Does it with the cruise on or off, in 4x4 and out of 4x4, with overdrive on or off.

The tranny shifts fine in all gears, all u joints are good, all axles, transfer case and tranny are full of fluid and no idiot lights on.
What gives?

Still have this issue. Any ideas?

 

[HCCA 250]

I had this happen with nearly the same mileage. I never found the real culprit. But, I did replace the alternator, and battery. The reason was that the alternator was going bad, and the battery had been damaged due to weak voltage. The problem was just as yours, intermitant. After I replaced these parts, I never had this problem, again. That is, until my transmission went bad. However, that was 55K later.

Note: The transmission is ELECTRONICLY controlled.... Hint Hint!

 

[pet575]

I had a similar problem, but only when it snowed. Turned out the combo of cold temps and water were somehow finding their way into my MAF sensor and jacking it up. Loose air intake box was allowing the problem to happen in the first place.

 

[Bri2004]

I had a similar problem, but only when it snowed. Turned out the combo of cold temps and water were somehow finding their way into my MAF sensor and jacking it up. Loose air intake box was allowing the problem to happen in the first place.

Same here when it's cold and snowy. What did you do to fix it?