Suspension Noise Problems of Ford Expedition

The contact owns a 1997 Ford Expedition. While driving at 10 mph, an abnormal sound was heard from the rear driver side tire. The failure recurred constantly. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 96v252000 (suspension). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 220,000.

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Taking off from a stop in the subdivision, my son with a friend in the vehicle heard a slight clunk, but the vehicle continued to move forward. He kept driving, but the vehicle "felt a little strange" he reported. He pulled out onto a major roadway and heard another loud noise, but the car kept going, so he pulled off the road as soon as he could, to discover that the rear end almost fell off the car. The car has 4 wheel drive with awd. The rear drive shaft got pulled out of the transfer case, dropped to the ground started to drag. It snapped off, breaking the pinion shaft, when pulling off the road. The rear lower control arms had rusted away and snapped off. I live in the rust belt in the chicago suburbs, and expect things like doors and fenders to rust, but a major piece of the suspension that holds the whole car together? really? doesn't that deserve at least a heads up mention in the scheduled maintenance manual, other than at intervals have the suspension checked? the manual pretty clearly describes checking things at recommended intervals, and I've always had it serviced at the local (now closed Mercury dealer nearby). The vehicle has been garage kept, and I've owned it for 12 years. I'm extremely thankful nobody was injured. Ford currently does not have a technical service bulletin issued on this issue. If it had 200,000 miles and wasn't ever cared for or garage kept, then I'd be a little less surprised!! as of this writing I still haven't gotten the car fixed yet because it will involve getting the entire differential rebuilt. I had planned on keeping this vehicle for a whole lot longer than 70,000 miles. I'm being forced to shop for another family bus due to poor engineering on Fords part. It would have been nice to have them send at least a notice to get these $100 control arms replaced before; it now will cost $2000 to make the vehicle drivable again.

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The contact owns a 1997 Ford Expedition. While driving 25 mph, the front driver side tire disengaged without warning. As a result, the vehicle crashed into the curb. The mechanic stated that the lugs were stripped and could have caused the failure. There is a recall for the wheels: lugs/nuts/bolts (NHTSA campaign id # 98v095000) however, the dealer stated that her VIN was not included. The contact stated that while driving 15 mph, she heard a clinking noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that the rear axle track bar bracket separated from the frame. There is a recall for the suspension: rear (NHTSA campaign # 96v252000) however, the dealer stated that her VIN was not included. In addition, while driving 55 mph, the spare tire disengaged without warning. As of February 11, 2008, the dealer had not inspected the vehicle for this failure. The failure mileage was 158,000 and current mileage was 160,000. Updated 03-11-08 updated 03/11/08.

I purchased a new Ford Expedition in August 2000. At time of purchase I noticed that a noisy motor would run under the hood for 30-45 seconds. This rattling noise was audible within the vehicle. I questioned this noise to the sales person. He said it was the compressor of the suspension leveling system and was normal. Several months passed with the same noise being heard after starting the vehicle or while driving. During the first maintenance appointment I questioned this noisy compressor again. The mechanic said, everything looks good, nothing to worry about, it's common for the Expeditions to do this. I questioned this compressor noise each time I took it in for schedule maintenance. As always, I was told it was normal. I was concerned that something was wrong, because it just didn't seem normal for this noise to happen constantly. On February 9, 2002 I had two recalls performed. Once again I had the dealership check the noisy compressor. The work ordered stated, ck air ride air pump & customer states pump is very noisy. Mechanic indicated, ckd & no abnormal noises at this time. On July 28, 2003 the suspension compressor finally stopped working. A new suspension compressor was installed. The mechanic indicated that the old compressor was burned out and making a rattling noise. I told him that it always made that rattling noise. He stated that something was wrong before because it doesn't make the noise now. This compressor was the motor that constantly made noise from day one. Yet I was always told that nothing was wrong. If nothing was wrong with it, then why is it silent now when the suspension systems activates. A major fatality could have occurred had I been driving 65 miles per hour. Fortunately, I was only driving away from a parking space when the suspension system failed. I'm still paranoid after having this repaired. I'm always questioning, when will the suspension fail?.