jc46002003

Hi all,

I've written on this before in other posts but I wanted to share with everyone a summary history of my engine tick troubles.

So here’s how things happened up till now:

1. Bought the car and about 2000 miles into ownership, I heard the engine tick
2. Reported engine tick to selling dealer
3. Selling dealer Mak Hiek heard the noise and said it was normal
4. I disagreed
5. Mak Hiek advised that the Ford tech hotline said the noise is normal, new cars on their lot had the same noise and other customers are reporting the noise. They say that due to this, the noise is normal.
6. So I take the car to Griffith Ford ( dealer number 2 ). They agree to diagnose the noise so they called Ford and were directed to remove drive belt. Noise remained. Canceled Cylinder number one, noise stopped. Then they proceeded to rebuild the lower end of the engine. It took 2 months for the troubleshooting/rebuild to finish ( they had more important things to do than deal with my car )
7. After the engine was rebuilt I changed the oil about 4 months and 2k-3k miles later at Covert Ford ( dealer number 3 ) and the noise came back. I discovered the noise on the same day as the oil change was done.
8. About 5 days later I went back to Covert where the oil change was done and showed 2 people the noise. They agreed to have me leave the car there to investigate. This was on a Saturday.
9. The following Monday they called me back and said that Ford wasn’t going to authorize any further repairs on the engine and wouldn’t give me any documentation for the visit. The dealer said ‘Ford told us not to write it up and that it’s on file with Ford’ and to go to the BBB.
10. As a result of the BBB interaction a Ford engineer came out to inspect the car. The engineer heard the noise and even had a concerned look on his face a couple of times when he heard it. Yet, he said he wasn’t going to authorize any further repairs because he doesn’t feel like the car will leave me stranded.
11. I disagreed with his decision and took the car home
12. I later called Covert back and offered to pay him to do the troubleshooting that was done at Griffith Ford the first time this issue happened. Covert service manager said that he had to run this by the engineer. Once done the service manager called me back and said he didn’t feel there was anything to troubleshoot. Which I knew was a lie because he told me on the phone that he wanted to go into the engine but Ford wouldn't pay him. This was on that Monday when they told me to go to the BBB.
12. Waited for BBB to set an arbitration date. Never got one for about 3 weeks of waiting so I withdrew from that process.
13. Contacted a lawyer and awaiting advice.

Here's the engine noise that is occurring after the last oil change:

I'll get back with more when I have updates.

jc46002003

Anyone that sees this thread please re-tweet:

dave07

Sounds like Ford is giving you the run around. Check with your states Lemon Law, dealers are typically required by law to give you a repair order paperwork when you take your car in for a repair. You will probably get ford to buy back your vehicle if you have all the required documentation. However, once you get a lawyer involved, Ford will not make any repair attempts on your vehicle until the case is over.

Axiom

I have a similar issue on my 14 GT. Only does it when the AC is on though.

Judging from the dealers you took it to. It sounds like you're in the Austin area? Not sure which Covert you took the car. I'm guessing the one on 183 in Austin? If so, you may want to try their other dealership in Hutto. I've had good experiences with their service department in the past.

jc46002003

Thank you for your reply.

I have a stack of paper work all totaling up to 140 days day in the shop for various issues including the engine. They really should have done a short block the first time. After reading other experiences compared to mine, short blocks have been more successful. Them rebuilding my engine seems to be an exception to the standard.

I have a couple angles to work here and I'll get back with updates.

jc46002003

Thanks for the post. I'm in the Austin area and the dealer who denied me paper work was Covert Ford Hutto. Sadly. Dunno what they have to hide.

Don't let the AC deceive you. My tick happens under a few conditions:

1. Happens when: engine at operating temp, AC on, engine at idle, car in drive or reverse. Either turning the ac off or putting trans in neutral stops the noise.

2. Happens when: AC off and engine at operating temperature and if you start off accelerating about 1/4 throttle along side fence or a wall with the passage side window rolled down facing against said wall. You get the same noise as above only amplified by like a factor of 3. Clatter clatter clatter. It's very loud and embarrassing.

Proceed with caution when troubleshooting this one

jc46002003

And I fixed another issue with the car. I replaced my rear upper control arm today. The one above the rear differential. Bought the factory control arm new and had a 3rd party install it. Won't even try to get a dealer to do these small things anymore.

Replacing this arm solved a couple of issues

1. I could feel a vibration from the rear of the car and it was making it's way up through the steering wheel. It felt like the drive shaft carrier support was about to explode. Solved.

