E Locker Seize Up
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2024
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Ontario, Canada
E Locker Seize Up
Hey, all!
Just joined, I seen a lot of people have issues with their E-locker, but haven't seen any that do what my '14 F150 (5L, 4x4) does
It was the old man's daily, but due to health hasn't been able to drive it. Every few weeks when I need it I use it, otherwise it sits in my driveway. The one day I take it out and went to make a turn from a stop sign, start turning and theres a huge BANG behind me, truck feels like it got rear ended, Looking in the side mirror I seen the rear end had physically locked up, both wheels stopped turning and came screeching to a stop. Sitting in the middle of the road, the truck cannot go forward, give it enough gas and it went but with a god awful clunk from the rear end. Pretty sure that was the diff saying "quit that, don't be dumb" lol. Hit reverse it moves normally. Back up to drive and it's crawling forward freely. Make my way to the side of the road, get out check underneath, nothing obvious. Hit the Google, only thing I can find even remotely close to what happened all mentions the E-locker. So I unplug the connector top of the diff, carry on cautiously and it's fine. Completely fine. Made my trip like nothing happened; no howling, chirping, whining, skipping, banging, nothing. Just a normal truck. Get it back in the driveway and plug the connector back in. Start going back & forth within the driveway under it's own power and BANG & rear end locks up again. To confirm this, I lifted the rear end up, put it in neutral (blocked the fronts of course!) and it's as if it's in park. Neither wheel turns. You have a smidge of play back & forth before it hits a discernable metal stop. Unplug at the diff again, cycle the key a couple times, and poof - free as a bird.
Played around with some other things ie; tried 4x4 with diff unplugged - completely fine, tried 4x4 with it plugged in - still locks up but you feel the fronts wanting to drag the rear. At this point I was able to manually turn the e-locker on & off with the **** - it made no difference mechanically but I could see the light come on, and get the notification.
At no point prior had any messages, until I unplugged it roadside of course then the message to check the diff popped up. Initially it could be plugged in, cycle key and message goes away. Now the message to check diff remains regardless, and now I cannot manually turn on the locker by ****. Unplug it, while still lifted I put truck in forward, neutral and reverse, go underneath rear and spin wheels - spins freely, no unsavoury noises or anything. I never seen the little yellow symbol for the E lock up when these incidents happen. When I play around with the **** & it's faceplate it has no effect (seen posts mentioning just poking or wiggling it could cause the E-lock to engage for some people) Also all of these instances were on dry pavement.
It's odd that I unplug it and it's mechanically fine - so you think okay electrical. But even with the E locker self engaging, still doesn't explain the diff physically jamming. I'm thinking after seeing how the e-lock works and since the truck doesn't seem to even realize it's happening, that the magnet pickup is partially failing, so the gear isn't fully moving to it's proper position, jamming everything.
However I can find all sorts of parts for the differential on Ford, but can't find any part #'s for anything E-locker related besides the ****, nothing for the other side of the connector within the pumpkin. Thoughs?
Just joined, I seen a lot of people have issues with their E-locker, but haven't seen any that do what my '14 F150 (5L, 4x4) does
It was the old man's daily, but due to health hasn't been able to drive it. Every few weeks when I need it I use it, otherwise it sits in my driveway. The one day I take it out and went to make a turn from a stop sign, start turning and theres a huge BANG behind me, truck feels like it got rear ended, Looking in the side mirror I seen the rear end had physically locked up, both wheels stopped turning and came screeching to a stop. Sitting in the middle of the road, the truck cannot go forward, give it enough gas and it went but with a god awful clunk from the rear end. Pretty sure that was the diff saying "quit that, don't be dumb" lol. Hit reverse it moves normally. Back up to drive and it's crawling forward freely. Make my way to the side of the road, get out check underneath, nothing obvious. Hit the Google, only thing I can find even remotely close to what happened all mentions the E-locker. So I unplug the connector top of the diff, carry on cautiously and it's fine. Completely fine. Made my trip like nothing happened; no howling, chirping, whining, skipping, banging, nothing. Just a normal truck. Get it back in the driveway and plug the connector back in. Start going back & forth within the driveway under it's own power and BANG & rear end locks up again. To confirm this, I lifted the rear end up, put it in neutral (blocked the fronts of course!) and it's as if it's in park. Neither wheel turns. You have a smidge of play back & forth before it hits a discernable metal stop. Unplug at the diff again, cycle the key a couple times, and poof - free as a bird.
Played around with some other things ie; tried 4x4 with diff unplugged - completely fine, tried 4x4 with it plugged in - still locks up but you feel the fronts wanting to drag the rear. At this point I was able to manually turn the e-locker on & off with the **** - it made no difference mechanically but I could see the light come on, and get the notification.
At no point prior had any messages, until I unplugged it roadside of course then the message to check the diff popped up. Initially it could be plugged in, cycle key and message goes away. Now the message to check diff remains regardless, and now I cannot manually turn on the locker by ****. Unplug it, while still lifted I put truck in forward, neutral and reverse, go underneath rear and spin wheels - spins freely, no unsavoury noises or anything. I never seen the little yellow symbol for the E lock up when these incidents happen. When I play around with the **** & it's faceplate it has no effect (seen posts mentioning just poking or wiggling it could cause the E-lock to engage for some people) Also all of these instances were on dry pavement.
It's odd that I unplug it and it's mechanically fine - so you think okay electrical. But even with the E locker self engaging, still doesn't explain the diff physically jamming. I'm thinking after seeing how the e-lock works and since the truck doesn't seem to even realize it's happening, that the magnet pickup is partially failing, so the gear isn't fully moving to it's proper position, jamming everything.
However I can find all sorts of parts for the differential on Ford, but can't find any part #'s for anything E-locker related besides the ****, nothing for the other side of the connector within the pumpkin. Thoughs?
Last edited by shakeNbakeIt; Jan 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM.
