My list of problems (2004 EB)

[GregV8]

I'm just trying to nail these issues down a bit. See if some of them may be related. Or if their occurence is typical for a specific year/month/plant.

Mine is a 3/2004 4.6 V8 4WD Eddie Bauer, from the Louisville plant. 115k kilometers. Canada specs.

Some of these issues are well known, some of them might surprise you.
Is it normal to have all them ON THE SAME CAR?!

• rear axle whine
• transmission slam / 4x4 hopping (when accelerating in tight turns)
• sunroof rattle (driving me nuts...and can't access the b*tch!)
• one speaker not working (rear right is too quiet or fuzzy noise)
• turn signals (sometimes they go steady after a couple blinks... relay?)
• engine stalled while driving (this is a weird one... engine stalled 2x already while driving.. both times the same place! Straight, relaxed driving at ~40 mph, not accelerating, not braking, not steering, no traffic. Must be some giant ray from an EMP gun! )
• delayed acceleration (I put my foot on the pedal...and nothing until I step on it harder OR wait a second or two.)
• AC compressor chirps occasionally (when I accelerate or slow down something changes and I hear this *eeek* from the front right. Doesn't happen when AC is off.

Feel free to comment.

ps. getting the rear diff oil changed in a few days, to 140 type plus friction modifier. as a first step against rear whine,

Greg

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

Axle whine is a common thing in these vehicles. Believe it or not, they have been improved since '02, but you still get some. The only fix for it according to Ford is to replace the rear diff assembly with a reman one. Search the forums here and you'll probably find your share of others with the same issue.

The delayed acceleration can be improved by a re-flash of the PCM. There's a TSB for this, although they did state that "the customer should be aware that an electronic throttle control will at times respond differently than a cable controlled throttle" and that re-flashing may alleviate, but not eliminate some of the complaints of soft tip-in and poor throttle response.

The 4x4 engaging in certain dry pavement situations may be a rear axle speed sensor giving an erroneous value to the PCM at times. There was a TSB on this as well, but I didn't read it thru enough to remember it well and what the fix was.

The turn signal issue sounds like a flasher relay going bad. At least it clicks a few times so you can locate it! They can be impossible to find sometimes.

If you press preset buttons 3 and 6 simultaneously with the radio playing, you can self-test each speaker individually...You might just have a blown one.


Try a new serpentine belt and see if that fixes your A/C compressor engagement noise. I prefer and recommend a Goodyear Gatorback belt. Best I've found.


Hope this helps some.

 

[jrford]

I'll add some info for my '04 4.6L V8 AWD. No tow package, open diffs, 3.55's, built in March of '04, St Louis if i remember correctly.
I had one recall for the transmission where they added an additive and Flashed the PCM. Only other problem was the rear ABS sensor, and a worn strut - no problems otherwise.
I'll second the gatorback, on my Jeep it works great.