Bob,

Go to my webpage under Garage Tech is the sound in .zip format. You can hear exactly what the sound is like and verify if you have it. Hope that helps

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The Truck: 1997 Black F-150 Flareside. Regular Cab ORP and Towing Package
The Mods: K&N Filter, Eurolid Hard Tonneau and Ford Bug Deflector.
The Site:
Triton's 4.6 Liter Web Page
www.mindspring.com/~acbradley/index.html

 

Triton46

I downloaded the wave file, my sound is not similar. I'm thinking its only cam noise, I hope it is'nt a tell tale sign of oncoming piston slap. When did you first notice your engine making that noise??

 

bob,

That wav file was sent to me by another member to help everyone diagnosis the piston slap. The noise seems inherent to the 5.4L, I have the 4.6L.


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The Truck: 1997 Black F-150 Flareside. Regular Cab ORP and Towing Package
The Mods: K&N Filter, Eurolid Hard Tonneau and Ford Bug Deflector.
The Site:
Triton's 4.6 Liter Web Page
www.mindspring.com/~acbradley/index.html

 

I just baught a 99 F150 SC 4x4 2 weeks ago
it has a build date of 2-20-99, I have driven the truck tor 1000 miles now, the only sound that I hear from the engine is a slight sound that reminds me of a light cam noise, real slight. One question that I have is do most of the 5.4's have this piston slap problem or are they hear and there. The other question I have is when did most of you that have this problem hear this, within what mileage?? By reading all of these messages I have gotten nervous about my truck. thanks for you help.

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1999 F150 S.Cab 4x4
Northland Edition,5.4
Off road pkg. Fleetside
Black w/grey int.

 

I own a 1999 F150 XLT SC with 5.4L Triton V8. The truck was built in Nov 1998, the engine being manufactured in early Nov of that year. I to have the piston slap problem. It became noticeable between 4,000 and 5,000 miles. The truck now has just over 10,000 miles on it. I thought it was a rod knock until I learned of this piston slap problem. After many trips to my dealer and finally filing the paperwork for the lemon law in my state, Ford has agreed to replace the engine. The truck now sits at my dealer awaiting the engine installation, scheduled for Monday, July 19. Although I have not seen the engine personally, I know it was ordered from the Windsor engine plant sometime after June 30th. From reading the many postings concerning the piston slap, I am now afraid of getting another engine which may have the potential for developing the same problem. Does anyone know if the engines produced after June 1st are OK and will not have the problem ? I can't believe that Ford would go to the expense of replacing an engine if there was any potential for the problem to re-develope. What are your thoughts ?

 

To everyone;

I returned from a longer trip yesterday, put about 300 miles on, when out this morning and started my truck and would'nt you know it it started knocking like a diesel. CRUD. I hoped I would luck out, guess not. I only have 1200 miles on my truck to. I called my dealer and they said that this is only the second truck that has had the knock. The other was a V10. I work for Winnebago Ind. and we use a lot of Ford chassis with the Triton V10, Some of them knock as well but Ford has not been as helpfull with some customers. The person with the V10 at my dealer had the entire engine replaced. Intake,exhaust manifold everything all they had to do is hook up the electrical and bolt it in. The dealer did tell me that I would have to go through some motions first, try this and that until they fully believe that it is piston slap. I'll update everyone after my appointment next Friday.

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1999 F150 S.Cab 4x4
Northland Edition,5.4
Off road pkg. Fleetside
Black w/grey int.

 

I was told by another dealer that I contacted through e-mail, that the new engine I am receceivig is probably from their "Quality Renewal" program. This would be a new engine that has been remanufactured by their "Off Road Team", and they make all and any changes to the engine to eliminate previous problems known to them from past engines.So my take on this would be these are engines reassembled making changes that the engineers felt caused the previous problems. After mine has been changed I will keep everyone updated on the results.

 

Signature Check

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99 F-250SD SC 4x4,5.4l,5spd,4.10ls,K&N,Ram-air,2-Chamber Flowmaster,3' lift,315/75/16 Wild Country All-terrain Radials, Superchip, TPS Set,Dual steering stabilizers, Blue crystal driving lights,Arrow High Top Canopy.dual front shocks,10 disc cd changer, class IV hitch, hood deflector,window vent shades,

 

99SDKY: I'm confused. You said a new remanufactured engine. Is it new or remaned?

If that is what they are going to install in my truck I will tell them to keep it! They told me that a "brand new" one was coming.

Can they fix the "piston slap" by remanufacturing it? It thought it was a block design problem.

Has anyone else heard of the "Quality Renewal" program or the "Off-road team"? Don't get me wrong 99SDKT, I am just trying to get my facts straight before Ford goes wrenching on my truck in a couple of months.

On a side note, I know Ford is like every other large organization in this world but wouldn't it be nice if they all gave us the same explanation! I guess the internet has really revealled the lack of communication within their organization. Ok, enough of my soap box.

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'97 F150 Lariat, Flareside, SC, ORP, 5.4, Mods: 305/70/16 GY ATS, AR Baja wheels, dual exhaust, Smittybilt nerf bars, fog light mod and Big Bird mirror toy.

