My 2005 has the ESOF system which has worked flawlessly. Recently I had upper and lower ball joints done and after that repair I had no auto locking hubs. ( independent shop messed up seal install ) they redid the job and it now seems like my front hubs are locking automatically because I am getting binding while turning. So this is the problem.. the front wheels do not "pull" only the rear wheels spin. If I manually lock the hubs I have 4x4 and can get out of being nearly stuck and everything works normally. What is wrong here? Does the shop need to redo the job again? Help me out so i can go in there armed with some information. Thanks !

 

The only way to truely know what's going on is to take it to another qualified shop (Probably the Dealer) and ask them to do an inspection on 4x4, explain you had the work performed at another shop and they had to replace the vacuum seals but it still doesn't seem like it's right. It may cost $100+ for the inspection but at least you'll know what is wrong and you can go back to the independent shop and have them redo it at cost to themselves, or have Ford do it and take the bill to the independent shop and try to recover your money from them.

 

Good advice. I think I will do that and post back what is found.