Right, but my truck only has 45,000 miles. Seems pretty quick for a bearing to wear out under normal driving circumstances.

If the IWE seal were to fail, which I've seen are/were pretty common in the 17's and 18's. If the IWE failed and water/dirt/etc got into the bearing, it could cause the bearing to wear out faster right? At least that's my line of thinking

 

The bearing has it's own seals. It's not really different from any other FWD axle setup, outside of having added the IWE between the outer CV joint and the hub. 45,000 is early for a wheel bearing failure, but it's hard to spot a defect in one visually, and they can't x-ray and dimension check every ball and race due to cost.

If an IWE fails, the bearings that are at risk are the axle shaft to hub shaft bearings. Those permit the wheel to spin while the axles remain still, and are protected on the inside by the IWE, and on the outside by the cap that covers the axle retention nut.

 

Thanks for the explanation, this helps a lot. So you don't believe a failing sensor would be related in any way to the IWE? My replacement hub bearing came in today. The IWE comes in next week. Wondering if I should go ahead and replace the bearing and wait on the IWE or just return the IWE all together.

I'll take your word for it.

 

LOL... don't take my word for it, I am not there. Do your own investigating when all the parts come in.

There are multiple sensors like tone ring (wheel sensor) and throttle body that are used for Hill Assist, AdvanceTrac, ABS, Sway Control, etc, hence the comments that it could be the throttle body. And it could, but you do have a code for the wheel sensor that is persisting, so that is what needs to be dealt with first. The question you have is whether or not the sensor is actually the issue since the codes persist after clearing them. You presumably replaced it with a good one, but you might look up how to test it, just in case.

There's also the wiring between it and the computer, the tone ring on the CV joint housing (shifted position? Broke off? Dirty as hell?), and the wheel bearing (shifted position of the CV joint housing?).

When you get a code for a sensor, all you really know is that the ECU isn't seeing what it expects on the input associated with that sensor. The input my be high at all times, low at all times, open, or has so much interference that the ECU can't filter out the data. While this is almost always a bad sensor, it could also be a lost power or ground to the sensor, a short or break in a wire somewhere, a broken, shifted or missing tone ring, a very dirty tone ring that has a lot of metal in the grime, or in rare cases, a failed input circuit on the ECU.

Regarding the wheel bearing, have you noticed any noises coming from it? Vibrations or humming while driving? That wheel is hotter than the others?

 

Haha thanks for the response

I do have a noise coming from the left front wheel. Pretty noticeable grinding. The IWE I got on eBay is the genuine Ford part and was $40, the hub bearing and throttle body are all genuine Ford parts. I think I'm also going to order a new vacuum line and run that in case it's a vacuum issue that led to something failing. My truck is under warranty, but I'd like to fix it myself and I'm still under what I think I'd pay for the combined of "diagnostics" and my co-pay for the warranty. And I'll know it's done right.

And my dealer in town is absolutely awful. I'll know it's done right by doing it myself.

So in the coming days I'll be replacing the IWE, hub bearing, and vacuum line. I've got noises in the wheel, so I feel pretty sure that'll fix my issue. If the code doesn't go away, I'll replace the throttle body, which was the most expensive part.

 

Update: Posted this before seeing your response above.

An IWE might be able to make a tone ring sensor fail, but you replaced yours with no change. Did you clean the ring? Grease from the IWE is more likely to contaminate a ring (by letting dirt, which includes steel, collect between the teeth) than fail a sensor. The sensor is hermetically sealed, grease should not being able to weaken, or get into the sensor, and cause damage.

 

The only thing I removed at all was the sensor. The original sensor was incredibly dirty. Not knowing whether it would do good or harm, I sprayed some WD-40 into the sensor hole on the hub assembly to try and clean it out.

Again, the only thing I've done so far is replace the ABS sensor. Haven't messed with the IWE at all, and haven't messed with hub bearing outside of spraying some WD-40 into the sensor opening.

I did disconnect the solenoid's power the other day to see if the grinding noise would go away and it didn't go away.

 

So I found this video last night

Got home today and jacked a wheel up at a time and both CV axles were engaged with the truck off, unlike the 2012 the guy in the video is diagnosing. I thought WTH?

So I turned the truck on and jacked up each wheel. Neither CV axle along with the IWE was engaged this time. Leading me to believe that the only issue is a bad wheel hub bearing.

I feel like this logic/diagnosis is sound. Anybody have anything else?

 

That's correct. The IWE's are normally engaged, and need a vacuum to disengage. This is by design so they actuate daily and keep the grease distributed and covering the teeth so they don't rust.

You may be correct, but keep in mind that you were checking under a condition in which the truck has the highest vacuum produced, closed throttle. As soon as you open the throttle up, you lose vacuum, and a leaking component can drop vacuum to the IWE enough that it doesn't fully disengage. If you were getting the noise only at times while driving, a bad IWE could still potentially be a matching diagnosis.

At any rate, you will know if you've got a bad wheel bearing once you slide the CV axle out of the hub. At that point, any noise or crunchy feeling can only be a failed wheel bearing. While in there, you will have the opportunity to inspect and clean the reluctor (tone ring) to hopefully fix that issue, and inspect the IWE as well, If the IWE looks good, borrow a vacuum pump and check that it holds a vacuum, then you'll have worked that out as well.

 

UPDATE
Replaced the hub bearing assembly and all codes cleared within a couple miles. Grinding, and all abnormal noise, is gone

​​​​​Here's a video I took of the bearings side by side. Notice how the old one catches which hints to me that it's got a bad bearing in there.