I have a 96 Explorer thats making a whining noise when idling and gets louder if you press on the gas. I replaced a bearing in one of the pulleys that was bad but that didn't help. I'm starting to wonder if it coming from the tranny. Theres 100K miles on this vehicle. Someone even suggested changing the fuel filter. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
Thanks,
Mike

 

Whinning while idleing...

How about the Power Steering Pump? They are terrible whiners...??

 

I've got the same whining problem. I've had the idler pully replaced, but to no avail. I think it might be the alternator, p/s pump or the water pump.
I've got a 98 XLt with a 5L. Mine has whining for about 2 years. I'm ready to start replacing things just to see if I can stop the noise. I've heard of one other explorer with the same problem.

John

 

I have a '98 5.0 and had a whine and it ended up being a leaking pinion gear.

 

Maybe this is double-dipping (posting?), but I have a similar whining/schreech problem. Sounds like belt noise but I've done just about everything as far as cleaning the pulleys, and replaced the belt, to no avail. I've also replaced the belt tensioner and water pump (both were bad or on their way out). Still have the noise. Haven't been able to pin it down with the stethoscope, and when I spin the pulleys by hand (after removing the belt, of course), it doesn't make the noise. Someone suggested putting a drop of oil on the bearing shaft for the alternator to see if that stops it, because I noticed that the gauge was reading slightly low. However, this could be just because I'm paying attention to it.

 

the PS pump is what whines on mine i'm allmost 100% positive but i just dont have the $$ to replace it and it still works

 

PS pump plain and simple. Just turn the wheel slightly and if the pitch changes... you know, that's it.

 

Ok, so after trying the suggestion of shooting some WD-40 on the alternator shaft + seeing if the noise went away (it did), I bought a new alternator. Installed it, and guess what? The noise was still there! This is the most irritating and persistent problem I've ever had. My next suspicion is the p/s pump since others have mentioned this as well. Luckily, the remanuf alternator I bought has a slightly deformed pulley, so I can use that as an excuse to return it.
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My p/s pump has about 1/8 of an inch of front-back (WRT the engine) play in it, and sometimes when I turn it it makes a sort of a rubber-ish squeak. That's the sound my water pump made when I decided to replace it too, and sure enough, it was on its way out. If this doesn't work, I'll be sunk. I've done everything possible with the belt, replaced the tensioner and the water pump, test-replaced the alternator...All to no avail. Any thoughts on this? The only things I haven't changed are the crankshaft, the idle pulley (not tensioner), and p/s pump.

 

Oh, and turning the wheel doesn't produce or affect the noise at all. Neither does loading the electrical system or turning on the a/c.

 

Hey Franklin,

The only things you say you have not changed are the P/S Pump, Crank Pulley, and the Idler Pulley.

Since the Crank Pulley is a hard mount, the problem should not be associated with that.

I was first to post the P/S Pump. The P/S Pump Pulley is hard mounted on the shaft, however the shaft itself is on bearings, front and rear.

You might try shooting that WD-40 on the front of the P/S Pump shaft, (similar to what you did on the Alternator), to see if there is "any" change at all. Like in the pitch of the sound.

You can do the same with the Idler Pulley, although personally, I think WD-40 as a lub for these diagnostic tests you are doing, is a bit to light weight a lub. Maybe some 30W in a small squirt pump can would be better.

Anyway, I don't know your belt configuration, but you could try removing the belt that drives the P/S Pump, (since the vehicle will be sitting still).

It shouldn't hurt to not have the P/S Pump running just long enough to see if the noise dissappears.

Of course, if the same belt drives the Water Pump, as well, you wouldn't want to run it more than a few seconds without the Water Pump.

One thing I have noticed with these funky aftermarket belts, is that you can get some really cheap belts that are for some reason, quite a bit skinnier than original factory belts.

These skinny belts will travel deeper in the "V" of the pulleys they drive.
In fact, some go so deep into the pulleys, that you can not apply enough adjustment to the tensioner, to keep them from squealing.

