F250 Auto Hubs

[Goodlife]

I bought a 2009 F250 about 2 months ago. Auto lock hubs stopped working (I could manually lock and it was fine). Dealer said it was the vacuum seal leaking that locks he hubs, they replaced it, I was good to go. Seemed to work fine for a while. Now 30 days later the auto hubs are not kicking in about 3/4 of the time. Works sometimes but not most of the time. Truck came with a 90 day warranty which is about 60 days old now so I am nervous that even if they fix it this will re-occur.

Anyone else have this problem? Is this a chronic problem on this year/model?

 

[Anonymous]

On the passenger side fender well is a manifold of sorts that has some lines coming off it. Pop the top on it and see if the seals are "fluffy" still.
When you switch it, does it go to defrost in your Ac?
If it does its that or the vacuum pump itself which is right near the manifol. Sometimes if you thump it the vacuum pump kicks on.
It's unlikely it's the seals on the hubs.

 

[Goodlife]

Thanks Hook. I have not notice the defroster kicking on?? So happens I just got a voice message from the dealer in the past couple of minutes. Says one of the hub seals is blown (he did not say if it was the same one they already replaced or the other one??) It has been 1,100 miles since they had it in for the same problem and replaced a vacuum seal. I will pop the top and check the vacuum pump like you recommend. Like I said though, I am not feeling all warm and fuzzy about this issue or my dealer frankly. They are fixing it but I am not as comfortable they are going to the root cause. 2 blown vacuum seals in less than 2000 miles does not sound like coincidence to me??

 

[Anonymous]

My 2004 runs off the same vacuum system. I have to manually lock my hubs. It's a poor design.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

You will probably eventually have to use the hubs manually all the time. I know that is what my father in law had to do with his 99 F-250. My 01 F-250 came with manual only hubs, so I don't have to worry about them not locking in unless I cannot get the door open.

 

[Goodlife]

Yeah I have come to that conclusion after talking to several people with not only f250's, but auto locking hubs in general on all makes. I have about 30 days left on warranty so I am having the dealer fix it one more time. After it is out of warranty I will probably not fix it if it happens again.

Takes me back to when I purchased it. the dealer was telling me how it had the option to lock in manually. Notice it is an option. I asked him if it is automatic locking why would anyone want the option, when would I use it? He said he didn't really know, just that some people like to get out and lock the hubs?? Now I know why it is a very important option. I have one friend that does not have the option and hates his truck since it goes out occasionally and he has to keep fixing it.