Ok, so I have a 99 AWD Expedition I bought this Summer and have been working on. When I got it, it was doing the whole grind and slip deal until you get above 40mph. I just took out the 104 transfer motor fuse, and no more issues, except the 4x4 light still blinks. Since then, I have changed the rear wheel speed sensor, and GEM. Now if I put the fuse back in it, I don't get the grind and slip( or very little if any), but the 4x4 light still blinks. I figure the next step is to change out the sensors on the transfer case, but haven't been in a hurry since I can just leave the fuse out, and could easily pop back in if I needed 4x4.

That being said, the truck doesn't handle very good when you get over 50 mph or so. It feels like there is way more play in the steering than I would expect. Over the holiday, drove about 1000 miles through the mountains and there were times I really had to concentrate to stay in my lane. Could this be because the AWD isn't engaged? Is this just normal for a 15 yo SUV?

Now on another issue that may be relevant. I've changed a bunch of parts in the front end trying to get rid of a noise I get when turning to the right and going up or down hill (cv joint, upper control arm, mogg bushings, stabilizer bar, ball joint, shocks), and of course I've had the front end lined up, and all my tires balanced. I even took it to the shop before my trip, and had them go over the front end (mostly because of that noise I can't seem to get rid of) , and they said everything looked good. I'll be curious to hear what you guys think.

Thanks,
Josh

 

How many miles on it?

 

120000 miles

 

I guess that rules out a worn steering gear. You said new front end parts, does that include lower ball joints along with inner and outer tie rods?

 

Have changed ball joint on passenger side, as well as tie rod there too. Guys at the front end shot thought the other tie rods were still in good shape.

 

It is not AWD it is A4WD, and they are very different. A4WD doesn't engage 4WD until it senses wheel slip, so it essentially in 2WD most of the time so it will have no effect on handling with that fuse pulled.

 

Could also be a worn idler arm.

 

Careful of the alignment shop too. The last time I had tires put on and aligned the thing was all over the road. I brought it back and the guy who aligned it told me that he couldn't get one of the tie rod adjuster tubes loose, so he tried to compensate the best he could with other adjustments. I really had to bite my lip to keep from calling the guy an f***ing moron. I got my money back and went to a different alignment shop where they did it right and it drove perfect after that.

 

Oh, I forgot. I also had the idler arm changed. As for alignment, maybe I should take it to someone else, but it doesn't pull to one side or the other, and stays straight when I hit the brakes. It just feels like the steering is "loose", like it's over-steering or something. Thanks for all the feed back guys.

 

That will happen if the toe is out of adjustment because the tires aren't rolling parallel to each other.

 

We had a similar issue. After replacing much of the wear parts like you have, we replaced the front air shocks which made all the difference. Not sure if you have air shocks but shocks made made a big difference in handling. Just a thought...

 

This^ !! Can make it wander big time