annoying drive problems w/ '03 expy

[Guest]

I purchased my '03 in November and I must say that I am not impressed with it at all. $31000 and all I've gotten is a lot of trips to the dealer. It's going back in today for a problem with the xfer case. When I switch from 2wd to A4wd there is a whine and then clunk in the xfer case. And when it's A4WD there is a violent transition from 2wd to 4WD when the wheels slip. I've alreadt had 3 rear axle shaft seals put in on top of it. And body panels keep falling off inside. They're replacing all of them today also. My nieghbor had had problems with his rearend in his '03 EB also. Wish me luck on getting rid of it today. I'm looking at getting an F250 crew cab with as few luxuries as possible. I think Ford made a huge mistake by going to the independant rear suspension. Don't mean to rag on the Expy, but there are some engineering design flaws that need to be corrected before I would consider another. I will still be a Ford man though. Any other problems like this? I see some have had the axle shafts go bad. That's appearing to be very common.

 

[monsta]

I'm confused a bit.

Your major gripe is the 4WD system but state that there is an engineering problem with the IRS and that Ford made a mistake using it.

Why?

Understand I have no problems with mine. (The tires suck 'specially when driven on roads made out of lava rock!) But out of all the things about the new Expy I like. The IRS is my favorite. I've punished the hell out of it off-road and on and it works perfectly.

And that's the first I've heard about the axle shafts. The LS unit fiasco of Fords is common knowledge. But mine works perfectly...

 

[redskins]

crumleyjc
I'm having the same problem with my 2WD to A4WD.
My truck is in for service on this matter right now but the service team doesn't know what the problem is.
Did you find out what the problem is?

ps
Monsta I must agree with you about IRS, no lava rock up here in Toronto but we do get a little bit of snow.

2003 Exp
FX4

 

[Guest]

They didn't find the problem. I took it to several dealerships to get it looked at. The Lincoln/Mercury service dept acknowledged that there was a problem, but said they weren't sure what and they'd have to tear the whole xfer case apart and it would be in there for at least two weeks. Their advice to me was to drive it until it got really bad or until I couldn't drive it at all. That was the final straw for me. I went and traded it in. I didn't pay that much money to drive a broken truck. Ford service told me that it was normal for the system to not mesh up once in a while, but it was happening everytime and it just didn't feel right when the A4WD would engage. It was puzzling, but now it's over.

 

[redskins]

well,
my service department took my transfer case apart
they found a broken spring ,,, replaced and all is well
total repair time half a day


FYI

 

[Guest]

That's awesome. I could not convince anyone to get their hands dirty here. Oh well, I only lost a little on my trade. I really wish the would have just found the problem, though. I downsized a little. I'll probably regret it at some time, but for now I'm enjoying the price I'm paying t the pump.

 

[Karl in MN]

God, are some dealers incompetent. There has been a TSB out for this issue for a long, long time now. The cluck is caused by the half shafts coming out of the transfer case either spinning in opposite directions or at different speeds. I had the TSB performed a long time ago and now the A4WD engagement is totally silent. The spring that redskins mentioned was not broken, but they did have to add a spring to bias the half shafts to spin in the same direction.

The fact that dealers still can't find a TSB is appalling.