I just took my '09 GT in for a simple oil change and inspection and figured I'd have them investigate a rattle I started hearing a couple of months ago.

The rattle happens when I'm just starting out and at low rpms, warm, cold, immediately or after hours of driving. My guesses were an exhaust rattle near the headers as it seems to come from the engine bay or down by the pedals on the drivers side. I've also guessed that it may be coming from the clutch assembly, pedal, hydraulics, etc. but that seems less likely.

So I just call up the service manager to check on the status figuring they'd have it figured out by now after diagnosing it for the day but they are stumped. They said they tried isolating the engine mounts and some other components with no luck. The last thing they said was they have a call out to their engineering department and are waiting for an answer.

I'm assuming this means Ford's engineering department since the dealer is unlikely to have anything like that. This is strange for what seemed like a harmless rattle that I wasn't even too concerned about

 

At least they're not telling you that they can't duplicate the problem, or that it's normal. That's the typical first response from my dealer.

 

I had a rattle in the center dashboard stack that was coming from the exhaust. There is a TSB (08-03-04) out there for cutting some exhaust hangers off under the car. I did this myself and the vibration went away.

 

I'm drawing a blank on the name right now....
is it called the the 'inspection plate' that covers the bell housing? That's what we used to call it.

A number reported that rattling and some loosened the bolts a bit and put a piece of felt tape between the plate and the housing. Tightened it up and no more rattle. If my memory serves me correctly (which its not right now - and I haven't even started happy hour yet ), there's a TSB on it too.


Might give it a try. Cause we know Dealer's never know the TSB's...

EDIT:
09-18-16
4.6L MANUAL TRANSMISSION - SEPARATOR PLATE BUZZ - BUILT BEFORE 4/5/2009

 

Yeah, so far I'm impressed with the way they are handling this issue.

Thanks RedGT and dynaco! I'll have to mention these to my service manager. The car is with them again for the day. Here's to hoping one of these TSB's is the culprit. Yeah it's funny how you guys on the forum usually know more about the TSB's than the dealers but mine so far has seemed helpful, knowledgeable and ready to make things right.

 

That's the typical response for every dealer I've ever had to deal with.. now, if I have a problem, I just fix it myself.

 

Well I just got a call from the service manager and he said the car's all set. Turned out to be brake and fuel lines in the drivers side wheel well. Said that they secured them now. Hopefully that is the case when I pick it up after work and the rattling is gone. We shall see but I am hopeful it's taken care of now.

Thanks again guys for the recommendations.