woman question

I have a 98 explorer and recently I have noticed a faint but noticable screeching sound at extremly low speeds, like in a parking lot or pulling throughthe drive through. I thought it might be my breaks but another post said that he replaced his brakes and still has the same problem. I don't know what to do? I also am hearing a little bit louder and totally different screech when i am in first gear going from a dead stop until I let off of the clutch and it goes away. Could Someone PLEASE help me!

I would still start at the brakes. Sounds like you could have a brake caliper locked up.

My brother's explorer had a similar sound that would catch your attention when driving next to a wall at parking lot speeds, applying the brakes while this noise was present had no effect on the noise. He took it to the dealer and they said its a common problem, they replaced the "dust seals", which totally took care of the noise

Do you know how much that would cost?

The total bill came out to $280.00, but i first should ask you if this is a 4x4 explorer since they're the only ones that have dust seals! Also, a while after i posted i remembered that my brother had experienced a "squawking" kind of noise when accelerating from a stop or very low speed in 1st gear, there was an updated clutch that fixed that noise

"when i am in first gear going from a dead stop until I let off of the clutch and it goes away. Could Someone PLEASE help me!"

Sounds like a throuw out bearing to me! I've heard this noice before and have replaced this part, solving the problem. The only issue is that the trow out bearing is between the motor and the transmission and is only used when you step on the clutch pedal, (simplified version). Replacement is necessary to avoid further damage to the clutch and pressure plate, and is kinda ok IS a LONG job. This requires that the tranny comes out and if this is what you establich the problem to be, then I would strongly recomend looking at the clutch for wear as well as possibly replacing the slave cylinder (the thing that does the pushing when you step on the clutch pedal, located directly behind the trouw out bearing) as these tend to go at regular intervals and if not in good condition the cost of having the tranny pulled again for replacement is VERY $costly$ (or time consuming, having done this procedure 4 times between the two trucks and my mom's explorer).

Hope that helps somewhat.

PS: in the futur if the tranny ever has to come out for anything REPLACE THE TROW OUT BEARING! They are cheap and are easily replaced when accessible! May require the purchase of the slave cylinder at the same time (easy as well as the attach together, and I think I payed $95 CND for the complere assembly [for the explorer] not including my labour that I didn't charge my mom.) Labour is the killer.