I don't know of a good time to have truck trouble, but I can say that now is really not a good time for me so any help is very much appreciated.

Noise goes away (or maybe it quietens to the point that you can't hear it) when you raise the idle just slightly. No smoking, no hard to start, no rough idle, no indicators of anything wrong at city or highway speed, nothing else out of the ordinary to report.

275K miles

David

 

Maybe a loose injector? I would pull the valve covers and check the torque on the injectors

 

Doesn't sound injector related to me. It sound more rotational, like a torque converter, or flex plate. I would pull the inspection cover under the torque converter and see if there's any wobble.

 

Where are you located in NC? Are you close to Asheville?

 

Jhl3, I'm pretty close, I'm in Hickory.
David

 

I think I've heard almost every injector noise possible - and that ain't even close to one of them.

Here's to hoping it's a flexplate or the like... but it sure has the rhythm of the piston rising and falling.

Take your oil filler cap off and place it upside down on the filler tube. Hovering? That's one disaster averted.
Pop up? Not so much.

 

Tugly, I'll try the filler cap thing shortly and report back.


Just a little more info. When idling if I put the slightest pressure on the pedal and raise the idle just slightly the noise goes away.............
David

 

Hmm, thats what another member described and it ended up being the flex plate, although i'm not sure if his did it in park

 

I suspect flex plate too, but I'm just covering a quick and easy test to eliminate another possibility.

 

I'm curious to know the results of the filler cap test

 

It hovers! So I hope that's a good sign.....
David

 

Hovering is good.... Do you have any way of running diagnostics if it is not the flex plate?

 

I found a cheapo mechanic's stethoscope at the Irish parts store for about 5 bucks, you can at least go on safari.

 

Sounds like my son's 4-wheeler when the crank bearings need changing.

 

My mechanic is on a cruise. I had no choice but to take it to a local shop for 2 reasons.
1) I will never take it back to any Ford dealership for any reason. 2) I am recovering from knee replacement surgery.

A preliminary check by the local shop this morning: Removed the inspection door. The flex plate has play in it, he can rock it back and forth. He was very honest with me in saying he is 90% sure it is cracked but he could not see the crack from the insp door. Said he would pull the trans then he could obviously be 100%. I hope this is all that is wrong. I really don't need this on top of the medical bills but that's the way it has unfolded so I'll deal with it. I'll post more as soon as I hear back from the shop.

I want to follow this all the way through here in hopes it may help someone else.
David