My OASIS Report for my EX...confirming suspicions about diff whine

[thepotroast]

I have a bad road whine noise coming from the rear end...apparently it's a common thing with the 3rd gen's. I bought the SUV used back in 07 and the noise has always been there. The only thing I have done regarding it is that I took it to Cottman Transmissions about 2 months after purchasing, and had them inspect the drivetrain, and replace all fluids. They said my rear diff looked fine, and that they would have to take it apart to further investigate. Well...that = $$ and at that time I did not have the money to fool with it.

The other day reading on here, I saw something regarding an "OASIS Report", which is essentially an internal report that Ford keeps on each vehicle, including service records if it was serviced at a dealership...here's what I got, see if you can help me understand what all was done to the rear end?

OASIS RESULT:
1FMZU73K43UA66559
USA
06/26/2009


VEHICLE INFORMATION

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION
2003 EXPLORER 4DR

BODY STYLE
4 DR XLT MPV 4X4

ENGINE
4.0 SOHC - FLEX FUEL

TRANSMISSION
5R55S AUTOMATIC

AXLE CODE
D4

ENGINE CALIBRATION
3U51AF0A

GENERAL WARRANTY INFORMATION

WARRANTY START DATE
11/06/2002

BUILD DATE
10/22/2002

--------------------

Warranty Comments

5-3-05
Cust Comments: ROAR IN REAR END AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS

Tech Comments: 34419 RING AND PINION WHINE ALSO DIFF CLUTCHES BIND REPLACED RING AND PINION WITH TSB KIT REPLACED DIFFERENTIAL CLUTCHES



5-3-05
Cust Comments: 04S20 RECALL LIFTGATE HINGES

Tech Comments: 34419 04S20B .5 REPLACED LIFT GATE HINGES

-------------------


So obviously the previous owner (fleet lease vehicle) noticed the same whine, and Ford did make some repairs....so why the heck is the noise still there? What can I do to help improve this? The sound actually is pretty loud inside the cabin between 35 - 65 MPH....Unbearable at times. A constant *hummmmmmmm* or *whirrrrrrrrr* sound. After 65-70MPH it quiets down.

 

[hewie7383]

your wheel bearings are bad, its probably going to need the rear diff. redone... my 02 had the same issue... and they did the wheel bearing and redid the diff... it sounds so quiet now....just to let you know and i am sure more people will chime in, this is very common on the 3rd gen explorers

 

[gmanpaint]

Wheel bearings and new axles. My guess is if you have been driving for some time on bad Bearings, your axles have paid the price for it.

I doubt new gears have gone bad already, but, the installer could have made mistake, causing premature failure.

Either way, your diff has to come apart.

 

[eXcali]

I'd take a good look at all your wheel bearings. You could get lucky and it may just be a front wheel bearing worn out. If it is one of the rear you may have damage to the axle's spindle if it's been like that for a while.

There are a couple stickys around here somewhere on the forums that guide you thru checking your wheel bearings. I've even seen video's that walk you thru rear wheel bearing replacement.

 

[thepotroast]

I will check out the bearings...I just had the brakes done last month all the way around, and had the shop inspect the bearings...they said they looked good and repacked them with grease and slapped it all back together.

I will look for that wheel bearing check tutorial thread on here.

But if the ring and pinion and diff clutches were replaced back in 05 and it satisfied the "whine" sound, what's to say that now 4 years later....and now that I have 126k miles....it's not the same issue all over again?

I am putting new upper ball joints in the front, the rubber boots around both are completely gone, and the ball joints are dry....I wonder if some road noise is coming from those? I already have the Moog K80008's in hand, just working on finding a free weekend to replace them.

Thanks for the replies thus far

 

[gmanpaint]

Gears should not go bad that fast.

Rear bearings, seals and axles need to have the rear diff cover removed, cross shaft removed, c-clips removed, axles removed, and THEN replaced. Is this what your "Brake" guy did? Do you have a leak on your axles? Do you see any fluid on the backside of your wheels/tires? If your axle seals are bad, a loss of fluids can ruin your LS pack & gears.

Front bearings are a diff story, but you had said the noise was coming from the rear, and was a common thing. So where is the noise coming from, front or rear? Does it get louder as your speed picks up? is it a grinding noise? Is it a low hum at a constant? Can you "Feel" it?

Really need to investigate more before assuming things are wrong.

Front hubs could be shot, front gears could be bad, rear wheel bearings gone, diff fluids can be low/ bad, T-case can be low on fluids or clutch pack shot, E-brakes can be shot.

Keep looking, keep asking, and keep searching.

 

[thepotroast]

Gears should not go bad that fast.

