honerboys

hey 2timer - welcome to the forum and the world of ford bad RDU's - if your noise is from area A in the pic below your screwed and i believe your RDU is on it's way out - those are the actual pinion ball bearings - very hard to remove and i couldn't find a marking on them and so cannot find any availability for them - if your noise is from area B, that is a readily available bearing - it is also fairly easy to remove - i think your 15 is about the same as my 14 also with about 80K on it - and yes a rear differential should last longer than the rest of the car - the inside of these is a pretty basic differential - so it seems ford has dropped the ball on these - first for not recommending fluid changes and, second for not putting a drain in them, and third for not making them better - but i guess if you believed the first you would not do the second

The RDU saga - long post So I tackled the install of my “new” RDU last week – it took about 7-8 hours for the complete job – seemed too long for me – the problem was those T-50 torx bolts that hold the RDU to the front brackets – I got the drivers side loose and out easily, but the passenger side ones would not come loose – to the point that the spines in the bolt stripped out and ruined my bit – wound up just removing the entire bracket and using the air hammer and chisel to get those bolts out of the RDU – that accounts for at least an hour and a half The rest was pretty ordinary – just a lot of removing and installing bolts – one problem I encountered was the axle nut on the RR roughed up it’s threads while removing it – the edge of the nut was hammered in to lock it (I assume) – I could not see a way to release it from the threads so it flattened out the threads a bit – It went back on and torqued to specs but, if I ever have to remove it again I might need a new axle shaft - my Launch code tool coded the replacement RDU to the PCM So got it all back together and took it for a test drive – while the growling/grinding noise is gone, it clicked when turning from a stop – I disconnected the electrical connection on RDU and noise disappeared – so I’m figuring the clutch portion of the replacement RDU is defective..?? – I removed the clutch part of the replacement and it had gear oil in it – there is a seal between the two but it failed – I don’t know what the oil does to the clutch part but I’m pretty sure that’s what caused the clutch to fail To remove that seal with diff in car you have to basically destroy it – the seal on my original diff did not leak, but it to was looking rough from the removal process - I thought it a good idea to replace it and looked up the part number stamped on it – went to Ford and the one they had (same part number) was way to big – when they looked up the part number it showed the seal for the front of the clutch where it connects to drive shaft, not the seal between the diff and the clutch – they could not explain why they both have the same part number and that was that – I wound up rehabbing my original seal and reinstalling it I took the clutch portion off my original RDU and put it on the replacement RDU – removing that from the gear portion is pretty simple – the code for the clutch portion is etched into the unit (pic) – recoded my original clutch back into PCM I disassembled the gear portion of my original bad RDU – the gear set looked to be ok as did the left and right side output bearings – the growling was from the pinion bearings – these are double row ball bearings – the cage they are in is plastic – I’ve never seen that before – I don’t know what caused the bearing to fail (it was always lubricated) – it gouged up the race and balls pretty bad, so that’s where all the metal in my oil was from – I removed the race from the pinion gear with a puller – if you could find these bearings I think these units would be rebuildable – the L/R side bearings are a standard bearing (LM-501314) – the pinion ball bearings had no identity markings on them so I’m not sure if they can be obtained So the car is back on the road and the AWD seems to be operating normally – if that rehabbed seal does not leak I think it’s a good fix - total cost for this was around $500 – that includes new wheel bearings, axle shafts, the junkyard RDU, seals, and fluid – hopefully it lasts the rest of the car’s life – thanks to all for the input and advice – and I took the above advice and did not drill a drain into the RDU – I’ll change as much of the oil as I can every 20K miles or so and hope it holds

if anyone is looking for one of these in the denver area - i just got an email from the pull & pay denver location that they just received a 2014 edge AWD on the lot

nancysue - i looked for a S-154D for my 2014 - is yours the same? - i found this (link to ford dealer) - in the details it says it replaces the S-154D - and another one...F2GZ-4000-A - $1800 https://www.fairwayfordparts.net/oem-parts/ford-axle-assembly-rear-mu7z4000j?srsltid=AfmBOorOZluLKIRBlwgAy_fxBffkX5KE-l3YPR8NLNjRj30YH9ih5wPl

reason not to drill drain? - i'm seeing online that these need an occasional oil change - the one i just got is 10 years old with it's original oil (i assume) - just curious

that pull & pay parts yard contacted me that a 2014 edge had just arrived in their yard - went out there and pulled the differential out - took 2 hours - jspec i took your advice and removed the entire pass side knuckle - hard to do in a yard - they don't allow you to bring in a jack so you're unbolting things under spring pressure - but it is in my garage now it's an exact replacement for mine - most of the oil dumped at the yard but i set it on end in my drain pan and got out 6-7 ounces of oil - i don't see any metal in it so maybe i got lucky my plan is to get new seals and flush it out - i have some 75w-90 gear oil here to flush - or should i use something like kerosene to flush it? - the seals cost almost as much as this unit - pull & pay charges a flat price for parts no matter what kind of car they come from - so a differential for a ford is the same as one from a porsche - it was $128 out the door - hopefully get this in, in the next 30 days (that's the extent of their warranty) i am also planning on drilling a drain into it - anybody have a quick link to instructions for that? - that way i can make changing it's oil an every 10K mile or so job - thanks for all the advice - will check back when it's in - also going to open my bad one up and see what's what in there

