seahawksfan
New Member
- Joined
- October 23, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- seattle washington
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1996 awd explorer
hello all. im new here to your GREAT forums, in searching for a solution to my problem i have run across aeveral other minor issues i just ignored and found ez solutions. unfortunately this new issue isnt a ez one.
ok here goes ill be as specific as i can in this first post and of course answer any further inquires that i can.
my wife and i bought a 1996 explorer awd back in 02.
its the 5.0 package and has the leather seats and power windows etc. cd changer etc. there are no eddie boauer badges or any badges really on the truck save awd ones.
we havent been exactly prompt in keeping maintence schedules, and not always changing the oil every 4000 miles
for about 7 months we had a blown valve cover gasket and pretty much changed the oil a quart at a time til i replaced the top end gaskets (man i wish i had know about this forum when i did that 3 day job lol)
so heres the current issue, a few weeks ago we started to notice a sound, seems to be the front right area. not knowing much about suspensions or awd mechanics, i ubderstnd the concepts and how stuff works but im not a shadetree mechanic, just the basic stuff,
so the noise comes and goes at first making me thing brakes caliper check: ok bleeding ? : check
k tires new and same noise no matter how we rotated them. the noise at first wasent really that bothersome as it would come and go when driving.
then as time passed the noise started to get louder to the point where you could hear it echo off bldgs. now my wife drives this vehicle 90% of the time.
i am disabled with 3 fused discs im me back and a plastic knee a suvie from 91 and the gulf.
so when i do drive i take her word for what s going on.
when i took it out to heat it up and try and figure out what the noise is from,
i discovered it would "grind" when coasting and not make any noise when under load(press the gas lol) then as i was driving it got worse and my wife said she had started to notice a light clunk sound when turing left not right just left. so i took a few left hand turns and it clunked not badly but enuf to worry me. took a few rights and no clunk just the grind or howl noise when coasting. then as we neared home ( 8 miles or so) it really started to get loud so loud i was worried it was going to sieze, i babied it home and on the 3 left hand turns to our drive way it staarted to CLUNK BAD. real bad i felt it in the steering and it was LOUD CLUNK CLANK CLUNK and when i hit the brakes to park it it kinda sounded like a grinding pop hop.
this i have been told is the cv joints/ball joints / drive shaft ./ transfer case and also it has been said it could be the wheel barings.
i did the lift and wiggle test and no play i while the truck was up also grabbed the various arms and stuff i could reach and wiggled and pulled the hell out of things and no real play or looseness i could fathom.
like i said im out of work and disabled with a little help form the army lol
and my wife is a new nurse at our local hospital,
cant afford a new car or a expensive repair job, and i need to use this vehicle for 3 more weeks until i can borrow a car form the mom in law (a kia ! ! !) until i can work this out money wise.
so heres what ive done so far... jacked it up checked it out, and talked to several people and searched the net and this forum extensively.
i am leaning twords the cv joints going bad as it was only happening when coasting. then later on it was pretty bad even going 10 to 15 and then lettign off the gas would howl but as soon as i lightly added a bit of load it would stop being loud enuf to hear.
the concensus and most quoted problem is the cv joints.
now i would love to just remove the front drive ability for a couple weeks until i can afford the repair bill or start makign payments of the Kia from mom in law.
can you gurus help a old crip out and give me some help here? please? i live inseattle and this is the start of our real rainy season as i type this the rain is bouncing a good foot or more off the ground lol. not optimal repair weather to say the least.
i want to fake a 2wd set up for a short time i am aware of the awd park n roll issue. i am also aware or the loose rear end and possible damage to the TC if i decide to re hook awd up.
either just for 2 weeks or thru the winter and use the truck in a emergency.
can you guys tell me or show me via images to other post links the way to remove the noisy part from the front drive system and let it be a 2wd?
from waht ive seen here im sure this isnt a major task that I can do in teh parking spot,(no covered parking or garage sadly) i have drivien the truck to the store one time and it was pretty loud and it clunked loudly on left hand turns. been sitting there for 10 days as ive searched for a solution.
