Moaning/whining sound. Is my Explorer haunted??

[Chris Harrach]

Greetings all. I hope someone can shed some light on a problem thats recently started. Lately when I start my truck, there is a moaning/whining sound coming from either the engine or under the truck. It's not something that only happenes when driving, but when stationary as well. It seems that it comes from the passenger side of the engine, around the altenator or belt tensioner under it, but I cant be sure. It usually dies down later in the day, but it remains. The sound sort of goes up or down and does'nt get louder if I accelerate. Just sort of a whiney, moan. Could it be a bad pully on the altenator, or the tensioner? Or is this some other catastrophy thats about to happen? It really has me puzzeled.:scratch: Thanks in advance

Chris.

 

[Explodr94]

I've had two Exploders and that noise has been with me for both. My hypothesis is that it is a properly working fan clutch. The other area that contributes to the noise, "I believe", is the the power steering pump. I have driven both explorers many trouble free miles with the noise, with no loss of performance. There may be others that disagree and this is my opinion, "If it works, don't fix it."

 

[Jstcruz]

My IAC fouled up recently and was moaning -more of a hum really - though my intake. It stayed constant with rpm. I replaced it and the noise went away. They can be cleaned but I was replacing it anyways.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

My IAC fouled up recently and was moaning -more of a hum really - though my intake. It stayed constant with rpm. I replaced it and the noise went away. They can be cleaned but I was replacing it anyways.

My vote is for the IAC as well. I had the one in my '97 Cogar do this a couple of years ago. It got real annoying.

 

[1992fordgreen]

IACV or power steering pump. Those are my geuss.

 

[Explodr94]

My observations with IAC moaning is you can usually pinpoint that moaning from it when you open the hood.

 

[Chris Harrach]

Sill have the whining/moan

This noise always happens first thing in the morning when I first start the truck. Its loud and sort of goes up and down like 2 pieces of metal rubbbing together. It does not get louder or more intense when I drive it or run the engine up. It just........MOANS and whines going up & down in volume. It stops after about an hour of driving, but sometimes it will persist (at a lower volume/level) throughout the day. Is it possible that the bearings in ANY of the pulleys (Alternator & Tensioner come to mind), have gone bad? Even though the sound wasnt coming from this area, I pulled the IACV and gave it a thorough cleaning along with the throttle body. It stoped & seemed to have done the trick. Of course this was after Id driven the truck for about an hour, which is when the noise has usually died down. The rest of the day I had no issue with this. But this morning I had the same problem again! I still cant pin point the exact area of the noise: The sound ALWAYS seems to be coming from the alternator area. This is driving me nuts. If it is the POWER STEERING PUMP,then why isnt the noise coming from that area? I know sound travels & can be hard to pin point at times, but this sound NEVER comes from the pump. Also, wouldn't turning the steering wheel back and forth cause this sound to either increase or decrease?? When I turn the wheels, there is no noise that would be commonly associated with a Power steering pump going bad. In fact there is NO NOISE at all. I dont want to incur the cost or the work invoved with replacing the pump, if Im still going to have this damnable noise coming from the truck. Does anyone have any ideas as to what else this sound could be? Thanks in advance.

 

[Chris Harrach]

Idle Pulley is the culprit.

After carefully listening to the engine, using 2 long extentions as a sort of stethoscope, Im sure that the whine/moan thats been giving me fits, is coming from the idle pully. I've just replaced it and so far no noise, but the real test will come in the morning. Will let you know. Keeping my fingers crossed.

UPDATE:

The problem I was having has disappeared. I started the truck this morning and the moaning/whining sound has gone. It was the Idle Pulley after all. The replacement pulley was different in design than the original one, (as is usualy the case with Ford), but it was the same width & circumference as the OEM one it replaced, and went on with no problem. My "Ghost" has finally been exorcised, without an expensive & time consuming repair job. Thanks to all who contributed their oppinions as to what the problem was.