My 1997 4.0 Rear Wheel Drive is making a clicking noise when it is put into gear or when it switches from drive to reverse and vice versa. Sound is coming from the back of van. Dose not make noise all the time. Drove 50 miles last night with no problems and minimal clicking. Could it be U-Joints going bad? Or is this a different problem?

 

The U-joints would be the first things I would check. With the car in park, grab the drive shaft and try to move it in every direction against the flanges front and back. Look for any movements between the two, or noises.

 

Take the shaft out and move the joints.

 

Be sure to hit the joints with PB Blaster a few times days before removal. They could be the original ones and they will be rusted in. That will give the PB some time to work.

Also, I would recommend getting a rental u-joint tool kit
It will make life easier.

And at $20ea, they are not that expensive to replace with quality u-joints.

 

It'd be best to get this looked at ASAP. It must have been 15 or so years ago, but my wife was the sole driver of our Aerostar as she hauled the kids to the babysitter. One day she said there was a noise and that it had been noisy for awhile. Upon inspection, a U-joint cross had cut through the U-joint cap and had dug into the end of the driveshaft. She was lucky that the whole driveshaft hadn't fallen off.
Luckily, a simple U-joint replacement fixed it for the rest of the van's life even if the cap did not make contact on 100% of the end of the driveshaft. I told her after that to tell me instantly of any funny noises and I promised myself that I would inspect her transportation more faithfully.

 

Thanks guys for the info. It will be parked for a couple days now. I will check it out and replace the joints sometime then

 

U joints. Sounds worse than it is due to the aluminum driveshaft. Do the pai and get greasable type