Ball Joint, Wheel Bearing or Something else???

[smithbp01@yahoo.com]

I have a squeaking and creaking noise coming from the front left side of my 2001 Lincoln LS V8. It started a few weeks ago and would make the noise sometimes but not all of the time. Now it seems to be a constant noise. I can hear the noise when I am going straight and turning, the faster I go the quieter and faster the noise gets. (Sorry if I am not making any sense it is kind of hard to explain noises). As I am slowing down the noise gets louder and slower. It also makes the creaking noise when I turn left or right (louder when turning left).

I took the left wheel off last night and checked everything and I cannot see anything failing. I took a large screwdriver and pried on the ball joint and it did not budge. The wheel bearing is not loose or anything. I spun the tire and turned the wheel left and right when the car was on jacks and could not repeat the noise. I then punctured a tiny hole in the boot of the ball joint and packed it full of grease, then patched the hole with silicon gasket maker. This morning I went to work and the noise is still there.

Right now I am at a loss . I am planning on buying an eBay ball joint and have a shop press it in. I am not sure if I should replace the ball joint or the wheel bearing and hub or if there is something else wrong. I am also in the process of selling my house and will be buying another so I really do not want to be throwing money at problems that are not there at the moment.

My question is should I replace the ball joint, wheel bearing or both? Or does anybody think there is a different issue I am facing? Thanks to all.

 

[rainjacks]

The symptoms sound like a ball joint to me. But, if there is no play in it I don't know how that could be the issue. Can you make it squeak by pushing down on that corner of the car? If so then I believe it is the ball joint.

 

[smithbp01@yahoo.com]

I opened the door and rocked the car I also pushed up and down on the fender and could not repeat the noise. However I did just push the tire in a few times and got the squeaking to occur.

 

[milehighmikey]

Have someone turn the steering back and forth while you lay under the middle of the car (put it on ramps or something but leave the weight on the wheels) and you should hear the creaking and squeaking. It sounds like a ball joint and if it was worn to looseness, it probably would not make as much noise, but in my experience, the joint was tight, but dry. It won't stay tight for long when it gets dry, and the proper place to get it to quiet down is in the supporting end of the ball joint, where a grease nipple would normally be placed. I actually put a grease nipple into mine when this happened to me, but the boot was torn and it was not safe to expect it to last forever that way. The right way is to put grease fittings into the new ball joints when they get installed. They sell them with a ribbed retainer for drilling a hole and tapping the fitting into. You have to use an angled fitting to be able to grease it in those tight quarters.

 

[smithbp01@yahoo.com]

I was planning on buying a ball joint form euromarque. I think they come with the grease nipple and I had already planned on replacing with an angled one. Thanks for all of the help.

 

[smithbp01@yahoo.com]

I had the Ball joint pressed in and got an alignment on the car. The noise was still there and was getting worse so I parked the car until this weekend and replaced the wheel hub assembly (luckily the shop had to remove the old hub to press the ball joint so it was easy to remove). Problem fixed. have been driving the car since Sunday and the noise is gone.

 

[CrackerJack]

Im having the same problem in my 02. What did you end up paying for the hub assembly?

I did the standard ball joint tests that fbird told me about and the wheel is SOLID. It only does it after at least 20 mins of driving and its all warmed up. If I drive nicely it won't happen at all, but any aggressive turns and the mof sounds like it sparking or something!

 

[Hawk03]

My car was creaking in the front end for a long time and I thought it was the ball joint. A few months ago it stopped making noise and I thought it was due to the weather being warmer. I installed new brakes this weekend and found that the passenger side stabilizer link was broke. I'm guessing that when the link finally broke the noise stopped. This may be some thing to look as well. A fairly inexpensive and quick fix.
I still have to install it and they are only about $20 bucks from RockAuto.