I have a 2005 ford escape v6 all wheel drive. First I had a bad vibration when accelerating. I took the drive shaft out an found a bad rear u joint. I drove the escape a hundred miles without a drive shaft .It worked fine, no vibration. I noticed the abs light on as well the 4x4 light flashed. I put the drive shaft back in with a new u joint and it makes a clunk when you change from reverse to drive.It also makes a whining noise at about 30 miles per hour. That sounds to be coming from the rear. I erased the computer and the abs lights and 4x4 doesn't come on now but it still has the noise and clunking sound. Any info would be helpful.

 

The replacement of the U-joint was supposed to correct the vibration, the clunk and the noise? Nah, I doan theen so. I can see the vibration and the clunk if the u-joint was totally wiped. The cross would be out of position, allowing the driveshaft to be off center, causing vibration. The play in the u-joint would/ could explain the clunk when shifting from forward to reverse gears as you took up the slack in the u-joint.
I would check the rear differential lube level.
You either had the symptoms before, and they were masked by the bad u-joint, or ???
The u-joint caused vibration, and disconnecting it took any and all load off the rear differential. When the driveshaft was re-installed, it started to load/unload the differential and make the gears move in relation to the gears in the transfer case.
I'd check that for lube too.
The clunk may be play in the differential gears. Crawl under and move the rear driveshaft by hand to see how much play there is in the gears.
tom

 

2005 escape noise. My biggest concern is will it hurt to run the vehicle. The noise is very small an it only makes a clunking noise once in a while. Another concern is does it hurt to run it without the drive shaft.I wondered if the rear differential is getting the right lubrication without the drive shaft installed. birdseyelogger.

 

It doesn't matter. The driveshaft doen't engage the rear end most of the time but since wheels are on the ground, they turn the gearing and get the lube moving. That point comes into play on RW drive 4x4 where the front disengages, where it's a good idea to force engagement when not used for long periods of time.

 

I appreciate the feedback.I plan to take a trip, around 4000 miles and was considering taking the drive shaft out and using front wheel drive. I tried it for 100 miles while I was getting the u joint replaced and it ran very smooth.As long as it wouldn't do any damage to the drive train I would do it again. birdseyelogger.

 

If you have ever seen a trailer made from the back half of a pickup truck, you are seeing what you would be doing when driving with the rear driveshaft removed. In a RWD pickup, the gears inside the differential would be turning whenever the wheels rotate. They would be driven by the driveshaft if it was still a truck, but instead, they are driven to rotation by the wheels. The lubrication method is the same either way, splash. Most times the rear wheel bearings are sealed, unless it is a large truck with floating axles,[think F250 & up] and thus they do not need any lubrication.
It is normal for there to be a bit of a clunk when you engage all that 'stuff'. You have the slack in the spline of the output shaft, on a normal vehicle, or the gears internal to the transfer case in a 4WD system, and the slack of the gears inside the differential. Unless it is loud and obnoxious, I would not be concerned.
Running with the rear driveshaft removed will not hurt anything unless you put the system into 4WD mode, at which time the engine would rev without the vehicle moving. The only thing not moving that would be moving with the driveshaft installed is the output shaft of the transfer case. It would normally be rotating, being driven by the rear differential, but transferring no load in either direction. Just turning inside the transfer case, but disengaged from the power source. That could be the source of the noise you hear, the rear output shaft of the transfer case turning. Wouldn't hurt to check the lube level.
tom