Tired of messing with this Escape. Listen to video - what is it?

[john93rangerstx]

but the car up on jack stans and spin the tires if u feel some vibration on the spring thats the bad wheel bearing check from side to side mine been making the noise for 2 years and still has no play so i deal with it could be ur carriebearing on the driveshaft

 

[adsm08]

I don't know what is so hard about pressing these things together. Slather it up with a whole can of PB and put the old one under the new one to keep it from damaging the new bearing.

I still think press-fit bearings are retarded as the potential for damage during assembly is disproportionately high if they aren't done right.

 

[shane96ranger]

but the car up on jack stans and spin the tires if u feel some vibration on the spring thats the bad wheel bearing check from side to side mine been making the noise for 2 years and still has no play so i deal with it could be ur carriebearing on the driveshaft

It is the wheel bearing.

I am going to give it a shot using my buddies press and his hot tank. He also has some spray to get the bearing cold. He uses this method all the time for transmission seals and bearings.

Sent from a Commodore 64 using a 300 baud modem

 

[shane96ranger]

Did this again today. My buddy has a bunch of cars at his shop, so I took it to the dealer. We talked to the main guy there, and he showed me how he supports the bearing while he presses it in, etc. Anyway, he pressed it in himself. And we put it back on the Escape. Same crap.

Don't know where to go from here.

 

[Thed]

Try replacing the bearing on the other side. Like you said, you've been wrong before.

 

[shane96ranger]

Just to update, it appears to be a bearing in the transaxle. Soooo, I'll post up again when we get that taken care of. My buddy says he's going to help me with it. It will be the first time I've pulled the trans on a front wheel drive.

 

[Mark_88]

Well, hope yours goes better than my Tempo...I had a mechanic do mine and they didn't know, for some strange reason, that you do NOT pull both axels out at the same time or the whole transmission collapses...I'm sure they have corrected that little problem on newer Fords, but it was a real issue with those models...

 

[shane96ranger]

Well, my buddy finally had time to get into this thing today. It is either the transfer case - or more than likely the final drive. The trans is still great. Depending on what's bad will determine the how it's fixed. We are assuming that a bearing hum like that will have more damage than just a bearing. My buddy just happens to have a core with a good final drive that is a 4wd trans (Pretty much has to be from an Escape or Tribute). Hopefully the gear ratio is correct.

More to come... .

Sent from a Commodore 64 using a 300 baud modem

 

[adsm08]

Hopefully the gear ratio is correct.

As I understand this, all Escapes have the same final drive ratio. I looked into this for ours for something in the rear and found that there was really only the one ratio available for the rear end. This leads me to believe the same must be true of the trans final drive.


Also, I would suspect the PTU rather than the trans. The early ones had a habit of blowing up. They all have issues with the bolt for the vent tube backing out and letting too much oil come out, which will result in kaboom if left go long enough.

 

[shane96ranger]

Also, I would suspect the PTU rather than the trans. The early ones had a habit of blowing up. They all have issues with the bolt for the vent tube backing out and letting too much oil come out, which will result in kaboom if left go long enough.

You know.... my buddy said he couldn't feel any fluid in the case with his finger. My Brother didn't notice any fluid anywhere however - BUT, he isn't as observant as I am. I also do not see any glaring obvious wet spots.

We both thought the final drive because of how steering position seems to affect the pitch of the noise.

 

[adsm08]

You can't. The fluid level sits below the fill plug and there is a gear in the way. The fluid level can't actually be checked. All you can do is drain it and fill it.

 

[shane96ranger]

You can't. The fluid level sits below the fill plug and there is a gear in the way. The fluid level can't actually be checked. All you can do is drain it and fill it.

OK, he said that was a possibility too. We were going to go in it with a camera, but the camera he bought from Matco is a POS. It has horrible resolution.

Thanks for the info!

 

[adsm08]

Only good way to check is to pull it out and take the face plate off. It sucks, I know.

 

[shane96ranger]

I am 99.9% sure it is the drivers side bearing making the noise. Been wrong before though. From both the passenger and driver seat it feels much more intense on the drivers side of the vehicle.

Sent from a Commodore 64 using a 300 baud modem

Between myself, my Brother, the Ford dealer, and my buddy - everyone said this noise and vibration was concentrated on the drivers side. He took the trans out the other day, and just got to it over the weekend. He found that the guard around the chain had somehow come undone and was rubbing on the differential. Not a whole lot of wear was found though. So we got looking, and my buddy shined his flashlight on the backside of the passenger wheel bearing. I am still not 100% convinced that this is the issue. But I still feel really really stupid for not catching this before the trans was pulled....