2012 Expedition EL IWE replacement

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TXFishin

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Long story short, I seem to have developed a vacuum leak (still troubleshooting), and it's looking like I will be replacing my IWE's

I've looked and looked online and find limited how-to on my particular model, the majority of what I'm finding is related to F150's

Has anyone replaced the IWE's on a 2008 or newer Expedition? Preferably 2012

If so, do you have any tips or tricks that you could share?

Any info would be greatly appreciated...

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JExpedition07

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The new one will have a water shield built in. Any grinding or noise from your front hubs? Water liked to get in the older style units and full the Hubs with water although I’d think you’d have the newer style. It’s the same procedure as in the F-150. The 4x4 system was unchanged for 2003-2017 Expeditions so any video should give you a good idea.
 
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TXFishin

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I did find a decent video on the replacement of IWE's, even though an F150 I assume similar.

Also the solenoid, at some point, was relocated on the Expeditions, to the driver side and doesn't require the water shield


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TXFishin

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IWE's / 4X4 actuators are ok, leaking a little bit when I did the pressure check, but not bad enough to cause damage.

I replaced the driver's side, and when I went to replace the passenger side I found the issue, the needle bearings fell out when I pulled the half-shaft out, I bet I wouldn't have made it another 5 miles before it was toast.

It's odd that it was only making noise at a certain RPM, and symptoms matched a vacuum issue / bad IWE to the 'T', but in general, issue found, and I guess it's a good thing this is happening on my own time, in my driveway, and not on the side of the road somewhere or pulling the boat

I think I might go ahead and replace the bearing / hub assembly on the other side just to be safe, that will give me new IWE's and bearing hub assemblies

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TXFishin

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Both IWE's replaced
Both Hub / Bearing Assemblies replaced
All rotors and pads replaced
Vacuum reservoir tested - no leaks
Vacuum lines tested, top and at the hubs - no leaks
Tested with vacuum lines plugged, 2WD and 4WD

Still having the metal scraping / grinding noise between 25mph and 40mph

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07mustangman

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I had the same issue on my 2011 Limited. I replaced the solenoid and check valve. The problem ended up being the vacuum hose from the solenoid down to both hubs was bad and broken in two. It cost $60 for a factory hose and that fixed my problem. Good luck.
 

rwmorrisonjr

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I just unplugged the vacuum line from the solenoid to the hubs and capped them both off. Issue is fixed, and hubs are locked. I’ll eventually replace them with the permanently locked hubs, but this will work until I can replace them.
 
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