2016 Expedition Vibration Shuttering Rear differential with Limited slip

[John Macko]

New here. So I have the above problem that started at about 35K miles. Intermittent at first. Happens at low speed turns. Left and right at complete stops or low speed turns. Took it into my dealership and they added more friction modifier and sent me on my way. Worked for a while and at 57K went back added more modifier worked for a while and came back intermittently again. At 70K did a complete flush and fill with Ford lube and modifier.
Again it worked for a while and now the vibration/shutter is worse than ever. It winter now and I have noticed that on cold mornings it does not happen until I have been driving for a while. Very cold night hardly at all.
Now when I look at the owner manual under the heading of Limited Slip Differential it says "The axle may exhibit a slight noise or vibration during tight turns with low speed"
Something to me seems more severe here. Many have told me its the clutch pack binding up. That the above quote from the owners manual is Ford disclaimer to a engineering flaw.
Some have said forget about it. Its just the clutch packs. The vibration will eventual go away and you will just loose the Limited slip feature. Snow Country :-(
I have been a long term Ford guy. But this is bugging me every time I drive it. What is more upsetting is the dealership just added more Friction Modifier and never looked into the problem.
Anyone else out there with this issue?

 

[210M]

My situation was similar but not quite the same as what your experiencing. At around 85,000 miles I started noticing a rubbing/howling noise when making low-speed turns. It seemed to get worse with cold weather. Eventually I started experiencing a little bit of a shudder when I first started moving on cold mornings. Last week my mechanic tore the rear differential down and replaced the pinion bearing and race, and it solved the problem.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[07navi]

It sounds like you just need a new set of clutches in there. Adding more modifier is not going to fix it.

 

[LokiWolf]

There are several TSB's for the rear Diff's and those exact symptoms on the 15-17 Expy's I know. Ours started doing weird shuddering around 20K, and they basically did a rebuild on the rear. Problem went away. No drama from the dealer. I don't have the paperwork anymore as that was in 2019 on our 2017...now we own a 2020. Do some searching on here. pretty sure others have had the issue.

 

[justinp16ex]

Agree with Navi, all the symptoms of your clutch packs being worn, $1400 roughly at the dealer for parts,labor and fluid.

 

[07navi]

Not that hard to fix yourself if you work on vehicles. Pinion stays in place, unload the carrier of clutches and drop new ones in.

 

[pennyanguy]

OK, Picking up on this thread... what is the prognosis for not doing anything... will the clutches fail eventually leaving me stranded?

 

[Tristar]

I'm wondering also what the ramifications of doing nothing are? Local shop advised me to continue to drive it. Said it would like last another 50 or 100,000 miles. Its just irritating to me. Don't want to spend $1,400+ for irritiating.

Its done it since new, but has slowly gotten worse.