2003 Expedition Humming/Whining noise 40-50 mph
 

Hey guys,

I just bought my first ford truck, a 2003 Expedition Eddie Bauer 2x4 with the 5.4L engine. It has 39.7K miles. I didnt notice the noise I am describing on the test drive, I noticed it when I brought the truck home with me. As soon as I hit 40 mph, I get a whining noise that sounds like its coming from the front end, and stops at about 50 mph. Ive only heard it at those speeds. Ive searched the board, but havent found a pinpoint thread as to the symptoms I have. Ive seen various differential and transmission threads, but not sure which one mine falls under. what do you guys think it could be? will I mess anything up if I dont get it checked out? any kind of powertrain warranty left on my 03 with lows miles? let me know what you guys think, thank you for the help!

Chris:-drink

Most likely there is no warrantee left but the dealer may help you out, if you bought from a dealer. If not, it's on you. If it's a high pitched whine that is in synch with the engine it could be the front pump in the trans and it could last a very long time without problems or it could go out at any time.

Well if you just bought it you should at least have a 1k 30 day warranty of some sort from a dealer. If you got it from a 3rd party or a shyster dealer then you'll have to have it diagnosed.

I'm having driveline noise issues from mine that I just got 3 weeks ago that didn't start until a few days after I got it which is my luck of course...

What I'm going to do, hopefully this weekend, is to do ALL the fluids in the diffs (plus add friction modifier), transfer case, trans and torque converter. Then U joints, and then maybe half shafts which is all preventative maintenance anyway on an 8 yr old vehicle. I know yours has super low miles but sometimes the ones that sit a lot are worse off than ones that have been driven normally.

I'd start with the fluid changes at least, you should be doing them all anyway since nobody ever really knows wth kind of fluids any previous owners/dealers used. I should have already done mine but I've only put 500ish miles on it and I've been ridiculously busy. But yeah I would start with fluids.

The good news is that even if, god forbid, it is the trans, Ford truck transmissions are ridiculously cheap for a used low mileage one and it is easy to upgrade the 03/04 trucks to the newer 4R75E tranny if it comes to that.

I bought the truck from a private seller. so is this more likely a tranny issue or a diferential issue? anybody else with experiences on this issue?

Just remembered I had a whining issue on the '01 and it was coming from the rearend.

I checked the preload and the folks at the factory never set it correctly.

Made a couple tools, got the crush washer and some other stuff and did the job to specs.

It's been fine since and ~1/2 of the 106,000 mileage has been towing.

How 'bout if you just rev it up to those rpms in park or neutral - still get the whining noise?

I have the same humming issue between 40 and 50 mph on a 2003 Expedition. Never found the cause or a fix.

Could just be the tires. Swap the tires front to back and see if the noise changes.

Thanks for your suggestion but I tried a tire rotation and it had no effect on the noise.

Possibly a front hub. Take note when you are driving and hear the humming, does it change or disappear when the suspension loads and unloads (going over a dip), is there a change when turning slightly to the right or the left. If you get this type of variation in the humming then it is possibly one of your front hubs.

I had front end humming on my 2003 that did not change with tire rotation by I noticed the humming would stop momentarily when the suspension unloaded. I eventually changed both front hubs but the first one started humming about 80k.

Front hubs are easy to change, they cost $125+ depending on manufacturer.

Humming
 

I don't think it changes when unloaded but I'll try it and make sure. It does stop when I let off the gas though.

Thanks

That could make it an engine noise. Does the humming pitch follow engine speed or vehicle speed?

The pitch doesn't really vary but smetimes the volume of the humming does. It's weird. When I hit 40 it starts and stops at about 50. Thanks

I noticed Ctaylor45 has the same probrem. I'm new to the site and don't know how to
ask him.

Not sure that your not describing the "wind under the windshield trim" issue seen on the newer trucks? Does it sound mechanical or other? Do a search under my name in the SD section and look at the "wind noise" threads. Could just be that simple though it usually occurs at higher speeds with head winds but can hurt to rule it out. Its simple and cheap to fix.

Click here to send him a PM: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...newpm&u=606708