My 2011 GT Mustang has 23,000 miles, motor is all stock. Oil changes every 3k or sooner with Ford's synthetic blend, serviced by the dealership, no check engine lights ever, etc.

I've noticed that when the motor is fully warm, particularly when in a low gear/slow speed but higher RPM, I hear lots of random snapping or "ticking" sounds coming from the motor without a correlation to RPM or ground speed. This is most noticable when the sound is bouncing back from a guard rail or other object near the road.

This could be famous "ignitor tick" but it seems to be more frequent and it's starting to drive me a bit crazy.

It's a lot like the sound frequently heard from a car that was run up to high temps and shut off and the exhaust system "ticks" as it cools down. In my case, the motor is still running and has presumably been at a fairly constant temp so this likely has nothing to do with it.

The car runs and drives great...but I'm nervous that this might be an impending problem and my powertrain warranty is up in August.

Any thoughts? Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I just posted a link to a YouTube video in the warranty section a few days ago. I tried recording my noise with my cheapo camera but could never get it to pick up the sound well. I found a video of exactly what mine does consistently. But I also get a random loud tick or click at idle. I pretty much only hear it in my garage when the sound has something to bounce off of. It may not do it for weeks at a time. Then one night do it five or six times as I pull in. That is hard to get a dealer to do anything with because of the infrequency. But check out my link! It is under a thread for a TSB to replace the stretch belt with a tensioner!

 

I have a similar thing with my 2011, seems to be most pronounced at idle though. I mostly notice it when parking in the garage or where there's something for the noise to bounce off of, like you said. Same mileage too

 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. While I'm sorry that you guys have a similar issue, there is some comfort in not being the only one.

FWIW, I do hear mine at idle occasionally too, usually when the motor is hot. It seems a bit more frequent in the scenario described in the first post though.

 

For me I think I just need to take it in and reference that TSB. That video sounds exactly like mine, and I doubt that was addressed with the owner before me, as he rarely drove it(picked it up last year with 15K on it). It's really noticeable now that summer is fully setting in here in Houston and my AC is running most of the time.

 

Is the stretchy belt issue an real pending problem if not addressed or just an annoying noise?

 

Mine started doing this recently as well. Most of my ticks were right after an oil change (ford dealership, full-synthetic) but went away with some miles, this time though-out of nowhere.

It's really more of being embarrassed than anything else, because my pony is my pride and I don't want it to sound bad especially when other people compliment my ride and I drive away with weird ticking noise.

 

Total embarrassment! I was out for a leisurely drive last night. Pulled up next to some high school kids in a beater. They were checking out the Stang. I pulled away from the light ticking away and their junker rolled away quiet as can be... Sigh...

 

Could it be possible some of the heat shields around the motor are expanding causing a ticking/ rattle which sounds similar to a tick. It sounds as the problem relates to the engine warmed up. Just throwing it out there...

 

It's definitely related to the engine being warm. I believe the original TSB mentions that as well. For me it is SIGNIFICANTLY amplified if I turn the AC on, so I believe it is the AC compressor drive belt assy, but you could be on to somthing.

 

You'll just have to live with it. Ford will not fix it because their engineers have no clue where to start to look for the problem. Sure they throw all the guessing TSBs out there but it still doesn't solve the problem.
Just like the surging issue. That is just the latency between mechanical portion of the phasers that adjust cam timing.

 

Well guess what?
Ford replaced my water pump under warranty LAST SUMMER. Sorry that I didn't update this thread.
It was done in July...seemed to cure the ticking completely.

I pushed it a little on my oil change (~4000 miles...which still shorter than the suggested interval ) after having the oil changed to the recommended Ford Synthetic Blend (at the dealership), the ticking came back. ..and my car is officially outside of the warranty as I bought it in August of 2010.

**** IT.

So what do you think? Will Ford honor their work?

 

It's probably coincidence and the water pump didn't fix the tick

 

19k 2012 GTCS - same scenario as the OP.
I'd take it in but the dealership is bound to do more harm (as usual) then good.

Here's to riding on prayers!

 

Did we ever learn the cause of this issue?

 

We never will.

 

Nope

 

Seriously?

How many of us still have this issue?

 

I'm still sticking with the theory that it's the engine oil that's being used. I'm on the regular dealership conventional oil and haven't noticed that tick yet...currently at 43000km.

 

Jon,
Not sure what this does to your theory but I've been sticking with the recommended OEM Ford Synthetic Blend.