While going down the road my truck intermittently squeaks. The squeak comes from the driver’s side engine compartment. It seems to be more from the suspension/tire then the engine. The squeak happens once every 20-45 seconds and it makes the truck jerk slightly. Any ideas?
Probably need to jack up that side and check for play in your ball joints and steering linkage and possibly look for a loose shock. The only way to find out is to crawl under!
Rack and pinion or a steering gear box? Rack and pinion less likely to have squeaky parts.
High mileage ? Often the ball joints tend to wear out and need replacing. This could escalate into a steering / safety problem. You can have them replaced and drive on for years. The B3000 has a great reputation for longevity and the engines seem to run forever with proper care ! Mine is a 99
You probably have a ball joint or tie rod end going bad. The Mazda B3000 is a rebadged Ford Ranger, and Ford designs their front end components to make noise (specifically, to squeak and creak) when they are near the end of their useful life. Have a good front end shop find the offending part or parts and have it replaced. The squeak will eventually go away, but by then the part will be all loose and ready to fall apart, and resist the urge to inject grease into it to get it to quiet down. Some shops do this, and it is not a good idea. It tends to make people forget they have a problem they need to take care of.
You probably have it fixed by now, but if not, check out the driver’s side wheel bearing. In a car/truck with rear wheel drive there’s nothing to keep the front wheel spinning when a bearing binds up, so you would feel it jerk in the steering wheel.