Rockclutch
Well-Known Member
Ok folks, got a funny little story for ya and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
As I was driving up CA17 in northern California my expy started sounding off with metallic grinding noises as I approached the summit (1200 ft, no big deal). Scary loud expensive noise.
I'm at 130k original miles....
My mind immediately flashed images of torque converter coming apart or transmission eating itself. Throwing it into neutral had no effect on the sound. Then I thought maybe the bearing in the new hub was defective.
Pulled over and called for a flat bed.
Once back home I inspected the hubs for any indication of trouble. Nada. Maybe the quicklift shocks or the wheel spacers caused abnormal stress damage? Started inspecting the CV shafts, nothing obvious there. Driving around town and could NOT replicate the noise, even when going uphill.
Maddening to spend hours chasing one's own tail with no apparent cause or even a hint. But I decided that I still want to live.
Onto the interwebs! Not much there for my symptoms but... I read a few posts indicating possibly the actuators for the locking hubs went south. Nothing obvious there when shifting between 2x and 4x. Everything is working fine.
But based on the evidence presented I resigned myself to the task of taking the shafts and actuators off for inspection.
It's involved so I decided to pony up for new CV shafts and actuators. I'd rather not take it apart twice and I have no place to leave it in pieces while waiting for parts to arrive.
Got them from 1A Auto. While on their website I watched the DIY video for replacing the actuators and they mentioned replacing the vacuum solenoid that controls the actuators. It sits high on the firewall behind the battery and apparently is susceptible to moisture from runoff.
***When it fails it can send water down into the actuators causing them to fail and partially engage the shaft making a serious racket. ***
Once the parts arrived I decided to swap out the vacuum solenoid first and test the behavior of the actuators. I discovered that the vacuum lines have a 12 inch section of rubber vacuum hose connecting the unit to the vacuum harness was completely rotted and leaking. Replaced the rubber line and connected the new solenoid.
I drove up the mountain again and no noise. Everything works.
I'm thinking that the vacuum leak was the actual problem. All my troubleshooting was done at sea level so maybe the leak was more severe 1000 feet up? It would explain why I was unable to recreate the noise.
Bottom line: still going to replace the other parts but the cause is 1$ worth of rubber hose. This leak was not audible until I tried to touch the hose and it fell apart.
Fun times. 2 weeks of troubleshooting.
Anyone here experience anything like this one?
Fil
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
As I was driving up CA17 in northern California my expy started sounding off with metallic grinding noises as I approached the summit (1200 ft, no big deal). Scary loud expensive noise.
I'm at 130k original miles....
My mind immediately flashed images of torque converter coming apart or transmission eating itself. Throwing it into neutral had no effect on the sound. Then I thought maybe the bearing in the new hub was defective.
Pulled over and called for a flat bed.
Once back home I inspected the hubs for any indication of trouble. Nada. Maybe the quicklift shocks or the wheel spacers caused abnormal stress damage? Started inspecting the CV shafts, nothing obvious there. Driving around town and could NOT replicate the noise, even when going uphill.
Maddening to spend hours chasing one's own tail with no apparent cause or even a hint. But I decided that I still want to live.
Onto the interwebs! Not much there for my symptoms but... I read a few posts indicating possibly the actuators for the locking hubs went south. Nothing obvious there when shifting between 2x and 4x. Everything is working fine.
But based on the evidence presented I resigned myself to the task of taking the shafts and actuators off for inspection.
It's involved so I decided to pony up for new CV shafts and actuators. I'd rather not take it apart twice and I have no place to leave it in pieces while waiting for parts to arrive.
Got them from 1A Auto. While on their website I watched the DIY video for replacing the actuators and they mentioned replacing the vacuum solenoid that controls the actuators. It sits high on the firewall behind the battery and apparently is susceptible to moisture from runoff.
***When it fails it can send water down into the actuators causing them to fail and partially engage the shaft making a serious racket. ***
Once the parts arrived I decided to swap out the vacuum solenoid first and test the behavior of the actuators. I discovered that the vacuum lines have a 12 inch section of rubber vacuum hose connecting the unit to the vacuum harness was completely rotted and leaking. Replaced the rubber line and connected the new solenoid.
I drove up the mountain again and no noise. Everything works.
I'm thinking that the vacuum leak was the actual problem. All my troubleshooting was done at sea level so maybe the leak was more severe 1000 feet up? It would explain why I was unable to recreate the noise.
Bottom line: still going to replace the other parts but the cause is 1$ worth of rubber hose. This leak was not audible until I tried to touch the hose and it fell apart.
Fun times. 2 weeks of troubleshooting.
Anyone here experience anything like this one?
Fil
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
