So I fixed a grinding noise that came from my hubs. I thought it was in my transfer case because I took it to Ford, and according to their work, they replaced the IWE solenoid and both IWE actuator hubs, so I kept with the transfer case idea. Well, after a long dispute with Ford about their misrepresentation of repairs made to my truck, I finally got some time off work to find the issue myself.

First of all, the grinding noise only happens when I'm driving in 2WD, and a larger grinding sound can be hard during a hard, left turn. The sound would go away when I engaged 4WD, and it would be non existent in park, neutral, or when the vehicle was up in the air. After Ford replaced the parts, the sounds still persisted. They told me there was dirt in the actuator hubs, and there was water in the IWE solenoid. I got the hubs back and inspected them, they're fine. I didn't get my solenoid back upon my request the very day I picked up my vehicle, a violation of the North Carolina Motor Vehicle Act, so I couldn't find out what was up. I have a 2007, and the solenoid was equipped with a water shield.

Any who, I tested the system by driving with the vacuum tubes disconnected from the actuator hubs, the sound was gone. So I figured there couldn't be dirt in the rubber rim of the hubs again. Also, I hooked a vacuum pump to the solenoid, did release pressure in 2WD but retained pressure in 4WD, so that worked perfectly. So I knew there was something wrong in the lines. After investigating the lines, I found there was rubbing of the loom protecting the lines over the passenger side upper control arm mount. I tried pulling off the tape around the loom and I hear a "snap". so after taking all the loom off of the lines in the nearby area, this is what I found:


After much frustration with Ford, having spend $1129.21 to fix an issue that they didn't even fix, my anger was intensified because this had to be the issue all along. I decided to drive the truck with these lines broke, and no sound. Obviously, the hubs were engaged. So I had to find out how I could get the lines reconnected without getting ripped off. After some time, I decided to use a very convenient garage item, a blue 14-16awg heatshrink butt connector:


I thought about the dangers of using these things, then I decided to go with them anyway. Not only is the glue very strong when bonded, but these things are thick, I'm not at all worried about them being severed. Also, they give some distance to the lines so they're not as tight anymore, no longer rubbing on anything.

The lines, originally, are somewhat hardened plastic tubes, not much bend ability to them especially when it's cold. If given a bit of stress, especially when cold, they have a tendency of breaking. So for anyone having a grinding noise with their 4WD system, don't be too hasty to take it to the dealership, you may very well save yourself hundreds of dollars just doing this as a temporary means until you can get time to have the line(s) replaced entirely.

 

Interesting fix and good find! I'll have to take a look at my '08. Don't have issues right now, but that's not to say that something isn't about to break.

Out of curiousity, what did the dealer do fro $1200 worth of work, was that simply for the IWE's??

I kind of have a vested interest in 4x4 warranty claims...

 

Wow. Great Post!

Butt connectors (and butane torch) are now in the toobox

Thanks!


MGD

 

I'm so glad you finally figured this out! Any progress on your issues with that dealer?

 

Well for $1200, they replaced my actuator hubs, which I got professionally inspected and weren't bad, they replaced the solenoid which I can't determine the defect of cuz they discarded it prior to me picking uo my truck, which is a violation of north carolina law, and they billed me for 6.5 hoirs of work and diagnostic, total rip off cuz I could have gotten those parts cheaper and done the work way faster. Also, they didn't do a test drive so instead of trying to get to the root of the problem, they replaced the "common defective components", claimed they were defective, and billed me. Lesson learned, I guess.

As for the dealer, I sent them an email informing them they made some law violations and they haven't responded back to me, yet. So either I caught them in a shady act, or they are just tired of dealing with me. Either way this is going to get legal, first small claims, or suit if small claims doesn't go. All I know is I'm upset they replaced parts and charged me for work that didn't fix my issue. However, I'm glad I eventually found the issue. But since they replaced the actuator hubs without fixing the problem, I gotta check the hub and actuator to make sure they're not chewed up too badly.

I wouldn't warrant this repair to be permanent, with the butt connectors, but I will certainly monitor it to see how long it lasts. So far they're holding up. They're much stronger than the stock tubing and the glue from the heat shrink is not budging at all. So I am confident this resolution can be lasting, but we will see.

 

Nice fix, I love to see ingenuity like that at work.

 

That's cool. If by chance that doesn't hold, you can purchase vacuum rubber splice, elbow and repair connectors at quite a few third party suppliers. But you have to use MEK to seal it leak free.

Aha, here yuh go, -



Yea those lines are notorious for breaking in the 10 generation trucks as well. They break right between the battery box and firewall with those trucks.


Good Job!

 

I have responded about this in other threads, so I will repeat for those reading this one

those hard plastic lines will also melt from chemicals, I had these lines around the iwe valve and vacuum canister melt, this is located behind the batt tray (possibly from batt acid when batt case cracked) after finding multiple problems in these hard plastic lines I replaced all of them with rubber vacuum/fuel line and have not had any more problems for the last 2 years.

and the 2 lines on the iwe's - one goes to the valve and the other dead ends in the eng compartment for a vent line, up out of waters reach

I cut a "T" fitting into the vacuum side of the iwe valve to hook up my vacuum gauge, the line has check valves so if you start eng and get the vacuum down it will hold vacuum ( after shutting eng off) in 2wd since it use's vacumm to hold out the iwe's if not you have a leak, if vacuum changes with RPM's then check valves are bad.

I know some on here have said it does not hold vacuum but hey - mine does !!! so fix your leaks