cerberus don't beat yourself up too bad - sure you could have checked the fluid level occasionally ( i never checked mine either) - mine did have lots of fluid in there..just lots of metal also - of course Ford could have put a drain on it at almost no cost and then maybe? we would have looked at it sooner

i mis-typed - i meant 2013-2019 - that's what most of the ones i see online say will fit mine - now the actual S designation (mines an S-154D) changes to something like S-150A or S-164A or something similar, but they say they will work in mine - i have done a cursory search and it seems i can get a new one from ford for about $1800 - i see some on ebay with 100K miles and they are asking for $1500 - since i partially swapped out some of the gear oil in it, it has gotten quieter - so for now i'm going to change out all the oil and see if that further quiets it - i know it needs replacing and i'll keep looking for a replacement - hopefully it will stumble through winter and i'll find one in the mean time - car doesn't get driven much (5-6K a year) - and you are correct about me mixing up the RDU and PTU for the drain plug - although i don't see why ford would not put one in the RDU - thank you for your input on this

been looking locally - no later (than mine) ones available - i thought i read that ford did start putting a drain plug in these - if so..what year did that happen? - also i've been looking for one from 2011 - 2019 (athough really looking for one newer than my 2014) - all those years should fit the 14...correct?

yea..i've been shying away from a used one - simply because from what i'm reading these RDU's go out fairly regularly - i don't want to put a used one in and just have it go in a year - but..i guess if the chinese ones are crap and can't be coded, and a new ford one is a quarter of what the car is worth, i'll start looking at used ones - there are a couple of pull-and-pay scrap yards here in denver - i'll give them a look first - at those i can see what the mileage on the car is (maybe) - also they charge a flat rate for parts no matter what car it's from - thanks for all the input - will let you know what i find

still shopping for one of these RDU units - jspec...i found your ebay guy ...price is now about $1450 - but they are new ford units - all the others (far less $$) seem to be chinese ...which i'd get except, so far, none of them come with a coding number - i've asked and some of the sellers say it's not needed - one told me they can't send it with numbers because of customs...? - thoughts? - can you retrieve code numbers from the unit itself - maybe with my programming tool?

so no one on here has replaced their RDU? - if so what did you use and where did you get it? - i can't find a rebuilt S 154D anywhere - S 150A and S 164A (different gear ratios?) are widely available but it seems the ones i've found are not real Ford units (although they show pictures of actual Ford units) that have been rebuilt - they are chinese manufactured units and when i ask about the code to put in the car's computer they are vague in their answers as to whether the codes are good and if the final gear ratio is compatible with the s 154D - if i look up the RDU on Ford's parts site it cross-references to MU7Z4000J and says that replaces the S154D ...$1900 - so ..not sure where to go with this - are there any other forums for these cars that might have more members who have dealt with this?

sorry it took so long to get back here - this is my wife's car and i needed a day when she wouldn't need it - i siphoned out about a pint of oil - i guess i would need a thinner siphon hose to get to the bottom of the case - i had cleaned the fill plug magnet about 3 weeks ago - you can see that in that time it has completely filled up again with metal - also, a picture of a little bit of the oil in the drain pan - lots of specks in there (and that was just the drips as i actually drained the differential into an old oil bottle) - and finally a pic of the magnet sludge smeared out on a rag - no big pieces of metal but those could be down in the bottom of the case - so it seems i've found the culprit for the growling noise - going to get a rebuilt one and see how that goes - anyone recommend any sellers of those - some come from china - are those actual ford diffs that have been rebuilt or from some other manufacturer?

1004ron...i looked at the center shaft bearing - shook it - didn't feel any side to side play except for a little in the rubber - normal..? - jspec...i did not drain the differential - it seems there is no drain plug - i did add about 5-6 ounces - i could siphon it out and replace it - but to be honest this noise sounds like more than an oil change could fix - but i will give it a try - i don't have access to a lift so putting it up on jack stands and spinning all four wheels doesn't sound like something i want to try - i also disconnected the RDU electrical connection and drove it around the block - wrench light came on saying check AWD - noise was much less noticeable with RDU disconnected - reconnected it and noise was back to previous level - so are all symptoms and tests pointing to RDU? - in my mind it seems to be - thanks for your responses

i answered my own question - hooked my launch coder up and it does have a way to enter the barcode for the ATC - my existing code is shown and it asks if i want to change it - so now i'm only wondering if it is actually the RDU that's making this noise - since i changed both wheel bearings and half shafts it seems like it's the only thing left - unless there is a bearing on the main drive shaft from the front that is separate from the RDU - is there one?