Dreaded engine Tick
 

Well, I took the Mustang into the service department today with 9600 miles to let them investigate and diagnose the engine tick. I recorded the tick and sent it to the service writers phone.


The car was ticking pretty loudly when we there and he heard it first hand also. I did get a call awhile ago from them saying that the technician heard the video and is now trying to get the car to replicate the issue. At this time, they see nothing wrong, but they are at least continuing to dig. I hope they get this resolved without any issues.

I have seen some videos that say this is the AC stretchy belt issue. Easiest (maybe) diagnostic would be to have a spare belt on hand and when this noise starts, cut the AC belt off. Or simply remove the belt but that might be hard on a hot engine.

If the sound is still there with the AC belt removed, it has to be something internal. I seem to recall there being a TSB out for timing chain tensioners. I could be mistaken though.

I've heard of both of those issues also. The video above is with the AC off.

Even with the AC off, the pulley is still turning. It just has a much lower load on it.

As SpectreH already advised, for the stretchy AC belt test, the belt has to be removed from the running engine. If that solves the noise then a belt tensioner arm/pulley is installed to replace the factory stretchy belt.

Just turning off the AC will not help diagnose this properly.

So I get a call from the dealership after having my car for two days and they determined that the car is fine and working normally. I challenged their decision and asked how many cars they've ever owned that sounded like this. The service writer stated that they found nothing wrong and I could come get the car.

I have another appointment set up at another dealer for Monday.

so if there is "nothing wrong" with the car, i wonder what they would say if you said "okay, so if i trade it in... would you give me less for it because it has an engine tick or knock?"

I'm just curious if they'd try to knock value down for it as a possible problem.

im ready to take mine in for the same thing...

Car is at the selling dealership today. I really don't understand the point of making an appointment these days. I called this service department on June 26th and they couldn't get the car in until today. So I called the dealer the car went to last week and got it in on Monday the 29th. I kept the appointment for today with the original dealership, just in case nothing was found last week. So, here it is, 3:15pm and I get a call from the dealer telling me that they haven't gotten to my car yet! Why?!!! This is ridiculous. Every time I schedule an appointment, they don't get to my car until just before they close and then they say they can't find the problem.

On a previous service trip, I was told I could wait in the lobby while they checked something. Two hours later, they still hadn't looked at the car. I made them give me a ride home. They called me later that day and said they needed to keep the car overnight because they never got to it. What's the point of an appointment???

sounds like a piece of cord loose on edge of the belt...my sons truck was making a very similar 'tick' from the 'thread' slapping around...
next oil change, cut the filter apart- of course any metal would be bad, but also look for bits of plastic in the filter media- the plastic timing chain guides might shed a lot of nylon if somethings amiss in there

Dreaded engine Tick
 

I just had this issue fixed on my 2012. Sounded exactly the same. They completed the AC stretchy belt tsb and the noise went away. When I made the appointment I had the shop manager, and service rep look at the car before I would even turn it off. They tried to get me to just leave it, and I told them I wanted to make sure they knew exactly what I was talking about.

It's been two weeks and no odd noise.

Yup,

You're having the same issue as me in terms of Ford service. Sounds like they're stonewalling us across the board.

https://themustangsource.com/forums/...0/#post6937468

Ford Engineer "normal characteristic of the car that you just simply don't like":

Just tweeted us out there bud:

That TSB says 11-12 Mustangs. Was it extended to '14 cars as well?

My 14 had its oil changed at the dealer a week ago. Yesterday was the first day I have not run AC, and at the drive through I could hear the engine ticking just like these videos loud and clear. I listened again at home and it was plain as day. My car has just under 26000 miles on it. I am dreading having to take the car back yet again for another issue as it has already visited the body shop twice for hood replacement and for trunk repainting. I also need to get the front LCA's replaced, it sounds like an 86 T-Bird going over speed bumps.

I never updated this post so here goes. On July 6th, the dealer never got around to working on the car. July 7th, they started their work. By mid afternoon, they called me to say that they can't duplicate the problem and that the car has been idling since early morning! There went that tank of gas!! Don't these techs know that you shouldn't idle a fuel injected car for extended periods?

They were told that the tick was normally found after the car was warmed up, so instead of driving the car, they let it idle. All day.

So, after they called me, I sent my son to the dealer to show them the issue. He took the car for a 10 minute test drive and returned to the service department with the tick very noticeable. The service writer pulled a service tech to look into it. It was now the end of the day and they couldn't dig in, so I need to reschedule another trip. I was out of town for two weeks and couldn't schedule anything until today. The car goes back in for the same tech that heard the issue when it does go back in. I also received a recall notice for the airbags, so I'll reschedule both for the same time.

I'll let everybody know the final results.

Here is mine shot yesterday:


My dealer has been spot on so far with my issues, I will have to see if they can track this down.

Sounds just like my car. It goes back in on August 11th. I'll let you know what the issue is if they find it. If your car goes in first, let me know the fix.

Dreaded engine Tick
 

Exactly what mine did, before having the repair outlined in tsb 12-8-14 performed! The noise has not come back since, and it's been 2 months. I did pay for mine since I have a 2012 and I am outside of 3/36. It was about 250 in parts and labor, I am too OCD to live with it.

I don't understand how ford keeps claiming this is normal.

Strangely enough mine is doing it with the AC off but warmed up. This leads me to believe it is accessory or fan related and not engine damage as some have had. I hope it is as simple as the TSB.

I inspected my 2014 Gt's engine and it has the stretchy belt. We're troubleshooting it now ( removing the AC belt to see if the noise goes away ).