Over the last few weeks, I've noticed a lot more (road?) noise, seeming to come from the front end of my 97 Explorer 4x2. It's hard to describe the noise...it's kind of like regular road/tire noise, but louder. It's not a whining or anything like that. Kind of a dull noise.

You know how it is...once something catches your attention everything else seems out of whack too...so I started thinking it was feeling a little sluggish in the steering too. The steering wheel had been whining a little for a month or so, so I started wondering if it was the power steering fluid and/or the pump. (It used to have a slow P/S fluid leak). I had it checked out while I was having an oil/lube done and had the P/S fluid flushed for good measure, but the noise persists. The steering felt the same after that. I go back and forth between driving the Explorer and a 97 Jeep that I bought in March, so the steering thing could just be in my head, even though I have put 81K miles on the Explorer since I drove it off the lot in 97 and should know how it drives by now.

From there, I thought waybe it was the tires. I have Michelins from 2000 on there, with only about 35-40K miles on them. It's only driven 1-2 times a week normally, so the treads are in great shape. It's starting to show some small signs of weather cracking / dry rot. I took it to NTB and the guy said the dry rot was very insignificant at this point. He said he had someone else come in with a 97 Explorer with a similar noise complaint and it was the front bearings starting to go. (Ironically, before I worked at the Eaton supercharger plant, I worked at a plant that makes bearing retainer cages for Toyo, Timken, etc). He said they could look at it on Thursday.

#1 - Anyone had any experience with this?
#2 - If it is the front bearings, what SHOULD it run me? (I know from experience I can't trust the closest Ford dealer. They tried to get me to replace a 2 week old PCV valve and a K&N air filter when neither of those had anything to do with the problem causing my check engine light to come on).
#3 - Anything else you think it might be?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

Make : FORD Model : EXPLORER Year : 1997
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 00V402000 Recall Date : NOV 28, 2000
Component: SUSPENSION
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 810000
Summary:
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES. UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, A FRONT SWAY BAR LINK CAN FRACTURE.
Consequence:
VEHICLE HANDLING COULD BE AFFECTED, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL REPLACE BOTH THE LEFT AND RIGHT FRONT SWAY BAR LINKS.
Notes:
OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN DECEMBER 15, 2000. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT FORD AT 1-800-392-3673. ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

 

Thanks. Hadn't received that bulletin. I'll get it to the dealer right away. (a DIFFERENT dealer this time)

 

My guess would be the tires. Had Bridgestone Duelers installed on my 99 when they did the recall on Firestones. After about 10,000 miles I started to hear the noise and I thought it was bad wheel bearings, it could't be those new tires. I noticed cracking on the sidewalls about where the tread starts. I took it to the Bridgestone dealer and he said it was not tread seperation, just cosmetic. So I thought maybe I was exaggeration the noise.....which was more obvious on new asphalt. I put another 10,000 on them and took it to another tire shop and they agreed with the other shop, just cosmetic and was probably caused by an appkication of armorall. So I put more miles on them. Finally I decided to bite the bullet and replace them. Went to the tire shop down the street and had him look at them for a third opinion, he also thought it was caused by armorall ( I probably put two applications over the life of these tires). I told him to change them out with Continentals........As soon as I started down the road the difference was unbelievable, NO NOISE and the ride was smooth. We have 10,000 on these tires now and they are still quiet. So the morale of this story is: if you think its the tires and you have that many miles on them, change them out, it could be the problem.

 

Para-Thanks for your input. I went through a similar process to yours with the Firestones, that's how I ended up with the Michelins. At 40-45K miles, the Firestones were acting weird - I was getting a lot of wobble at 65MPH, even after having the alignment checked. No one believed me that anything was wrong, but I replaced them anyway because I never liked Firestones to begin with - a few months later they started recalling the tires I had (I know because I had left the Firestone spare). As soon as I got the Michelins on, all was cured. I've put armor all on these maybe 3 or 4 times over the last 3 years. (Admittedly, it would have been a lot more but I was busy going back to school).

I think I'm going to take it to the Ford dealer and see what happens with them. If it is still going on then I am probably going to get the tires replaced. I don't drive it everyday because I live in a DC suburb, but I do long trips on it. The last thing I need is a blowout on 495 or I-95.

Thanks again.

 

Update:
Turned out to be the front bearings. The brakes were getting a little worn, so I had those taken care of while I was at it.

Thanks.