 

I only know what my dealer has told me at this point. I have been told that a "new engine" was ordered from the Windsor engine plant and is at the dealer ready for installation this week.

My left valve cover (drivers side) has an engine identification sticker on it, including build date. Hopefully, my new engine will have been built in July 1999 (having been ordered after June 30th) unless the engine plant is shipping older stockpiled units (possibly remanufactured new engines with updated parts) with an earlier production date.

I'm sure that my service manager knows exactly whats going on, but I doubt very seriously if I'll ever find out.

At this point, anything would be an improvement over my current engine. My piston slap problem has become more pronounced over the last few thousand miles. A very noticeable knock, at idle, after cold start (sounds like a light rod knock) which lasts for at least thirty seconds to one minute. Seems to knock worse in cooler temperatures. Then, after drive away, the knock is still audible on acceleration until the temp gauge starts to creep up. So like I say, any improvement is welcomed.

I have made the decision to sell the truck if this new engine is not what it should be. I'm really tired of the hassle. Needless to say, it would be hard to buy another Ford product.

 

My assumption of a remanufactured engine would be all new parts, with the parts that are no good being of the new design. They can use a new style block to fix the piston slap but they would have to use the same heads as the original engine to keep the emissions the same as the model year. therefor they could not put in the current 260 hp engine. This is only a guess my dealer calls it a new engine, and I have seen it, it looks brand new to me, sitting in a crate and no evidence of remanufactured stickers on it,complete drop in replacement manifolds and wireing. Like I said before I saw the build date(06.04.99) because I am not interested in junk being put in my $32,000.00(Canadian) work truck either. This quality renewal stuff was mentioned to me when I e-mailed another dealer on-line questioning wether I may get lucky and get the 260 hp version, but he also said it more than likely is brand new.

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99 F-250SD SC 4x4,5.4l,5spd,4.10ls,K&N,Ram-air,2-Chamber Flowmaster,3' lift,315/75/16 Wild Country All-terrain Radials, Superchip, TPS Set,Dual steering stabilizers, Blue crystal driving lights,Arrow High Top Canopy.dual front shocks,10 disc cd changer, class IV hitch, hood deflector,window vent shades,

 

The Service Manager assured me on Monday that the engine is definetly brand new and that there are currently no numbers existing in the Quality Renewal listings for this truck/engine combination. It is apparently the identical engine with a different style and size of pistons.

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99 F-250SD SC 4x4,5.4l,5spd,4.10ls,K&N,Ram-air,2-Chamber Flowmaster,3' lift,315/75/16 Wild Country All-terrain Radials, Superchip, TPS Set,Dual steering stabilizers, Blue crystal driving lights,Arrow High Top Canopy.dual front shocks,10 disc cd changer, class IV hitch, hood deflector,window vent shades,

 

An interesting observation! My truck developed a teribble knock around 20K miles. It was much worse when it was cold outside, but I could always hear it on cold start. Evertime I would change the oil the knock would dissapear, only to reappear in 500 miles and progressively get worse until my next oil change (@3k miles).

About five thousand miles ago I started using Mobile 1 synthetic 10w30. Like always the knock went away. Much to my surprise for the next 4k miles I never heard a peep out of the engine. I thought since Ford had agreed to a new engine that I would perform a little test. I changed out the Mobile 1 and went back to Penzoil 10w30. Now, with about 1k miles on this oil I am starting to hear the knocking again.
At first I thought the heavier oil was preventing the knock. Obviously not. If I have another oil change before they swap out the engine I will "test" 15W30 and let you guys know. One thing is for sure though. Once they drop the new power plant in my baby it's getting nothing but the best - Mobile 1!

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'97 F150 Lariat, Flareside, SC, ORP, 5.4, Mods: 305/70/16 GY ATS, AR Baja wheels, dual exhaust, Smittybilt nerf bars, fog light mod and Big Bird mirror toy.

 

hi!everyone i have the same noise in my 97 ford f-150 a piston slap on start up twice
i have started it and drove about 50 yards and it sounded like a man was banging a hammer on the engine block it hasnt done this for a while but it might be because it was about 30 degress outside when it done it!can anyone tell me how to go about getting
something done or a number i should call! it still cold start/knocks though no matter what
temperature it is outside and seems like it is getting louder here lately

 

My truck is going in the shop on Wednesday for the service manager to listen to the knocking sound during cold starts. He seems to be aware of the problem, but I would like to know what i have to do to get this fixed. If Ford is going to replace engines, how do I make sure that mine gets replaces also? Is there a service bulliten that I can refer to?

Also, this small side note is for Mike T. If they do decide to replace the engine, would my superchip still work? (I am questioning this because of the computer code that goes with the engine)

Thanks for the help everyone.

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97 F-150 4x4 SUPERCAB ORP, 4.6L AUTO,SUPERCHIP, K&N FILTER, ARE FIBERGLASS BED COVER WITH SPORT WING, BED RUG