First off, let me say how glad I am we found this site. After 3 trips to the dealership with no resolution to the off and on grinding, it took my girlfriend just 10 minutes and "Google" and she comes out telling me what is wrong with my truck. We took the TSB to the dealership and they are replacing the IWE solenoid. (after replacing struts, right side axle, even adjusting a heat shield) They are also going to be replacing the other half axle, as it blew out in the week in between trips to the dealership.

My question is this, at what point do the IWE's themselves need to be inspected? At this point, it has been over a month of this grinding in the wheels. The dealership is "resisting" my request to just pull it apart and look at it. Warranty will pay their time, I already checked, so what's the problem?

They keep telling me that they have never had a problem with the IWE's. But they admit, they have never looked. Of course, they also told me that this is the 4th or 5th truck they have had come in with this problem, but they could not diagnose it on their own. And I'm sure if I had not taken the TSB I found here in, they still would not know what is wrong.

Thanks for your help.

 

slight grinding is okay.


constant grinding over a month...I'd say there is some damage there, and they need to replace those IWE assemblies.


how does a Ford Dealership not know about these? it ain't a huge occurance, but it's been happening since 2004 when the trucks were released. Maybe should find a more knowledgeable shop

 

Well first, sounds like you need to find a new dealer. Your problem, unfortunatly, is a common one. They should have resolved it on the first visit.
The IWE's ( Intergrate Wheel Ends) basically are your 4x4 hubs, just moved inwards onto the front axleshafts. They are vacuum operated, being in the "OFF" position w/ vacuum to the actuators. What you were hearing is what happens when the vacuum is lost. The most common problem is the solenoid shorting out due to rain. But other problems can happen w/ damaged vacuum lines and the actuators themselves.(There is one behind each front hub.)
The grinding is the gears not meshing properly between the actuator and the hubs. Chances are if the front hubs are removed, you will find a light gray colored grease. That is due to fine metal shavings from the grinding and both the actuator and the hub will need to be replaced.
The only reason I could think of why they wont look into it, is because they have a closed ticket for your concern. You should question them about and possibly contact Ford about it and open a CUDL.
Good Luck!

 

I actually have one bad IWE actuator (drivers side), but it failed to the point that it is always engaged. The other side is OK. Verified the failed actuator with a vaccuum pump / gauge. So I plugged the vaccuum line to the failed IWE acutuator so as to not have a vaccuum leak that would affect the passenger side. Passenger side did grind for awhile before i plugged the vaccuum to the driver side, but operation was verified ok with the vaccuum gage. My problems started with a bad IWE solenoid, which I have replaced with the redesigned rain cover.

My question to Fordtechnician:

If the IWE actuator is enganged, (even after grinding for a while), and the passenger side is ok (verified with said vacuum pump), What will it hurt if i just replace the actuator on the driver side and regrease everything?

 

It wont hurt anything. That would be a normal repair. You would be doing more damage by not replacing the faulty actualtor. Just be ready to possibly replace the hub also. If it was grinding for awhile, the gear on the hub side might be damaged also.

 

I'm having similar problems, my driver's side wants to stay engaged and it howls. When I toggle the switch to 4H and back at around 20-30 mph it will quit for a time and then come back. It seems like a vacuum leak given how the IWEs operate, but I have already replaced both hubs AND installed the newer style solenoid just within the past couple of months. I've looked over all of the vacuum lines from the hub all the way back to the solenoid and everything is intact and has no leaks that I can find. Is there anything else it could possibly be?

 

ghize..... you could have a bad actuator..... what you need to do is use a hand vacuum pump and test each actuator individually..... just remove the vacuum lines from the actuator, and then use the hand pump to pump the actuator..... a brand new actuator will be fully compressed around 5" vacuum, but the engine should pull around 21-22" when idling. pump each actuator up and watch for a vacuum loss..... according to ford, 1" of loss over 1 minute is acceptable.

