Sounds like he needs to determine where the sound is comming from, top, underneath, front, back, or wherever. Everybody is guessing at this point.

 

So here's an update. I took my truck to Crown Ford in Fayetteville, NC, and I am VERY upset at this moment. Apparently, they found that there were vacuum leaks in both hub actuators and the IWE solenoid. The cost to replace both actuators and solenoid, including diagnosis, shop fees, taxes, etc, was $1129.21. So I paid it, and obviously, I got ripped off. I was expecting labor to be high, but they raped me dry with that. Also, I tested my old hubs, and they are just fine, no leaks at all. Another thing, the sound my truck was making is still present. In fact, after I got my truck back, I had some time to try and better diagnose the issue myself. Turns out the sound goes away when I depress the gas pedal entirely, but also when I engage my 4WD switch. And considering the night I got my truck back I was in my wife's truck while she was in mine, I heard the sound distinctly was coming from underneath the vehicle. This leads me to believe there's something not right in the transfer case.

But Crown Ford is being really shady about me talking to their mechanic, apparently he's been off for the past couple of days in training, and other things. The sales clerk I've been dealing with is a total liar, blatantly lying to me and my wife in our faces about issues I can prove him wrong about. I filed a complaint with the BBB and I'm going to call Ford's corporate office, or as high as I can go, and let them know of what is going on with them.

Other than that, that's where I stand with the "weird sound". Truck makes the sound when I'm accelerating from a dig at WOT, and when the accelerator is applied at any speed over 20mph with any amount of throttle applied. The sound goes away when I totally let off the accelerator or when the truck is in 4WD. I checked my vacuum lines to the best of my abilities, they seem good so far. The only thing I haven't done is disconnect the lines and run a vacuum pump for leaks. This upcoming weekend will be a 4 day for me so I'll have some time to tear into the transfer case to see what's going on in there because after the garbage service and rip off I've been getting from Ford, I'd rather go buy a Yaris than have my truck fixed there.

 

Is there nothing you can do to say that they lied and replaced functioning stuff just to get your money? There has to be some legal approach for this, even if it's an uphill battle.

 

Hate to say it, but that's typical treatment at a dealer in a military town.

 

Well I filed a complaint against them with the bbb, and I'm gonna call the head office. If nothing can be done, I'm gonna get legal consultation because I thought there was some sort of law keeping shops from charging me for parts that aren't bad.

And it sucks that's how things run in this town. Back home in vegas, dealerships were expeted to have high labor rates and costs, but they got the work done and if they identified anything else that was wrong, they would make every effort to inform you before conducting the work, or if they were done with the work they would let you know if some other fault was identified. These jerks told me that the issue was fixed totally minus knocking sounds from the control arm hitting the spring while driving, which makes no sense cuz there's no contact between the upper control arm and spring. Man I hope something positive can come out of this.

 

A letter to the local paper would be good. I'm sure they don't to be seen as a business that jacks around with people who are serving their country.

Good luck to you , and keep us updated.

 

That really sucks to hear, man. There must be something to keep them from doing stuff like that. What's strange is that they always seem to do this to the wrong people. You didn't know what was wrong exactly, but they should've known that you were informed enough and mechanically inclined enough that doing something like this wasn't just going go over your head and be all peachy afterward with you none the wiser.

Maybe they didn't know this, and I don't know how you feel about how much this matters, but you being a member of the armed forces makes this 10 times worse in my book.

 

Well, the way I see it, regardless of my profession or anything, I am a paying customer, spending good money on what I expect to be quality services. They are in the business of customer service. I don't expect them to kiss my @$$ at all, but I firmly expect them to honor their obligation to excellent service to the customer. Without people to go and pay for their services, they would be out of a job and working elsewhere for less. They should be so fortunate that there are people with special stipulations, who actually go there, a dealership, knowing the cost will be high, but expecting nothing less than OEM quality and service, even though the customer is fully capable of his or her own work.