please help a guy out here.
ok here goes ill be as specific as i can in this first post and of course answer any further inquires that i can.
my wife and i bought a 1996 explorer awd back in 02.
its the 5.0 package and has the leather seats and power windows etc. cd changer etc. there are no eddie boauer badges or any badges really on the truck save awd ones.
we havent been exactly prompt in keeping maintence schedules, and not always changing the oil every 4000 miles
for about 7 months we had a blown valve cover gasket and pretty much changed the oil a quart at a time til i replaced the top end gaskets (man i wish i had know about this forum when i did that 3 day job lol)so heres the current issue, a few weeks ago we started to notice a sound, seems to be the front right area. not knowing much about suspensions or awd mechanics, i ubderstnd the concepts and how stuff works but im not a shadetree mechanic, just the basic stuff,
so the noise comes and goes at first making me thing brakes caliper check: ok bleeding ? : check
k tires new and same noise no matter how we rotated them. the noise at first wasent really that bothersome as it would come and go when driving.then as time passed the noise started to get louder to the point where you could hear it echo off bldgs. now my wife drives this vehicle 90% of the time.
i am disabled with 3 fused discs im me back and a plastic knee a suvie from 91 and the gulf.
so when i do drive i take her word for what s going on.
when i took it out to heat it up and try and figure out what the noise is from,
i discovered it would "grind" when coasting and not make any noise when under load(press the gas lol) then as i was driving it got worse and my wife said she had started to notice a light clunk sound when turing left not right just left. so i took a few left hand turns and it clunked not badly but enuf to worry me. took a few rights and no clunk just the grind or howl noise when coasting. then as we neared home ( 8 miles or so) it really started to get loud so loud i was worried it was going to sieze, i babied it home and on the 3 left hand turns to our drive way it staarted to CLUNK BAD. real bad i felt it in the steering and it was LOUD CLUNK CLANK CLUNK and when i hit the brakes to park it it kinda sounded like a grinding pop hop.
this i have been told is the cv joints/ball joints / drive shaft ./ transfer case and also it has been said it could be the wheel barings.
i did the lift and wiggle test and no play i while the truck was up also grabbed the various arms and stuff i could reach and wiggled and pulled the hell out of things and no real play or looseness i could fathom.
like i said im out of work and disabled with a little help form the army lol
and my wife is a new nurse at our local hospital,
cant afford a new car or a expensive repair job, and i need to use this vehicle for 3 more weeks until i can borrow a car form the mom in law (a kia ! ! !) until i can work this out money wise.
so heres what ive done so far... jacked it up checked it out, and talked to several people and searched the net and this forum extensively.
i am leaning twords the cv joints going bad as it was only happening when coasting. then later on it was pretty bad even going 10 to 15 and then lettign off the gas would howl but as soon as i lightly added a bit of load it would stop being loud enuf to hear.
the concensus and most quoted problem is the cv joints.
now i would love to just remove the front drive ability for a couple weeks until i can afford the repair bill or start makign payments of the Kia from mom in law.
can you gurus help a old crip out and give me some help here? please? i live inseattle and this is the start of our real rainy season as i type this the rain is bouncing a good foot or more off the ground lol. not optimal repair weather to say the least.
i want to fake a 2wd set up for a short time i am aware of the awd park n roll issue. i am also aware or the loose rear end and possible damage to the TC if i decide to re hook awd up.
either just for 2 weeks or thru the winter and use the truck in a emergency.
can you guys tell me or show me via images to other post links the way to remove the noisy part from the front drive system and let it be a 2wd?
from waht ive seen here im sure this isnt a major task that I can do in teh parking spot,(no covered parking or garage sadly) i have drivien the truck to the store one time and it was pretty loud and it clunked loudly on left hand turns. been sitting there for 10 days as ive searched for a solution.
please help a guy out here.
