hey guys I bought a used 04 SCREW 5.4L FX4. I love the truck great riding and looking. Very happy to have a F150 again. I noticed that I have a certain howling noise at any gear it seems. I did some searching and seems like this is kind of a common issue. I bought the truck from a ford dealership and it has a 1K mile powertrain warranty. What do you guys recommend that I do, or what fixes have you guys had to fix this issue?

 

anyone?

 

I noticed the noise only antenuates at 50-52 mph. any more or less it goes away. Its also under neutral acceleration.

 

50 to 52 sounds like it needs u-joints

 

My '04 has had an engine howl for going on close to 2 years now, no matter what speed I am going, as long as I am giving the vehicle any gas, the engine howls/whines. SOON as I let off the gas, noise goes away, even if the vehicle is still moving, at any speed.

It's driving me to insanity. If you find out what's wrong let me know. Not sure if I want to bother with this horrid noise or just trade up to an '09 next year and be done with this howling 2004.

Edit: I've owned it since Day 1, special-ordered by me in 2004. Treat it very well, nothing even close to harsh driving conditions. No idea why it developed this whine a couple years in. Not even cranking the radio drowns it out... very VERY annoying.

 

I've had a howl since day 1, but only in the winter when temperature gets down to 10-20 below zero. Only happens at a certain RPM, goes away when I back off the throttle or give it more. To this day I haven't isolated the cause. But it seems to be coming from the TB or stock air intake. But it hasn't been a problem, just annoying at times.

 

really...I will have to check these out. I figured the I would get a vibration not a howl with ujoints. Is this pretty common for ujoints to go bad at a early age on these trucks?

 

U-joinst can go bad on any car or truck early. If they are driven through lots of water or driving conditions like hills with trilers. Some go from people who have a habit of backing up and tossing into drive befor the car/truck stops. After hundreds of times it takes it toll.

As far as a howel or whistel. For about 10+ years Ford installs a little baffel in the heater hose so the higher RPM's dont force to much pressure into the heater core. This can get dislodged and make a noise they will drive you crazy.

Lidio at Alternative Auto just had it happen to my 07 F-150 Harley AWD that he put a whipple on. Now we shift at 5,200RPM and it came dislodged.....everyone thought it was a bearing.........run to the ford dealer cheap part 10 minutes and bingo all better.

Truck runs like a raped ape now, All wheel drive jerks your head back and rockets out of the hole

Hope this helps

 

Mine howls, but only proportional to the gas pedal position.

No howling otherwise. This sounds like you have a leak somewhere between the air filter and the intake manifold.

 

Our co. bought (2) '06 screw 4x4's new in Dec '05. Ea has about 28k on them now. At about 15-20k miles, I started noticing a howl when I applied moderate to medium throttle when cruising. Almost sounds like intake noise - like the air box is open/filter removed - and a big 4 barrel is open sucking gas . . . Not sure if this is same noise as yours?

The 2nd truck has just started to make the sound now too. It bothers my partner more than me - not like a rattle/shake/grind, which would drive me nuts.
Both seem to run fine.

edit - I found another thread that describes my noise better as a "drone" !
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...t=engine+noise

 

Your problem sounds like the alternator issue some others have had.Do a search.The symptoms only occur in cold weather and only at a certain rpm,it makes a humming/whistling sound.I actually heard mine make that noise a couple times last winter but only a couple so I haven't worried about it yet.I don't think they had any charging issues or anything,just that noise.Some people have had their alternator changed under warranty and the sound went away.

 

My 03 Screw FX4 is howling the same way since temps dropped below 40 degrees the last week or so.

Goes away once fully warmed up. It is LOUD though.

I am running a JLT Performance cold air kit on it, so I don't think it
has anything to do with the stock intakes.

Doesn't seem to be speed related as much as RPM related around
1800 or so. To me it seems to always be at the top of a gear
just before the shifting point.

Will do some more debugging when I get a chance, but right now
my thoughts are along the lines of IAC or something like that.

For those posting about it being possibly an alternator issue, what was wrong with
the alternators ? Bearings ?


Rod