Another cry for help - Jim ?

'98 Explorer 4WD 4.0L SOHC A/T with 58K.

When shifting into R I hear a loud clunk noise from the back. Shifting into D gives a clunk as well but not as loud..

The noise seems to go away as the car heats up.

I checked the U-joints and they seem to be OK. No loose parts. I'm thinking it's the slip joint on the drive shaft that needs to be greased.

What do you think ? How hard is it to grease the slip joint and what kind of grease should I use ?

Thanks, zoti

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1998 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0 SOHC AT 1996 Mazda B2300 SE 5SP
Reply to
zoti
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Took the car for a spin last night. This is the car my wife drives so I don't get to drive it a lot.

I would also like to note that the truck had the timing chain guide replaced under warranty (it's a 4.0L SOHC) about 3 weeks ago. We have left to Argentina a couple of days later for 2 weeks and when we came back I noticed the clunk noise. Could this be related ? Do they take the engine out when doing the chain guide ?

So I took it for a ride. Started it up from cold (it was sitting for about

6-7 hours) and noticed the RPM is around 1000 with AC off. No noise if I shift from P to D while holding the break pedal down . Shift to R (pedal down) - very little noise. Shift to D again but this time I let it roll a bit and then shift to R. Loud noise. I let it roll a bit in R and shift to D - some noise (more than usual). I go out of the parking and drive for about 1-2 minutes. RPM at stop drops to around 600 and I play with the shifter again. This time the noise is not as loud (probably duo to the drop in RPM) but it's definitely there. I do some more tests and come to the conclusion that if I shift from D to R and back again without taking the foot off the break pedal there is definitely less noise than when I shift but let the car roll a bit in D and R.

I hope this will give you some more info.

Unfortunately I don't have any jackstands and I checked the shaft by dropping the transfer case side (and re-lubing the slip yoke) and tested the play on the U-joints. What I can say Is that my "feeling is that there is too much play on the rear axle. How much play should there be if any ?

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of all us explorer owners who you help very much. Do you own / work in a ford shop ? Where ?

Thanks, zoti

Reply to
zoti

Since the noise seems to subside as the vehicle warms, I'll ask you to check the RPMs (you have the tach, yes??) between cold and warm - the higher rpm associated with a cool engine can make a problem more evident. Recheck the U-joints, being sure that there is no pressure on them (as we might find in park) - a pair of jackstands and putting the car in neutral helps... even then, there are times I need to remove a driveshaft and check the joints by hand to be absolutely sure. This might be a good time to check the pinion seal for leaking and give the pinion a godd shake to be sure that there isn't some sort of bearing problem happening.

It's rare that the rear shaft slip joint develops trouble on these.... the splines are coated with a blue substance similar to teflon.... doesn't hurt to clean out any dirt and such that finds it's way in and relube with any high pressure grease containing molybdenum disulphide (moly for short) - GM has some that I use (you never heard me say that) for special applications but I can't remember the part number or name though it is touted as "extreme pressure" grease. Others have had excellent service from regular chassis grease but we all know that the ol' redhead gets anal sometimes...

-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

Reply to
Jim Warman

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