Hello good folks of FTE. Need advice on what my options are (limited I'm afraid) about a mechanical problem with a fairly new 2016 F150 4x4, supercrew, 3.5 V6 Eco, 4x4.


It developed a rattle in the undercarriage about 5 months in. It would almost always come up in the first mile or so after parking it (overnight or work) and then anywhere between 5-10 miles while driving. Fairly loud, seems to originate from the front and work its way toward the back. Does NOT happen in 4x4. I recorded the noise on my cell phone several times .... maybe I could post the audio file? I need to convert them and chop them properly at the noise location. Let off the gas pedal, it goes away. If I accelerate, it persists/gets louder for 3-5 seconds, then goes away.


Left the truck with the dealership for a week. They duplicated the rattle once and could not find the cause. Discussed it with the owner/senior service person at the dealership and agreed to keep an eye on it. Strange thing is, it went away at the time. Supposedly there was no fix done by the dealership other than testing/inspection. They even suggested that I try another dealership for a second opinion.


Skip forward to 15 months later/@ around 16K and the rattle has re-appeared. I'm going to leave it again at the dealership for a week so that they can drive it around and duplicate the noise. Problem is: it pops up randomly.


Aside from all the time wasted back and forth to address this thing, I'm paying good money to Ford for a new vehicle that was supposed to give me peace of mind for a few (5-10?) years with proper maintenance.
Trying to take care of the problem between work and family


Final questions:
1. what would cause the rattle?
2. what are my options? (other than the obvious one: keep trying to fix it).


I don't want to go the hostile route, but after the 2nd/3rd fix attempt, it could go the way of the lemon law. Don't know what to do. I'm trying to work out things with the dealership and Ford amicably/patiently for the moment.


I also contacted the Ford hotline, which was kind of useless because the operator would not give me any details. He did say that I could open a lemon law case any time with Ford and that it would be passed to another department for adjudication. Not very hopeful about that process.


Please go easy (first post) and excuse the English. Wrote the whole thing in a hurry


Thanks in advance.
CFDer01

 

Intermittent sounds/issues are a real problem. The fact is that the dealer is not driving on the roads that you normally do and there in lies the problem. Have you played the audio for dealer ? If you haven't do it. I had a neighbor with a f250 that would stumble on rare occasions. Dealer could never duplicate the problem. He finally got the dealer to let him use his truck, while they had installed a logging device for a week and a half. He did get it to fail and they found out it was computer problem with overfueling at specific incline. Since you have rattle, its going to be hard to find whats doing it. Patience is Important. Try to isolate where its happening.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but service guys get all kinds of problems over the years.

Good luck.

 

Get it up about a foot, cut up some cardboard boxes, slide under and start hitting thing with the side of your fist. Especially chech the exhaust and the spare tire. I don't trust anyone. I mark my oil filters and ask for them back. I even supply the sealable container. We race so we have a filter cutter and check them all. Good luck....

 

I had a Gran Marquis that the dealers service folks and I spent weeks looking for the clunk noise it kept making. We FINALLY found it - by accident. It seemed that one of the gas tank retaining straps was a little loose and it ONLY allowed movement when the tank was less than 1/2 full.


Once found it took less than 10 minutes to fix.

 

Thank you storage_man, jimmy-six, and slowtrucker for your replies.
I am attaching 3 mp3 files with audio of the noise. Perhaps it will help.
A couple of points to elaborate on your posts:
==
storage_man
1. I have played the audios for the dealer, they were as baffled as I was.
2. Good point, but I don't think the noise is correlated to any particular location in my drive, other than it happens within the first 1-2 miles
after prolonged parking. Happens on work commute, shopping/kids runs ...
3. I plan to be patient and understand that mechanics put up with a lot of s#@% from the customers. I'm will give the current dealership a 2nd try,
and then another dealership a 3rd try. After that I have to cut my losses (time spent diagnosing and money for rental while fixing) and see what
Ford is willing to offer.
==
jimmi-fix
".. I don't trust anyone"
There are two dealerships downtown (the usual big name network) that I definitely don't trust ... they seem like service mills. The current
dealership (where I bought the truck) is more small town. Both the service manager and the dealership owner sat in the truck with me to listen to
the recordings (on my phone through the USB). I'm willing to give them a couple more chances on this .....
==
slowtrucker
I'm hoping it's a minor problem, like you describe, that escaped quality control. Still, it's taxing in term of my time spent diagnosing, downtime
for the truck, and money for a rental (so I can get to work). I'm going for 2 more tries and the go the nuclear option ... unclear if I'll get
anything out of it other than a broken truck

Well thanks again for the replies and encouragement ... I'm taking the truck in for a 2nd check this coming Friday.
Thx,
CFDer01