They usually are quite for about a week or two, then they become slick from spinning through the pulleys, and start squealing. Maybe this is your problem???

You might also check to see that each pulley has the same inside width of the "V".

I've purchased several pulley driven items, that the inside width of the "V" on the pulley, does not match the other pulleys on the car.

You might also check to see that each pulley, (driven by the same belt), is actually in alignment with each of the other pulleys driven by that belt.

Not a uncommon thing to see one pulley way out of alignment, causing the belt to rub hard on the side of the "V", (and squeal), on the misaligned pulley.

There are several spray "Anti-Squeak" belt dressing products, you might want to try a couple of bucks on a can, spray belts one at a time, to see if a single belt is causing the problem.

When it comes to fan belts, avoid the cheaper ones. They are normally skinnier, poor quality, and some times have inside bumps, that look like this >mmmmmmm<.

The mmmmmmm's give a false impression of being able to drive pulleys better. But they are cheap pieces of crap.

Any of your belts that are slick and shinny on the sides, where it contacts the pulleys, is old, worn, and subject to squealing.

Always change or replace with new >"quality"< belts only!

Good Luck!

 

Yeah, I'm using a good belt on my X. It's a Kelly-Springfield (basically, a Goodyear), and they've always run silent for me. The last belt needed a little cleaning, but it wasn't obviously glazed or anything. Once cleaning everything didn't solve the problem, I figured putting a brand new belt on would settle the question.<br>
I'll try some motor or power steering fluid on the shaft of the p/s pump. I was basically stuck with WD-40 for the alternator b/c there's very little clearance between the pulley and the housing on the alt, but there's plenty on the p/s pump. Does your p/s pump also have about 1/8" of front-back play in the shaft? Does it also make a slight rubbery squeak when you turn it with the belt off?<br>
It would be good to try isolating the squeak by re-routing the belt. Maybe I can get a shorter one or something. One belt drives everything on the 96, so if I run it w/o the belt, I lose everything. For a few seconds that would be fine, but then again I can't be sure that the noise won't just decide to hide during the few seconds I can run it w/o accessories.<br>
Did anyone try the p/s pump fix?

 

not yet cause of the $$$ but perhaps you could try to take the belt off and rotate the ps pulley by hand to see if you hear a squeak, you may need a stethascope for this (the thing doctors wear around their neck while they charge you 200$ a min LOL) it might be easier than rsking starting the truck without a belt. cause if it is a serpentine belt that runs everythng the crank will be slopping around like a sponge in a bucket. as the crank spns the belts and such it might loosen something up you dont want to be loosened. i really dont know for sure.

 

Yeah, I tend to agree. I'm not into experimenting with my X! I've tried turning the pulley by hand, and it does make a "squeak" sound (sort of a plastic on plastic sound). I wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I guess I can't go wrong with replacing it, since the water pump made the same exact squeak sound and it only had a few thousand miles left in it.

 

I am dealing with the same whining sound and I was positive it was the alternator. I used a wcrew driver to listen to the alternator, and It was so apparrent. So I though. After replacing the alterntor, the whining is still happening. I'm now going to take the advice of adding a little oil to the shafts that are visibale to see it I can narrow it down.

And I don't have an excuse for returning the alternator. $300 bucks, 230 if I return the core? My X just turned 90k, should I try to sell the alternatr on ebay to get mose of my cash back, or take in the shorts and keep it on the X.

woj

 

I think I may have figured this one out. Even after tearing the engine down again and having a valve job done in December, it still made the sqeaking noise. When I replaced the head gasket the first time (last summer), two of the rocker arms were heavily worn. I replaced them with new rocker arms. I didn't see any excessive wear on them when I checked them (six months later), but now I'm thinking they might be the culprit. Perhaps they're a little tighter than the other rocker arms (which have 116000 mi on them) and that's where the noise comes from. It makes no difference as far as performance.