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I have seen a few posts on diff whine for 03/04s but am confused as to the fix. I have a whine from the drivetrain when accellerating in the 40-60 mph range. Does Ford have a fix? Does it work?
Had 3000 miles on my 04 Expy and a whine at 50-60 mph. Took back to the dealer. Dealer replaced ring and pinion gears in rearend. Have been completely silent since.
Bob, I'm assuming it is the rear diff as the sound seems to be coming from the rear of the vehicle, only on acceleration and I have seen previous posts that refer to this as a common problem on 03/04s.
Mine has the same whine at 68 mph. Called the dealer today and he said that they have a replacement ring and pinion set.
It has been available for about two months. It is supposed to fix the whine.
I work at a Ford dealership, and yes the '03/04 Expeditions and F150s, even some Explorers and Rangers have had whining problems in the rearend. It can be while cruising, accelerating or by letting off the gas anywhere from 40-75mph. In the Expedition, we've replaced the pumpkin(entire center section of the rearend), other times we've rebuilt the rearend with a new ring and pinion. Most of the time we replace the driveshaft along with this. The key when you rebuild the rearend is to get the backlash as tight as possible. In the book it will say put the lash at like .009-.015, but if you talk to any Ford engineer they know most of the ring and pinions weren't machined right and need to be very tight on the lash, they will say .004-.007. The tighter we've gone on them, the quieter the rearends have been on the ones we've done. We haven't had any comebacks on the rearends we've done, but we also have some great techs as well.
P.S., if the whine cannot be heard with the a/c on, Ford considers that noise to be "within spec" and will not fix the rearend. Trust me we've tried.
My local dealership replaced the ring and pinion in my 04 XLT 2WD. The last words he said to me as I drove away were "I hope you enjoy your silent Expedition". 1000 miles later, he was correct!
ah! sh-- first new glass, now the whine, heard it on way back from Idaho last month. Last week on way down to Bay Area and in traffic heard it in the 50-60 mph range while accelarating. Was affraid thats what it was. Think I will go to a different dealer to have it fixed. The one I bought the Expi from gave me hassel on the glass and took 6 weeks to replace it. Will probably wait till I take it in for 5000 mile service
I was riding with the radio turned down on route 80 and I heard a whine. Sounded like 4 wheel drive was engaged. Check the switch---nope.
Turned my head sideways and the noise was coming from the rear end.
At exactly 54-56 MPH under slight load as when maintaining speed the rear end sings.
Went to dealer told him I had the dreaded axle whine, he raised his eyebrows and said "Really?!?!" Truck goes in Tuesday night for a laoner pick-up. He said there were alot of things they try to do and tests to be done. He also said they have done many of them already. They will need two to three days.
Will they just change the gears? He mentioned lubricant but I told him it wasn't limited slip.
This is easy. I had the same whine under a slight load at 68 mph. The dealer was well aware of the problem and replaced the ring and pinion with a new improved version. Problem solved.
Went to dealer told him I had the dreaded axle whine, he raised his eyebrows and said "Really?!?!" Truck goes in Tuesday night for a laoner pick-up. He said there were alot of things they try to do and tests to be done. He also said they have done many of them already. They will need two to three days.
Bob
It might take that long to get the parts in. But all they need to do is the replacement instead of wasting time to do "TESTS". That's the fix. After the call of them getting the part in it took less than a day. Whine gone.
At 55MPH with just a slight load to maintain speed it would sing. I am aware of a TSB that exists for this problem.
I took the car in Tues night and they looked at it yesterday. Thay called my wife today to tell her to bring back the rental car and said they need to order a new differential for the Expy.
They expect the part to arrive in a few days since it's coming out of the "main warehouse".
I though they only replaced the ring and pinion gears.
Could it be no one has the training to set the gear clearances up?
What gives. Is that better than just doing the gears?
How difficult is it and what problems would be associated with it?
I had one dealership tell me they would probably replace the entire differential. The other dealership said the new ring and pinion would solve the problem. It did.