4WD broke solenoid on front axle bad

[C Jeff]

I finally broke down and went against everything I beleive and took my Ex to the local Ford, rip off, dealership to find out why my 4WD was not working correctly and after 3-1/2 hours of testing at $62.00/hr I was told the center lock solenoid on the front axle was bad. When I asked what it did I was told it was what makes the "fork" in the front axle engage the 4WD. Ok so sounds simple enough until I ask what tha part will actually cost which about made me explode $417.00 not including installation which wulod have been another $300.00. Of course I said forget it as nicely as possible and now that I supposedly know what my problem is I will remove the part myself beat the crap out of it and put it back on to see if i fixed it then contact FPN to see what they will charge for it.
I will explian my symptoms to hopefully help others.

1. Here is the type of 4WD I have. 2WD, 4WD Auto, 4WD LO.

2. Dash lights flash 6 times.

3. 4WD Auto does not work, but if switch left in that position 4wd will eventually come on and stay on, like it is in 4 HI, which I do not have, until the switch is shut off.

5. 4 LO does not work at all.

Any inside feedback would be great on this, but at the very least I hope I help some one else save the cash I spent to find this out.

Later the same day:
Ok so I took this solenoid thing off the front passenger side of the axle and completely disassembled it and really did not see any thing wrong with it. The unit has incoming voltage and 2 vaccum lines. I opened up the valve sectoin where the vaccum goes in and out and it was fine on the insideand the metal tab that gets voltage was intact and the fork that engages the 4WD was fine so what I cannot figure out is how the Ford dealership could test this one piece and say it was bad. I am going to contact them and have them explain just how this could be the one and only problem I have. I will update as to their response. Thanks for reading and replying with your comments.

 

[Doug]

Did the offer an opinion as to why that happened? i know someone who had a bad CV and at full droop it cause the CV to bind up and it cracked the housing at the soleniod. if i was you i'd goto a junk yard and get an entire new front axle and swap it in.

 

[JDraper]

If it's the parts down on the axle that are broken, contact ExplorerEB96. She should have an extra fork assembly laying around. There is also a vacuum solenoid up on the radiator support just to the right of the radiator that controls the front axle. If this is what's bad, it's a 10 minute job to replace it. Check out http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80310 for a pix of where the solenoid is. It's the 10th pix I posted, and it's about halfway down the page. Definitely hit up a junkyard if that's what is broken.

 

[macanudo56]

C Jeff

I would not affirm your dealer has given you a complete answer. I mean, your front axle coupling could have truly broken, but that does not explain why your 4WD Auto is eventually engaging in a continuous way, like having 4High and doesn't explain also your 4Low not working at all.

I would say that:

1) 4Low not working would most likely be a shift motor related thing. Usually, that only takes carefully dismantling the shift motor to clean it.

2) Your 4WD Auto symptoms could be many things (GEM, transfer case, Hall efect sensors, TOD relay). Since your dash lights flash six times, you should be having failure codes from your GEM that could be very helpful to pull out (sadly, I believe only dealers have the right equipment to do this).

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Best,

Luis

 

[C Jeff]

The dealership did not say they got any codes from the GEM module, but they did say they were having trouble communicating with the GEM and about an hour later they called and said with "pin point" testing they found the solenoid was bad and that was the reason my 4WD was not working. My biggest concearn is with already spending $200 just to be told this solenoid is bad and then I drop a bundle on that only to find it still doesn't work. It may be time to just get rid of it before I spend more money chasing down some problem. This Explorer of mine has had more trouble than any other vehicle I have ever owned. I stoll have to find the solenoid and make sure I can't beat back into working before I do something drastic.