OK guys and gals. I figured I would post my experiences with my 2004 F150 FX4 in the event that it may help someone that is having problems like I had/do. I have had a few problems with the truck, but I still love it. Still under warranty with 33k miles.

Problem: Electric / automatic windows: My driver’s control panel for all the trucks windows was intermittently not working.
Solution: Ford replaced the circuit board or something like that. I guess it was shorting out.

Problem: When I am driving, regardless or turning or speed, I randomly get a dragging noise like the muffler is dragging or as someone on this site put it…. Ice in a blender. Then after a while, It stops with a huge clunk. People mentioned the IEW solenoid and something about the vacuum lines. It is definitely something with the 4 wheel drive. When the grinding is happening, I can kick it into 4 high and the grinding instantly stops. People have said this is probably the hubs trying to engage when they shouldn’t be. I am going to have this warranty work done if they ever quit messing around. I will update this once they isolate the problem.
Solution: To be determined

Problem: Bad shimmy when stopping indicative of warped rotors.
Solution: We all know of the bad rotors on these trucks and it has been well documented. The dealership is going to give me the new rotors, calipers, and pads for the front. There is a TSB on this so if they give you the run around, nail them. I think the trucks have to be built before sometime in November 2004 for this to apply.

If anyone has info to add to this they may benefit someone, please do. These forums are a great tool for truck owners.

 

Let me know what you find out about that grinding.

For the past two months I've had this horrid sporadic grinding. It not at high speeds, but rather at a idle (stand still) or moving forward slowly. Other ways to describe it I could think of is someone with a manual transmission and not putting it in gear properly with the clutch and letting the metal vibrate together.

I mean it's really embarassing.

I thought it was the aftermarket exhaust but I had that checked today by a muffler shop and that wasn't the problem.

Please let me know.

Duke

 

Well, the truck is at the stealership and they were happy to tell me that they are ready to fix my brake issue. After I expressed my concerns about the grinding and told them what the problem most likely was, they said "We can't do anything or look at it unless we hear it when we drive it." Needless to say I wasn't too happy so I told him I would come drive it for them if they didn't hear it on their own.

Does anyone know if the "they have to hear it" policy is actually the way the warranty wording is or is it just their way of jerking me around. Regardless, they are going to have a fight on their hands if they don't fix it. I just want to know how much ammo I have.

 

WOW! I went to the stealership today. What a hoot!!!!

After 3 times trying to tell the service manager what was going on, I was still hearing the same response…. “We have to hear it.” They of course didn’t hear it. So I took the tech for a drive and he was very knowledgeable and friendly, unlike the service manager. I thought the service manager wasn’t listening to me, but now I know he wasn’t. Basically the tech was under the impression that the clunk was the main symptom and was thinking rear differential. He was not told what I told the service manager guy. I had said, “It is in the front part of the truck, possibly the driver’s side, it stops when I put it in 4 high, I think it could be the hubs trying to engage when they shouldn’t, this could be the IWE solenoid.” So this is where it gets great. As the tech and I are driving, we are talking. I tell him the symptoms and he says exactly what I had been saying all along, “it could be the hubs trying to engage, vacuum system, IWE solenoid, etc.” At this point I am about to crap myself, I said, “that is EXACTLY what I told the service manager the problem and solution was.” The tech happily said, I will change the solenoid and that should fix your problem.

Also, the tech said that this problem usually occurs on the drivers side hub.

 

It should be both hubs since the hubs are ran from the same port on the solenoid.