Well, I just heard back from the Dealer that my baby has piston slap on the #1 cylinder. Of course they say the only solution is a new engine at a grand total of $5700. I've done a little research and found that this is more common than I knew. Ford claims it is annoying but no engine failures have occurred because of it. I can live with the noise (worst time is cold mornings, but always there) and keep my $5700. Anyone have suggestions on how to decrease the slap. I have heard going to synthetic might help. I currently use Valvoline 5W30 and a Motorcraft filter. Would using a heavier or lighter oil than 5W30 too?

 

Different oils won't really help with cold start piston slap. Ford uses slightly undersized slugs because the material used expands to proper size once engine is a normal operating temps (or so they say). At least that is way it was explained to me by the Ford tech rep. I had this problem in my F-150 and my Cobra, but don't have it in the new truck [knock on wood], it's only supposed to be a problem in some 4.6L's and alot of the 5.4L and 6.8L's. Only time will tell though.
I believe there have been some TSB's on this subject.

 

It should be annoying, but not fatal. Don't spend the money for a new motor. If it lets go, THEN spend the money. My buddies piston slap 5.4 went over 100K before he got his PSD.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I'll drive it until it dies before I fork out the cash. Did your friend mention if there was any way of reducing the noise or making it more liveable? It only started this week when it got really cold. I'm curious to see if it goes away when it warms up in a few months. Oh well.

 

The noise goes away when the engine warms up. End of story Not much else you can do except park it in a warm garage to leesen the noise at startup

 

I had piston slap in my 1999 with a V-10. At the time Ford was warrantying the 99's with a new engine. I was lucky. A couple months after than I heard that Ford was telling everyone that all engines do this now and to just live with it. I got a new engine at about 32,000 miles.

I did notice that is only happened at cold start up.

The way the dealership changes V-10 engine is to lift the cab of the truck off. That amazed me to see one with a cab off. They said it was less labor time to remove the cab rather than the convensional way.