fwalther

at 25000 miles going up a long grade with lots of gravel salt etc from winter my Laredo was suddenly sluggish and just didnt want to accelerate. Afterwards I now notice a droning cyclical noise from the front area that comes in at 55 mph. It is a discreet noise but it is there. Service department said they could not hear anything and brushed me off. The noise is a low level groaning or droning cyclical noise and I KNOW it is there. Anyone else experience this? Alignment is fine and mileage is normal

XJRed96

What kind of tires do you have on the vehicle. My first two guesses would either be Noisy/Scalloped tires or Bad wheel bearings. Other options are noisy front diff, Noisy transfer case. Something rubbing on an axle or drive shaft. Was this noise not there before your running issue? Or did you only notice it because your car started to run bad and you actually started paying attention to sounds.

Cleman Simpson

Every Ram 1500 4x4 I have owned since 2007 will engage the traction control on upgrades with loose material such as sand or gravel on them. The first thing this does is override the foot throttle and take the engine down to no power at all, and apply brakes to whichever wheels it thinks are spinning. I don't know who thought this was a good design but it has caused me to get stuck in easily navigable terrain multiple times. If your traction control sensors got dirty they may be causing your problem, cutting back throttle and applying brake.

edit to add: The noise you hear may be the traction control kicking in the ABS system to apply brake to a tire it thinks is losing traction. Try turning off the traction control to see if it stops the noise and restores engine power.

fwalther

XJ - the tires are the original OEMs. Good Year Frontera

Cleman - that is also very good advice and I shall check that first thing tomorrow and reply back

Thanks to both!

XJRed96

I have yet to change a set of Fronteras that didn't make noise by the time they were replaced. But again it's really hard to diagnose a noise with out driving the car yourself and being able to manipulate it. Any new developments?

fwalther

I turned the traction control off (default is on) and ran the vehicle for several hundred miles. Problem remains. Also - the ABS warning light is not on and never has been on

Tires and car have 25000 miles. Tires have been rotated at each oil change except the last oil change. I am thinking that is my next move, to have the tires rotated and checked for balance

Cleman Simpson

Oh well, it was worth a try. I was down in south Texas working for over half the year last year and when I returned home the state had repaved the eight mile section of 4 lane highway between our house and the nearest town. I took my wifes Cherokee Latitude and drove it to town one morning and the whole car was howling as I accelerated to 70 mph. It roared all the way to town until I slowed down to under 55. coming back home it didn't howl at all at any speed. I asked my wife if she had noticed the car making a noise and she laughed and said the state had paved one lane with a textured surface that made the tires roar. Only one lane out of four, the one I had used to get to town. Funny thing is the pavement looks just like the other three lanes, you can't see the difference at all. it doesn't make that much noise in my pickup, but in the little Cherokee it really sounds off.