Does any of your engines rev up to about 1800 rpm on a cold start-up, then come down to about 1200 rpm for about 15 sec before returning to normal (600 or so)? You can hear the rods or lifters knocking for a second till they oil to them. It doesn't seem like this would be good for it.

2004 screw
5.4L Triton

 

This is very normal. What weight oil you using?

 

5w20 motorcraft. I just wouldn't think that you would want the engine to rev up that high on a cold start????? Maybe Ford knows something I don't.

 

Ford and quite a few other people as well. My 98 has done this it's entire life, and, is currently getting ready to have 170k on the clock.

The high idle is the modern day choke. It is set to do that to get everything to temp.

All of the 08's I have test drove have had a slighly higher start up idle.

It is normal.

 

The high idle at startup is normal. The noise from rod bearings or lifters is not! If you are not using a MotorCraft oil filter, get it changed. Now! A bad anti-drainback valve will cause the engine to make the noises you describe at startup.

Flagship

 

When I started my truck up this morning it had the high idle like it does every morning! It was 60 degrees out tihs morning, high idle for about 4 seconds, then it goes down, the colder it is the longer it stays at high idle like in the winter! People here who use an oil that it thicker than a 5W-20, & a cheap oil filter with a bad anti-drain valve are just slowly killing their engines! It's imperative that the Modular motors get oil pumped up to the cams fast upon startup!....................

 

I'm pretty sure that the high idle at startup is a cold start emission strategy. You may not notice it on an automatic, but modern stick shifts don't drop straight back to idle when you let off the gas. They drop to less than 2000 rpm then kind of slowly wind back down to idle. This is also part of emission strategy. Automatics do the same thing, but it's not as noticeable.