Been having a lot of bad luck with the truck lately. Recently had to replace front and rear pinion seals and a front axle seal. However, for the past few weeks it makes a rattle noise when I accelerate from a stop sign for instance. Kinda sounds like a bad CAT but I just had those replaced. When I'm cruising through town at about 30-35 mph and I let off the accelerator to coast I hear a cricket noise come from the engine compartment. It sounds like a cricket chirp every time I let off the gas. It might do it at higher speeds but my exhaust is too loud to hear. It also uses a ton of oil. I bring this up with the dealer but they will not investigate it because "Ford says 1 qt in 1000 miles is normal". Well I don't know about any you but I never owned a vehicle of any make that drank 2.5 qts between oil changes (4000 miles). The truck only has 65,000 miles on it now and it's been doing this for the past 25,000. I don't want to bash the truck because I do like it, but I bought it with 25k on it and I realize now it was probably neglected. Probably was a lease and the guy just got in and drove. I take tremendous care of it but it's always to no avail. There is always some problem I'm having with it. I'm going to dump it when the warranty is up at 100k, but that is 35,000 miles away. I want these issues fixed at the moment. Where should I start looking? I really doubt it's the cam phasers. And the vct solenoids were replaced already because those went bad right when I got it.

All know is that I will never buy used again! A good deal has really been a PITA since owning it.

 

check for loose heat shields on the cats. the welds break on after market cat and make noise. Next ,take off you belt on see if noise goes away, may be a idler and belt tensioner assy. Any codes? Pinging from low octane fuel, wrong setting on mod ? oil, try changing the brand you are using. sometimes it helps. what brand are you using?

 

No loose shields. The CATs are OEM Ford not aftermarket. Always use Top Tier fuel, no mods, use Motorcraft oil and filters. I doubt it is any thing to do with belt/idler/tensioner assembly, but I'll try when I get some time. It runs fine at idle.

 

. Do you only hear the noise when driving? if so it may be u-jounts? If the noise is there when at an idle or just bringing the rpm up standing still, belt, idlers etc ??? Try a different brand of oil, I use Full Synthetic from Advance auto parts, I think its made by Penz oil. I will not use Fords blend oil.

 

I would say jack the truck up, throw it on stands, and then have an assistant give it gas and see what you hear underneath.

Remember not to touch anything moving, like the driveshaft or a wheel... use common sense.

The oil issue might be crank case blow by. You can monitor this by installing a catch can and see what you get.

 

Sorry if this is a hijack but my maganflow cats did this very thing for a long time intermittently and in the fall gotnreal bad. I thought it was my roush muffler. I tapped on the cats with a rubber mallet and sure enough that was it. Took me a few more the to get to it due to the brutal winter we had.

 

I think you're one of the only people here that doesn't like the motorcraft 5w20 blend. It's really good stuff. What caused you to shy away from it? Or have you always just used a full synthetic?

The motorcraft blend is just as good as some of the full synthetics out there.

 

I got my truck from a mechanic that works for Ford. I got it with 190K on it. He told me he has always used the the full synthetic oil in it from new. Motor sounds like brand new and clean inside too. I asked him about using the bend, because it is cheaper, He said he would not put it in his trucks, so I don't. I go 5000 mile between oil changes and the oil comes out brown, not black. This is the first time I have used synthetic in my cars & trucks. A mechanic find of mine who uses only synthetic oil said all Synthetic's are the same. Just find the cheapest synthetic oil and use that all the time, don't use different brands, stick to one brand. Ford bend is ok i'm sure, but I do my own services and work on my trucks and cars. Full synthetic cost me $5.00 a ot.

 

If I got a higher mileage vehicle that had only run full synthetic, I'd keep using it too. That makes sense.

Also, you should check out some of labnerds posts. He knows a lot about oil. It seems that all synthetics are not the same. The motorcraft oil is probably better than the cheap synthetics to be honest.

I ran full synthetic in my truck from when it was new till about 60k. I ran the penzoil ultra. It's really good oil and not cheap.

After reading all the oil analysis reports of the motorcraft, I switched to it. Also because I don't do extended change intervals. It works great in my truck.

Anyway, not trying to tell you to switch. It's just that, a lot of people in the auto industry are extremely bias. I have a good friend that's a mechanic too, but I wouldn't listen to half the things that he tells me.

 

I ran my own auto repair for 35 years and never try to sell my customers on Synthetic oils. Always told them 3 months or 3000 miles,whichever comes first Never had any problems with engine wearing out ahead of its time using regular oils. I do like the way Full synthetic looks when it come out of the engine after 5000 miles, compared to other oils. Engine F.S.oil seems to be cleaner, as well as the inside too. People who don't service their own trucks/cars or bikes, never get to see what the oil looks like after the mileage they put on it. Every Company that sells oil says there's are the best, and shows you proof! I go by what I see coming out of the oil pan and how quiet a motor runs myself!

 

No one has changed the oil on my truck besides myself. Color wise, I never noticed a difference from full syn to the blend. The motorcraft blend that comes out of my truck is always blown not black. However, I do change at 3k.