vazo

Hello


I am hoping I can get some feed back on an issue which I have been since October 2013. Hope you are sitting in a comfortable chair and are having a coffee since his is a bit f a long story ... lol ..

I have a 2012 Ford F150 FX4 5.0L Super Crew with the Appearance Package. Currently I have 26000 km on the vehicle but when I brought the vehicle in October 2013 it only had about 18000 km on it. I have been back to the dealer about 23 times and in all honesty they have been very cooperative trying to resolve this issue. They have replaced both my front hubs, actuators (twice), and changed out the clutch plates in my transfer case.

What happens is, either from a stopped position or more often when I remove my foot from the brake and have a slight roll going, I try to engage my 4 wheel drive and moderately accelerate up to speed. Anywhere between 45-60km I get an excessive/hard BANG or CLUNK. And some times two. The dealer explained it as a delay in the drive shafts coming up to speed and engaging.

After all of these visits, they decided to have a Ford Field Service Rep come down and look at it. I dropped my truck off that morning and at 2pm I get a call saying they found a resolution. The field rep had said that it was a "normal" condition. They also said that they took a unit off the lot and were able to reproduce the noise in that vehicle. I went down to pick up my truck and asked to talked to the field rep. He had apparently already left but had conveniently provided an email to the service manager explaining that the condition was normal and that he had also spoken to a driveline specialist and confirmed it was a normal condition. Very convenient in my opinion to first off not be available to talk to the customer and then provide the dealership withan email, backed by colleague that it was normal.

At that point I asked to go for a ride in the vehicle that they reproduced the issue in. After 20 minutes of driving around and the service manager not being able to reproduce the issue I asked if I could drive since I am able to reproduce the issue in my truck each and every time I engage 4x4. I drove around for another 20 minutes and nothing. It made no bang or clunk. I also asked him if he would be willing to give me the vehicle for the weekend and I would report back and he agreed to that. He said he was surprised since they (service and field rep) were able to reproduce it. Here’s the kicker .. I said, if its a normal condition and given the number of these trucks on the road, why is there nothing (TSB/Owners manual) in writing stating that and more importantly, he flat out told me that they (the dealership) had had no other reports from any of their customers of this issue. My response was ... so how is that “NORMAL”.

So, I am going to take their loaner out and see how it goes but in the meantime, I have tested 3 of my friends vehicles. Two of which were identical in year and drivetrain, the other was an ecoboost and guess what ... none of them exhibited the condition. I am going to meet with the dealership owner and let him know that I am going to start the process thru CAMVAP to get a resolution to this. I don’t want to blind side them since they have been pretty helpful.

So my question after this long drawn out story, Are any of you experiencing this condition or have heard of it?

Thanks

BulletsForFingers

Never heard of it. I would want to talk to the Ford guy too. It's abundantly obvious that this doesn't happen to 100% of the trucks on the road, at least not 100% of the time. In that case, if he's an expert on the matter he should be able to explain what exactly is occurring and also the circumstances in which it occurs. Just saying "normal" isn't sufficient.

king nothing

There's obviously something wrong here. It really concerns me seeing all of these stories of ford either not being able to find a problem or not being able to fix a problem so they just pass it off as "normal". Just because all or most have a problem doesn't make it normal, it means there's something wrong with all of them that needs to be addressed

BCMIF150

I may be from the stop or accelerating that is the issue.

Since it is shift on the fly, I always shift while holding a speed, not while stopped or accelerating. Just a thought.

Robob

Many people don't understand how the system works on their truck so I will elaborate on how the IWE system works on many F150's today.

The front CV axles on 09+ F150's are always turning with the same RPM as the rest of the driveline of the truck, there are Integrated Wheel Ends (IWE) which act as hubs on the back of your spindle that the CV axle runs through and bolts onto the other side of the wheel bearing.

If you look at this pic you will see the ring by the end of the axle that has the nut on it


and the matching ring can almost be seen on this IWE hub


When 4x4 is engaged the system uses a solenoid mounted on the firewall to release vacuum to the IWE hubs and a tone ring with gear teeth slides down over a matching ring on the CV axle (see pics above) and locks the wheel onto the rest of the driveline.

This clunk noise you are hearing is because you have changed the speed of the driveline relative to the speed of the wheels turning and when those teeth on the gears finally do mesh together there is audible noise from doing so.

So while the system is "shift on-the-fly" you cannot expect the gear teeth to withstand this sort of punishment long-term. Some forethought and judgment must be used when engaging 4x4 and always try to do it when stopped to 5mph just for longevity sake of the components involved.

Yes technically you could shift at 50mph into 4x4 in an emergency and it would do it, you would hear bad noises and something could break but in the end you need to think of the result of what 4x4 is doing, if your trying to mesh gear teeth together at 20mph+ there is going to be a noise, also once teeth start breaking on the IWE or the axle there will be noise every time.

For preventative measures you can pull the spindle off the truck and LIGHTLY grease the IWE teeth and axle, do not gob too much on or this can bind them up in cold weather.

SteveLord

Mine did make clunks once in a while this past winter, but not all the time. Read a lot of people here saying it was normal. I wouldn't say it was loud by any means.

I also always let go of the gas when I shift on the fly. Just a thing I do.

tcp2

[QUOTE=Robob;3614081]

The front CV axles on 09+ F150's are always turning with the same RPM as the rest of the driveline of the truck, there are Integrated Wheel Ends (IWE) which act as hubs on the back of your spindle that the CV axle runs through and bolts onto the other side of the wheel bearing.

If you are going to elaborate, at least provide the correct information. The whole purpose of the IWE is to disengage the axle from the hub. the front cv axles are not turning when the truck is in 2wd mode and the engine is running and providing vacuum to the auto shift system. the front driveshaft disengages at the transfer case and the IWE's disengage at the hubs. The entire front axle is stationary when driving in 2wd mode. Vacuum is required to disengage the IWEs at each side, which is why the axles engage when the engine is turned off and you can't spin them by hand.
A properly working Auto shift system will allow you to spin the axles by hand as long as the engine is running and providing vacuum in 2wd mode.

crewsn

i have a question about the 4x4 systems on these trucks. how is it that you can shift at any speed into 4 high with out damaging anything. i would think the transfer case or front diff would grenade going from stationary to vehicle speed. i do know for 4 low you are supposed to be under 3 mph and in neutral when shifting into. so why not the same for 4 high. this is something i've always wondered about.

MEZERR

Here's my story about CAMVAP

Crash89

I do not have much to add as to why, but I always shift on the fly in my '13 electronic 4x4, and also did so in my '05 with a manual transfer case. Both are very quiet when shifting into 4x4.

I think one of the problems people have is that they are on the gas, when they realize they are slipping and sliding and just reach over and turn the ****.

You need to let off the gas, shift into 4x4, then get back into it.