Had I not been in such a dense training schedule, I could have better handled my situation personally. But due to time constraints, I didn't want what could have been a minor fix to be something disastrous later. Back home, I have never had any problems with a dealership fixing my vehicle, which wasn't often unless I didn't have time or tools. My 2 years here in Fayetteville, this is my first time having gone to a dealership for anything other than to check out the new Explorer for my wife (which I am highly intent on getting). She currently has an '08 Sport Trac, but I will not borrow that vehicle since she stays at home with the baby and she needs the transportation more than I do. However, it is important for me to have transportation at my disposal in any event of emergency, or even something work related. I guess the pressure of having a functioning vehicle at all times, time constraint, and a great track record was my ultimate pressure for going dealership.

But I will see how the BBB handles the issue in the next two weeks, I'm supposed to be hearing from them regarding the situation in that time. But in the meantime, I will certainly contact Ford corporate office, or go as high as I can, to make a complaint. I am an E4 in the Army, attending college, with a wife and child, with a high possibility of getting out medically. I can't afford to be paying for things that are unnecessary, like work that didn't fix the initial problem, parts that weren't broken, and overcharge for labor.

Best believe, though, that I will keep everyone updated on the issue. For now, I believe I have isolated the issue at the transfer case. I am about 95% certain of it. Only in 4Hi and 4Lo does the grinding "noise" go away. It doesn't come right back when I go back into 2Hi, but after some driving, or shutting off the engine and turning it back on does the sound come back. If I disengage overdrive, go into 2nd, or 1st, I still get the same sound. So again, I'm certain it's in the T-case. I have a buddy back home who said he has one from a salvaged F150, 2007, exact same T-case from a 4x4 XLT with 3.73LS that he can sell me for $300 shipped, with less miles than my truck has. In his graciousness, he even hooked it up to another buddy's truck, ran the sh*t out of it, and said it performed like brand new. I might take that and just swap out the T-case after I tear into mine this weekend and try to find out what's going on in there.

 

I agree with all of this. Hopefully this gets resolved and the T case fixes the issue. I wouldn't expect much from Ford though. I don't think they give a rat's behind about any of us sadly.

I don't know how people can run businesses this way, and then not do anything to try and resolve the situation on top of that. There ain't a chance in hell I'd run my shop that way, or hire people that take the "initiative" to do this.

 

Hey bro, keep an eye on your transmission, I hate to be the bearer of bad news and I know/feel/relate to the pain accoiated with it more than most. I'm pretty sure that's what it will turn out to be based on your description of the "wind noise" and when you hear it.

 

I suggest you file a complaint with the NC Attorney General's office consumer complaint division. I've done it before. They will at least make a phone call to the vendor. And, if there are enough complaints from other people they will take more action.

 

DR.LUNCH, I am certainly keeping a very close eye on my entire drive train. In complete irony, the sound goes away when I select the 4Hi option on my system, but then comes back when I go back to 2Hi and come to a complete stop, then start moving again. Lucky for me, I'm military and I get the next 4 days off for Veteran's Day...WOOT WOOT! I'm going to take this entire weekend taking the front end apart and diagnosing the entire vacuum system for the 4WD system. If that checks good, then I'm going to dig into the transfer case, then the transmission. If those are good, then unfortunately I'll end up pulling the engine apart.

Roadie, I didn't think of them at all. Since I have Friday off, I will certainly take the day to make most of my complaints. After that is all done, I will begin diagnosing the issue. My NCOIC took my truck for a spin with me in the passenger side and when the sound was made, I would stick my head out the window, and hear for the sound. And honestly, it sounds like it's coming from right around the wheel. But since many things happen when that 4Hi switch is flipped, I'm going to be digging into everything that changes when that switch is engaged, starting with vacuum system then transfer case.

 

So for an update, Ford ripped me off and I'm gonna get them for it. As for the sound, this isn't my video but here's a video of someone experiencing the same exact noise with their transfer case but in their 2009 FX4:


You can hear a better distingushment between "the sound" and wind noise at about 1:00 into the video. What do you guys think??

 

Any updates ?
Thanks for your time