i would have posted this under the piston slap forum but noone has posted in that forum in about 3 months...i purchased a 97' f150 4.6 L windsor 4x4 before i knew anything about this piston slap deal....now my question is can you hear this slap only when the outside temp. is cold or is it when the vehicle itself hasn't been started for a while (cold). because i have only owned the vehicle in aug. and has been anything but cold outside here in tennessee and haven't noticed a thing......i have 51,000 on my vehicle ......also are they still replacing engines with the piston slap problem?......thanks in advance for any replys

 

Piston slap usually only occurs when the engine is cold, like when it's first started of a morning. usually only lasts for a few seconds. I don't think Ford is replacing Engines for this anymore, since it dosen't affect the performance of the engine.

 

I have an '01 with the 5.4 and have the piston slap noise. I sometimes hear it when the engine is cold and it is hot out. From everything I hear (and having a friend with a piston slap engine and 140K miles and no problems) I am not worried about it at all. I have 45k on my engine and it performs great and uses not a drop of oil or any other problem.

Personally I would just drive and enjoy your pickup and forget about the piston slap noise.