been to the dealer twice with the truck, the don't know what it is and are supposed to be letting the higher up's know about it. drove it today and after seeing another post slide the truck into neutral, no more low pitched rumble. Back in gear, rumble. That eliminates the tires as the cause. Going to call the service dept manager and find out whats next. Am not going to stand for this noise!!

 

Often the answers here remind me of talking to the dealership. I remember when my car would start up and drive it, you could feel it moving back and forth from front to back. I took it in a couple of times and they couldn't find it. It was similar to what is going on here. The dealership said "It isn't really that bad." I said "You drive it then, because I am not going to." I will go get a rental and settle it later.

The guy got on the phone with the factory rep and told him it ran like crap. They found the problem to be the oxygen sensor.

Tom, I am not willing to make other people's problem's my problems. That is why the lemon law was put in place. In my opinion they need to get someone who knows what they are doing. That rumble is not a mystery that Sherlock Holmes needs to get involved in.

 

I tend to think the majority who post here regularly are genuinely trying to help.

But is it a mystery? It's not uncommon for concerns to be brought to a dealer that are operating exactly as designed. It wasn't the way the customer always THINKS it was designed. I haven't heard this grumbling noise, but it's certainly possible that it's normal if brand-new trucks are doing it.

 

This isn't my first truck by a long shot, been driving one as my main transportation since 1987. Even owned 1 chevy and 1 toyota truck, and the last 2 I am back to Ford's. My last truck was a 2011 3.5 EB so I am not new to this engine or Ford trucks by any means. I worked around machinery all my life and THIS rumble is NOT right and seems to be getting louder. As with all things, sometimes they are not easy to find. I was hoping to see if anyone else has this problem. The guy who was trying to fix it had all kinds of it could be this or that but he did not want to tear into it without a possible fix from Ford. NO ONE would buy this truck new off the lot if it made this noise and had this vibrating feeling in it. I would not have either, started around 3500??? Should have wrote it down but dealership should have a record of the miles when it went in the first time.

 

Fair enough Tom, I'm curious to see how this turns out. Does it vary by engine load, or just in or out of gear?

 

going up hill lots louder. down hill not so loud, flat you know its there. Starting to notice the vibration in the steering wheel now, before you could feel it in your legs and back thru the seat. What ever it is it will show up one way or another if it keeps getting worse something's going to happen. It reminds me of a rough bearing. If you have been around large machinery first you sort of hear/feel it, then you feel it then you feel it, then stuff breaks or locks the bearing up. Maybe a rough gear??

 

Definitely sounds like a bad bearing in your axle or something internal to the transmission.

 

Just throwing a shot in the dark here, but have you tried playing around with the locking axle or in and out of 4x4?

 

My wife still has the 1975 Dodge van she bought new. She reminds me often that the van's birthday is June 21, 1975. But I digress....

She KNOWS this van. She is familiar with every single "normal" sound, as well as every abnormal sound. A few years ago, she heard a rumble, but the mechanic could not hear it. She TOLD the mechanic that it was a front wheel bearing, and in fact (I think) told him it was the left or right (I don't remember which it was).

Very, very grudgingly, the mechanic pulled off the wheel she told him to, and sure enough, the bearings were completely shot. She was very concerned, as she was about to go off to a project in Yosemite, and the last thing she would want is having one of her front wheels coming off.

Long way of saying that you gotta listen to those unusual sounds.

 

"RRRSkinner, you should try asking for your money back and let us know how that goes."

Lol,

Let me guess, you don't know how to document a problem, making it clear that the dealer could not fix a problem?

Then you carefully read the warranty and write letters to document what your remedies are.

Then you implement the agreement.

Failing that, I can help anyone on filing a complaint in civil Court. I recently filed against the guy that totaled my 2013 F150. Many people would have hired an attorney. I'd rather handle it myself.

So, if I asked for my money back, it would be based on breach of contract and I would get it.

 

I've seen more than a few folks try that angle, and haven't yet seen anyone succeed. Like I said, if it happens make sure to post up letting us know how it goes.

 

My point is simple. This is Ford's noise to find and these little mysteries are difficult to solve on the internet. All the guesses here are entertaining, but I am most interested and disappointed that a mechanic can't troubleshoot it and find it.

As to asking for my money back, I never have. I have sent a complaint to the Dealership that I intended to file if I didn't get what I reasonably asked for. It got resolved.

 

Oh if only things were simple. Ford warranty won't fix something that isn't broke. The customer doesn't want to pay out of pocket for diag concern on a brand new truck or be without the truck for a few days while work is done (paying for rental themselves in many cases). The dealership doesn't want to pay techs the hours of diag it may well take to determine the real cause of problem. The customer is reasonably upset with the dealership, Ford, or likely both. It's most likely a mechanical deficiency, which would point the blame at Ford, but Ford also can't just foot the bill of every possible problem before it proves to be a problem.

If you have a good relationship with your salesman, talk to him about it. I've had my techs look on some mystical forum with other techs. It sounds like other trucks may have the same issue, and techs know best which fix was the real one. Have you salesman get to work for you, a good one will know who to go to in order to make things happen.

 

Interesting. I would have thought a good service manager would know who the best mechanics are. It is very fair to say "we don't know, but when it breaks we will be able to find it easy.

 

It's about motivation. The service manager is out dollars if offers to foot the bill to find out whats wrong. If they say "good enough" and then it breaks, they fix it "free" for the customer and get paid for warranty by Ford. A salesman who you work with expects you to come back for your next truck. And by taking care of the customer after the sale starts to build the ownership value and work towards earning the next sale. There still may be nothing that can be done, but it's worth a shot. In this case the OP does seem to be describing a real degenerating problem, not just a characteristic of the drive line.

Customer loyalty is a waning concept. It cost a lot to make customers happy and often shows little return, so often customer service isn't what we'd like it to be, so the loyalty continues to slip. It's a catch 22. You just need one person fighting for you though and you can have an entirely different experience from everyone.