Rear bearings, seals and axles need to have the rear diff cover removed, cross shaft removed, c-clips removed, axles removed, and THEN replaced. Is this what your "Brake" guy did? Do you have a leak on your axles?

Maybe I'm a little confused here...are you saying that to access the rear wheel bearings, the entire rear axle comes apart? No, of course the tech that did my brakes did not pull the entire rearend apart to inspect wheel bearings...I was under the assumption that like most other vehicles I have worked on, the wheel bearings are easily accessible by pulling the wheels and getting into the hubs?

Are you referring to axle bearings? I believe the other posts above are saying to check wheel bearings, however axle bearings would make more sense.

There is not a grinding sound, just a constant *whirr* starting around 35MPH on up to about 65....and ONLY when you let off the throttle does the sound stop...as soon as you apply throttle anywhere in that speed range, the *whirr* comes back

 

[thepotroast]

Gears should not go bad that fast.
Front hubs could be shot, front gears could be bad, rear wheel bearings gone, diff fluids can be low/ bad, T-case can be low on fluids or clutch pack shot, E-brakes can be shot.

Front/rear diff fluid, tranny and xfer case fluids were all drained completely and refilled at Cottman Transmissions some 5k miles ago, so that is all good. This is also who pulled the rear diff plate off and inspected the gears (didn't tear apart) and said everything looked "ok", but of course without pulling the entire rearend out, they cannot know for sure....which I know is what you're talking about doing...which may have to be done shortly if it's not a wheel bearing issue

 

[gmanpaint]

Ok, let me start out by apologizing first. I just now looked at your year of EX, my bad. Sorry. You have a different set up than I do. You have a 3rd gen, which has the IRS. Mine is the 2nd gen. Your axles are CV axles all the way around right? I only have the front CV axles. So since I dont know much about the IRS, I have to retract what I said earlier.

I am assuming you have hubs on all 4 corners. These have the wheel bearings inside of them, and are not serviceable. I am not positive on the rear hubs, so maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in here.

If it is a faulty hub, it is a job to replace, and hubs can be bought at your local auto parts store, for less than $200/pc.

Sorry for the confusion on my part.

Found this:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1429415&postcount=2

G~

 

[thepotroast]

Just had a thought today as I was driving around....regarding bearings...

If the bearings were indeed bad, why would the "whine" noise go away when the throttle is released at ANY speed....but when throttle is applied this is when the constant whine comes back....if I let off the throttle at say 55MPH while coasting, all you hear is the normal road noise....even just a tap of the throttle and it comes back to this whine sound....

That doesn't really sound like bearings to me.

I am thinking it's the epic ring and pinion diff fail that was already replaced back in 2005 by Ford...likely at around 30-40k miles, now I'm at 126k miles, and I'm thinking this is the problem again.

I wonder what the cost is on that job....thinking of taking it into Ford, and telling the service tech that I have already seen my Oasis report on the truck, and saw that it had already been replaced once....and if this was the problem again, some 80k miles later.

 

[eXcali]

Just had a thought today as I was driving around....regarding bearings...

If the bearings were indeed bad, why would the "whine" noise go away when the throttle is released at ANY speed....but when throttle is applied this is when the constant whine comes back....if I let off the throttle at say 55MPH while coasting, all you hear is the normal road noise....even just a tap of the throttle and it comes back to this whine sound....

That doesn't really sound like bearings to me.

I am thinking it's the epic ring and pinion diff fail that was already replaced back in 2005 by Ford...likely at around 30-40k miles, now I'm at 126k miles, and I'm thinking this is the problem again.

I wonder what the cost is on that job....thinking of taking it into Ford, and telling the service tech that I have already seen my Oasis report on the truck, and saw that it had already been replaced once....and if this was the problem again, some 80k miles later.

It is VERY unlikely, but not impossible that the same thing would fail yet again. The reason I say this is because I have seen differentials outlast several vehicles. Heck look at some of these modded explorers and such, some people go out and buy axles from trucks built in the late 70's.

I don't know if the rear CV's on a 3rd get work the same way as the front on a second gen, but if they do you can pull the entire CV joint out and even the half axle. If it's limited slip they may very well be locked in. But if you do get the CV off you should be able to look inside with a flashlight between the axle rod and the housing. Visually inspect this area for signs of leaks. Also it's pretty apparent if a differential is failing. In most cases I can think of the shop that did the flush would have found chunks of metal inside the differential.

I'd also like to caution you about going into a shop thinking you know what the problem is if your not 100% certain. Because most will kindly take your money, replace a perfectly good part and one of the guys adds it to their collection.

You may also want to check your Driveshaft, your discription of noise between 35-65 and going away when you let off the gas almost screams an inballanced driveshaft or ujoints worn out.

Edit: Forgot to add, the price tag on rear diff work usually runs over $1,000 at the dealer.