2. It solved an issue where if I would hit half throttle coming out of a curve the car would feel like it was hesitating. Like the engine wouldn't let it go forward and accelerate and it felt like the car was about to start hopping. The rear end felt like it was about to break in half it was binding so bad.

3. We have sloped road in Texas. Say for example I drive straight and the road was sloped down to my right the car would try to walk up the slope slightly to the left instead of feeling like I had to hold the wheel counter to the slope slightly to stay straight. In other words, it wanted to go up the slope by-itself. Felt kind of like torque steer. Solved.

4. This also dramatically improved steering feel overall. For example, before the control arm was replaced, I would feel like there was some disconnect. Like I had to move the wheel very far to do normal things. This only happened while the car was moving. Now I barely have to move it to get it to do what it's supposed to do. The car is a lot more predictable and stable.

A lot of these symptoms were discovered early on, probably within the 1st week of ownership. Just never was able to get the understanding needed to solve them till a fellow from Christian Brothers automotive showed me some cracks in the upper control arm bushing rubber. He did me a good service there. They installed the arm for me today and the car is completely changed, for the better.

About a month ago they helped me install a transmission mount and drive shaft that I bought from Ford. These 2 items solved a bunch of other symptoms together, including very firm shifts/clunks in 2nd gear and very harsh downshifts. Feels/shifts correctly now. I'm loving that.

Just need to get this engine fixed now.

2012White5.0

The way you have described your engine tick is exactly what mine did before I had the AC stretchy belt removed and replaced with a normal tensioner pulley.

Has you dealer performed the TSB 12-8-14 on your car?

http://cdn.lrsstatic.com/downloads/t...sb12-08-14.pdf

After a few trips to different dealers I printed out the TSB and took it with me and showed it to the service manager before it finally got fixed.

jc46002003

Thanks for the post...

I'm aware of the TSB. That's why I asked the dealership to troubleshoot the issue, by removing the drive belt. They have refused to do so even after offering them the thing they worship, MONEY. My noise is very possibly the TSB but I can't get ANY1 TO HELP ME OUT WITH IT!

DarrenGT

Have you reached out to Deysha? She is an awesome person at fordcustomerservice who helps escalate when normal avenues fail.

jc46002003

I've already heard from her 'highest point of contact'. This resulted in the Ford 'Engineer' coming out to inspect the car only to tell me the same thing the dealerships do 'there's nothing wrong with your car' with the car clattering the whole time.

FordService

Thanks for the mention, DarrenGT! However, once he has consulted legal counsel, I'm not able to communicate with him.

Deysha

dave07

You might want to ask Ford for lemon buy back papers. What state are you in? I went through the whole lemon/magnusson-moss process and it will take a long time when you involve lawyers. Could just ask Ford to buy back your vehicle since you aren't getting anywhere with a fix.

jc46002003

I was going through the BBB process but I withdrew because I never got an arbitration date. They kept telling me 'we're still waiting for the local BBB to get a date'. They said this for almost a month.

The lawyers I've contacted so far aren't being very responsive.

dave07

I just called the 1-800-Lemon-Law number. The lady on the phone asked me to describe my issues, when I bought the car, when the issues started, etc. Once I gave that information she stated that she thinks I have case. She then asked me if I would like to be represented by their firm. If you say yes, they send you out this packet of information to which you fill out and return. You are then represented by them. They file the court documents and everything.

I didn't pay a penny out of pocket for all of this. My lawyer would never respond to emails. Maybe try calling if you haven't done so already?

jc46002003

Already sent my papers to one lemon lawyer and they said they couldn't help me. Something about not being the 3rd time for the repair.

Anyways, just went to http://www.lemonlaw.com/ and filled out their form. Let's see what happens.

jc46002003

updates.

I got a hold of the technician that did the first engine rebuild for me and he said he'd look at my car. He was a technician at the time of the rebuild but now he's the service manager. I don't fault him or that dealer for the situation I'm in. They did what Ford told them to do under warranty and they did a job that the selling dealer wouldn't do ( troubleshooting my engine noise ). If Ford would have sent a short block the first time we probably wouldn't be here right now.


Let's see what happens. I'm going to pay them to do the troubleshooting because I want the credit for this troubleshooting decision. This will help with credibility in court if we have go there.

dave07

That will get you your 3rd repair attempt as well. Good luck!

jc46002003

Updates:

My car is now at the dealership that rebuilt the motor the first time. We duplicated the noise.

I'm currently awaiting the results from removing the AC compressor belt ( to see if the noise goes away )

SpectreH

Sounds like the stretchy belt issue I've heard in other youtube videos.