2004 Ford Explorer: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Jul 20, 2016 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 172,472 miles · CO

When driving my 2004 ford explorer started making a grinding and humming noise on the left front of driver side tire area. Abs and 4x4 high lights came on instrument panel. Truck felt like it was going into 4x4 mode on its own and braking felt like ABS system failed. Took it to a ford dealership and I was told that both front wheel bearings needed to be replaced at a cost of $1053. Since this truck uses sensors and traction control the sensor on the left driver side had gone out causing this feature no longer to work. It is a good thing this did not result in an accident since the vehicle was going into 4x4 mode on it's own and the brakes ABS no longer functioned. Just a quick search online will result in many found issues regarding this that ford has not done a recall on yet. What is it going to take to get ford to stand behind the safety of trucks they sell?

Filed Jul 28, 2013 · Transmission · 90,000 miles · MO

Transmission is slipping and makes a grinding noise while driving and when back up turning the wheel it jerks and makes a banging noise. Garage said it be $3500 to fix it. It seems like tons of people with this SUV are having the same problem.

Filed Jul 26, 2013 · Transmission · 129,000 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. The contact stated that the transmission failed. The vehicle would sporadically surge and would exhibit an abnormal grinding sound. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was determined that the fly wheel was spinning because the torque converter had failed. The vehicle had not repaired. The failure and current mileages were 129,000.

Filed Jun 16, 2011 · Suspension, Transmission · 49,000 miles · TN

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. The contact placed the gear shifter into reverse to drive and noticed that the transmission would hesitate before engaging. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technicians replaced the solenoid in the transmission. After the repairs were performed, the contact continued to experience the failure. There was also an abnormal grinding from the rear of the vehicle. The dealer replaced the rear end bearing, three rear axles, the pinion bar and seals and a shaft kit was installed. The dealer also advised that the failure was caused by an over torque by the manufacturer. In addition, the contact stated that the driver and passenger side sun visor joints were failing sporadically and causing the visors to obstruct the contact's vision of the roadway. The sun visors were not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 49,000.

Filed Apr 5, 2011 · Suspension, Wheels · 117,000 miles · NH

Without warning my rear wheel hub assembly keep braking. Suddenly the vehicle starts to shimmy and pull and make grinding noises and the wheel is practically falling off by the time I get home. This has happened to me 6 times in the past year! So far I have been lucky and my wheel hasn't fallen completely off, only because I have replaced the rear differential twice in the last 2 years so as soon as I feel something out of the ordinary I have it checked! It is terrifying when it happens, the whole wheel wobbles and going slow only makes it seem worse. I've had to replace the whole hub assembly at a cost of $300.00 plus each time!

Filed Sep 8, 2010 · Suspension · 79,500 miles · NY

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. While driving approximately 40 MPH he heard a loud low pitch grinding noise coming underneath the rear wheels. A passenger in the vehicle stated that she could feel vibrations underneath the seats. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and was in the process of having the failure diagnosed. The failure mileage was 79,500 and the current mileage was 79,664.

Filed Aug 23, 2010 · Engine · 78,350 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. While driving 25 MPH, the vehicle began making an abnormal squealing noise from the front end. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was advised that the harmonic balancer failed and caused the air conditioning line to fail. He also stated that the serpentine belt would need replacing. The mechanic repaired all components at the contact's expense. Neither the dealer nor the 'manufacturer was contacted to report the failure. The failure mileage was 78,350 and the current mileage was 78,470.

Filed Apr 21, 2010 · Suspension · 45,000 miles · IL

Rear differential failure-I think this should be looked into as I have searched the internet and there are too many complaints about this. Maybe it was not the tires causing all the crashes but the bad rear ends that ford is aware of. Rear whining noise and grinding from all SUV models.

Filed Dec 4, 2009 · Suspension · 46,000 miles · NJ

My 2004 ford explorer was making a horrible rubbing/grinding sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. When I took my foot off the gas pedal, the noise was more pronounced. I took the vehicle to my mechanic thinking it was the brakes and he informed me that the entire rear of the vehicle was "loose" and I should have a diagnostic test done by a ford dealer. I took it to my local dealer where I purchased the vehicle. The technician informed me that he would have to remove the entire rear differential to open it to find the problem. After that being done, I was told that he found "faulty" ring and pinion and carrier bearings that needed to be replaced so an entire new kit had to be installed and refilled with fluids which intern ended up costing $1,400. I could not get a satisfactorily explanation as to why this would have happened to my vehicle which only has 46,000 miles on it, never been in an accident nor has it ever towed anything. I told my mechanic this and he said that this should not have happened with such low mileage. I am very upset that the certified ford dealer admits on paper that my vehicle had "faulty" parts yet I am the one who had to pay the price!

Filed Dec 4, 2008 · Acceleration · 75,000 miles · MO

Details: on going problem with throttle control, when you are stopped or just starting out and give gas it dose not start to go so you give it a little bit more gas and then it will jump forward or backward( if you are backing up) to appoint that it will some times squeal the tires. The transmission also would shift so hard it feels like you are hit from behind. In for repair at sellers sexton ford, st robert mo.

Filed Aug 5, 2008 · Transmission · 12,000 miles · IL

There is alot of whistling and squeaking in my front end and everytime I have it looked at I am told it just needs lubrication and after a few weeks the noise is back which I am sure means something is wrong and no one seems to find it. The squeaking is driving me nuts at every turn whenever you brake sometimes just accelerating will cause it to squeak.

Filed May 13, 2008 · Fuel system · 11,658 miles · WA

This is a on going problem, our ford explorer has trouble with the linkage to the carburetor, the first time we had problem with the explorer was oct of 04. Bickford ford in snohomish wa. Tried to repair it. Then there was two times bickford tried to fix it, the last time we talked to bickford they said that they did not know how to fix the problem and that ford motor co. Did not know how to fix it either. We also tuck it to another auto repair shop and they said that they could not fix it either. We have no chose but to continue to drive it , but we are also afraid it could cause a bad accident. The problem is , when you are stopped or just starting out and give gas it dose not start to go so you give it a little bit more gas and then it will jump forward or backward( if you are backing up) to appoint that it will some times squeal the tires. It all so stalls when you slow down to turn a corner. That is also dangerous in heavy traffic. After four attempts to repair it is still doing the same thing.