Possible IWE issues.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: N.E. Ohio
Possible IWE issues.
I know, this has been hashed and rehashed I'm sure more than a few times here. I am just trying to verify my understanding of what might be going on with my truck. I have a 2012 3.5L eco supercrew with ~125k on it. While driving home from VA to OH on Saturday I started hearing this light grinding noise in the front end on the drivers side. It would start making the noise any time I was accelerating AND gave it any steering input. If I was able to keep the wheel straight (not very often, VA, WV, and PA roads are decidedly NOT straight) the noise would go away even under acceleration. Any time I was coasting, braking etc I could turn the wheel to my hearts content and hear no noise. I'll admit, after having to have that same rotor machined and put new pads on it while on vacation I was pretty dismayed and just wanted to get home, so I ignored it. My understanding is that there is more vacuum created under deceleration than under power, is that correct? If so that would make sense from my observations of the issue. Doing some reading I got the impression that it could be the vacuum line running to the IWE, which made sense since I just had the struts replaced shortly before leaving. Well I checked this morning and the lin from where it has a joint by the upper control arm mount to the IWE seems fine. I stuck my mitivac on it and pulled a vacuum and it held even while aggressively manipulating the hose. I even heard the IWE actuate once I got up to around 15 in Hg, I pulled it to 20 and wiggled the crap out of the hose for about 5 minutes. Thanks for any comments you may have, I just want to make sure this is my issue and not say the bearings before I tear apart the truck.
Also the AC fan was acting weird. I think I need a new resistor pack as it only seems to blow on 1 and 4, but occasionally while decelerating it blew even harder (while at the same time the front end noise stopped). I assume maybe this behavior is related? Not sure, as I don't know if the HVAC stuff is all electronic or if there is still some vacuum controlled parts like my old Jeep Liberty had (even the fan **** had vacuum hoses to control the fan speed on that POS)
Also the AC fan was acting weird. I think I need a new resistor pack as it only seems to blow on 1 and 4, but occasionally while decelerating it blew even harder (while at the same time the front end noise stopped). I assume maybe this behavior is related? Not sure, as I don't know if the HVAC stuff is all electronic or if there is still some vacuum controlled parts like my old Jeep Liberty had (even the fan **** had vacuum hoses to control the fan speed on that POS)
Member
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 35
Likes: 33
I know, this has been hashed and rehashed I'm sure more than a few times here. I am just trying to verify my understanding of what might be going on with my truck. I have a 2012 3.5L eco supercrew with ~125k on it. While driving home from VA to OH on Saturday I started hearing this light grinding noise in the front end on the drivers side. It would start making the noise any time I was accelerating AND gave it any steering input. If I was able to keep the wheel straight (not very often, VA, WV, and PA roads are decidedly NOT straight) the noise would go away even under acceleration. Any time I was coasting, braking etc I could turn the wheel to my hearts content and hear no noise. I'll admit, after having to have that same rotor machined and put new pads on it while on vacation I was pretty dismayed and just wanted to get home, so I ignored it. My understanding is that there is more vacuum created under deceleration than under power, is that correct? If so that would make sense from my observations of the issue. Doing some reading I got the impression that it could be the vacuum line running to the IWE, which made sense since I just had the struts replaced shortly before leaving. Well I checked this morning and the lin from where it has a joint by the upper control arm mount to the IWE seems fine. I stuck my mitivac on it and pulled a vacuum and it held even while aggressively manipulating the hose. I even heard the IWE actuate once I got up to around 15 in Hg, I pulled it to 20 and wiggled the crap out of the hose for about 5 minutes. Thanks for any comments you may have, I just want to make sure this is my issue and not say the bearings before I tear apart the truck.
Also the AC fan was acting weird. I think I need a new resistor pack as it only seems to blow on 1 and 4, but occasionally while decelerating it blew even harder (while at the same time the front end noise stopped). I assume maybe this behavior is related? Not sure, as I don't know if the HVAC stuff is all electronic or if there is still some vacuum controlled parts like my old Jeep Liberty had (even the fan **** had vacuum hoses to control the fan speed on that POS)
Also the AC fan was acting weird. I think I need a new resistor pack as it only seems to blow on 1 and 4, but occasionally while decelerating it blew even harder (while at the same time the front end noise stopped). I assume maybe this behavior is related? Not sure, as I don't know if the HVAC stuff is all electronic or if there is still some vacuum controlled parts like my old Jeep Liberty had (even the fan **** had vacuum hoses to control the fan speed on that POS)
Haven't heard any more grinding noises since.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: N.E. Ohio
Thanks iamtylerdurden. I don't have the 4A selection but I capped off the nipple on the solenoid and the noise has gone away. I drove it about 50 miles and haven't noticed any issues. The weird AC fan speed fluctuations are still there but I am going to order a new resistor pack and see how that goes.