 

Question to Ford Technician

A friend of mine is having the same problem as I am reading here. We are in Canada and have called Ford Of Canada to no avail. The Truck in question on my end is a 2005 F-150 4 X 4, and after reading the questions and replies here, there is a definite issue with these Trucks.
He has an extended Warranty, but not with Ford, they the Extended Warranty people do not want to acknowledge it. Do you have any suggestions, the Warranty purchased was a Power Train one.
If my understanding is correct, and I think it might be why would they not agree to it.
The Truck has 105,000 KM on it, which in normal mileage is 65,010.
Any suggestions would be great appreciated, in helping here thanks in advance, and much appreciated.
Sure would like to keep this post alive to benefit others with same problem.

 

Don't let them fool ya my friend. I have a F150 2005 and the front left hub all of a sudden started making a grinding noise kinda metallic and chattery at the same time. I took it to ford and they said a ring inside the hub actuator has desintigrated. Now my hubby's 2005 F150 has the same chatter. When in 4H it stopped chattering, but now there is clunking like something is trying to engage. Anyways the point is...there is a problem and Ford should rectify it with a recall.. My truck didn't even have 10,000 miles when that happened to mine.

 

Folks,
Ford has a TSB(technical Service Bulletin)out regarding the IWE solenoid.I cant recall the number but this was a problem I had but in reverse actually.My front IWE hubs would not unlock while in 2wd.I got this annoying grinding noise&freaked me out.The solenoid is located on the right side of the firewall behind the battery.
After doing some research online,I found it was the solenoid that was causing the problems.Water can get in the solenoid&short it out rendering it useless.That was my problem.Replaced the solenoid&is fine now.
Check out this link about the IWEs in this link.This dude really explains it well&how I get educated on the system.Good luck gang,Pete


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7322441

 

I had the exact same problem but for some reason, the grinding noise only occured first thing in the morning when the truck sat for a long time when the outside temperature was below freezing...then would go away after a few miles. Definetley sounded like it was coming from the passenger side. Everytime I dropped it off at the dealer they couldn't replicate the noise because it got warm out. I took them the TSB and they replaced the solenoid but the problem came back.

Took it to another dealer and left it overnight. The next morning they drove it and it made the noise. They ended up replacing the driver side IWE...$480! A week later, the noise came back...still on the passenger side!! I took it back to them and they said they couldn't find anything wrong because it wasn't cold enough for it to make the noise. FINALLY we got some snow. I backed the truck out my driveway in 2WD and started to go up the street. Got some wheel spin, so I put it in 4WD. That's when it started to grind and the 4X4 would not engage. So there I was stuck in the middle of the street because the 4X4 wouldn't engage. Definetley was coming from the passenger side again. I managed to nurse it back into my driveway and called the dealer and told them once the roads are plowed, I'm bringing it back to them TODAY!!! Got it to the shop and they said the passenger side IWE needed to be replaced too. WTF!! NO *****!!!! Anoher $480!! Haven't had any problems sense...well, not with the IWEs anyway.

 

i had just put a new iwe on the drivers side 04 f150, first started out with a noise @50 60 mph and sounded like i was towing a metal garbage can , let off or get in the gas and it would stop, took it in and they told me the iwe MAYBE bad and qouted me 600 $ , found out the part is 110$ and really good info on f150online, if you have doubt if its working , remove the vac. hoses on the actuator(iwe) and hook a vac pump to the larger of the 2 ports, i put about 15lbs in the pass. side and it held good, lost less than 1lb per min or 2 , the driver side were the problem was , would not even build pressure,diaphram was shot, about 2 hours later had the old one out &the new one in, no more noise and it works great, i also changed the soleniod on the firewall, so much talk about water&ice etc. getting in and damaging them & the actuators, for 30 bucks its cheap p.o.m, i can provide tool list if u need it

 

Guys
Do any of you guys bring your trucks to car washes?The reason I say this is that when I started bringing my truck to the car wash,thats when the trouble would begin!No more car washes for my truck!Maybe thats what was causing the IWE solenoid to go bad?Guess water can still get in the hub actuators&causing all kinds of problems&messing up the system....Pete

 

Guys
I want to send a schematic on this page.How do I do it?

 

not sure on the schematic but i do know that the new soleniod has a hood so water running down isnt a problem i can give a part # if needed