So yesterday I'm driving my '07 screw 4X4 over to my sisters house. I just broke 3100 miles on it. The road was straight, level, paved, no debris on it, and I was in 2wd. I'm doing about 30-35mph approaching an intersection up ahead. I let off the gas and let the truck slow down on its own. As it does so I here sort of a bang/pop sound come from what sounded like the drivers side wheel/axle area. Then it continues with the sound of metal grinding together sort of like when you put a baseball card in the spokes of your bike when your were a kid. But this was magnified 10 times. It was a brrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrr, sound that caused the truck to slow down even quicker. At the same time a heard a swooooosh sound that resembled something losing pressure coming from the same area.

I pulled into the gas station that just happened to be there and took a look underneath and saw nothing. Looked back down the road to see if I drove over something, again, nothing. I put it in drive, jumped on the highway, drove about 55 miles with no problems. Got off the highway, was about 2 blocks away from my sisters house, I go to slow down for a stop sign and "bang" it does it again. Stop and look again, nothing. It did it one more time after that as well. The ride home it didn't do it at all.

Any ideas?

 

Sounds like the dreaded 4 wheel drive actuator issue. Happened to me on both my 2004 and just 2 months ago on my 2006. Simple fix at the dealership.

 

4wheel drive hub actuator, make sure dealer replaces them asap. and tell them to check everything esle too..

 

Same thing happened to me a while ago......a couple of days before X-Mas! I nearly crapped my pants! Scared the crap out of me! (LOL). I stopped & thought I had dropped my exhaust! (LOL). Took it to the dealer, they changed out the IWE soleniod for a better updated one & checked the hubs for damage. I was alright after that! ..........

 

if its the iwe solenoid then they need to change the hubs aswell the teeth on the hubs are very fragile.

 

hope this never hppaens to me, tonka nice qoute

 

OK, I did some research on IWE solenoids and it seems to be a common problem on the 04-06's. Supposedly, it was redesigned for the 07's, but not well enough I guess. SO now that I know what caused it, what was actually grinding? And how durable are thsoe parts that grinded? What else should I tell the dealership to check or replace?

 

Is the 4wheel drive hub actuator the same as the IWE solenoid?

 

When it happened on my 06 I was also concerned about the hubs being damaged. I had the shop check them and their response was everything looks good. I don't know if they told me that just to get me out of the shop or not.

 

When I brought mine in for that same problem, they checked the system for leaks, & replaced the IWE solenoid......I told them to also check the hubs! They told me that the hubs looked good, & that they are quite durable due to the nature of what they do........I've been good since......Knock on wood!.....

 

Seems like this has happened to more than a few. Is there a TSB or anything out there I should be aware of? My truck is going in soon for a TSB on the fuel sending unit. Might as well get everything done while it's there.

 

check your vacume lines on your hubs, your outer CV axle could be trying to engage. when i got my gears put in the shop messed up a line on the drive side of my truck and the cv was trying to go in to 4wd. our CV's arent always spining like the older fords and all chevy's. they dont spin at all when you're not in 4x4.