Hi!

I have an ‘09 E350 with 140k miles. There is a chirping noise happening at low rpm when the engine is hot. ( ). It increases in speed with increase in engine RPM. I searched around and found other videos with a similar sound and the culprit was a failing lifter. From my understanding , the sound is the lifter grinding the camshaft. I have driven about 3k miles since the noise started.

I went to the dealership and they couldn’t diagnose what was the issue and said the truck was “fine”. All cylinders were performing the same on the contribution test. I don’t agree with their statement of the trucks being fine.

Here are some options that I was thinking and would like people opinions on them.

1. I have found a used engine for 2k (09’, 105k miles) and could swap it now or wait until the current one is broken.
2. Pull the engine out, Do a HG job, put ARP studs and replace all the lifters. Keep the same camshaft
3. Same as 2 but replace the camshaft
4. Do nothing as the dealership said because the truck is running fine and wait for other symptoms to appear.

Looking for other ideas/advice.

thank you,
Pascal

 

If the lifter is failing and grinding the cam. You are going to want to replace the cam and clean the block oil passages. In other words a rebuild.
Option #1 if it's the 6.0L.
You can drain the oil and check for fragments of the needle bearings on the magnet and in the oil.
Also, you can pull the filter out and run a magnet around the inside of the filter housing bottom to see
if there are any fragments in the oil in there. If you want to go deeper, you can pull the HOP cover
and look at the cam. You may even be able to see the other lobes of the cam with a borescope.
You will have to snake it under where the turbo base mounts to the block.

 

If it is ensured that the replacement engine will work properly, #1 is the cheapest solution.
I would first remove the valve covers and make sure the problem is not just a rocker arm or something. (I know it's a van, it requires rotating the engine a bit). Also check the base oil pressure. To be on the safe side, also check the vacuum pump and start the engine without serpentine belt (just to make sure it's not something simple).

 

My money is on an idler or tensioner pulley. Give Hartwigs suggestion of removing the belt before spending money on something you don't need. B.

 

Does that sound change or go away when you put the trans in gear ?
sounds more like a flex plate to me

 

Is there metal in the oil filter?

 

Thanks for everyone’s advice. Will be trying to start the engine without the belt this weekend. I will also look for metal particles in the oil filter.

The sound happens when it is in drive or park. It is audible below 1000 rpm and only starts after 15/20 min of driving/idling. Starts off quietly but gets to the same level as in the video after another 15 min of driving/idling. It doesn’t make the sound at all when first started the following day.

 

tested without the serpentine belt and it stills made the sound. I haven’t tested with removing the second alternator belt yet.

 

Is this a former ambulance by any chance?🤮🤮🤮

 

It is, quite a pain to work on.

 

Any codes?
Do relative compression test with Ford IDS.
Is it a bad maintained engine?

 

I got the small lifter problem fixed on this 2006 E350 with an oil change twice. The problem here was dirt in the oil.

 

no codes, the relative compression showed all cylinder to be good and within 5% of each other.

For the maintenance, I’ve only had the truck for two years and it was previously a training ambulance at a school. Wouldn’t know if they cheap out on the maintenance.

 

Definitely a possibility. Will give it a shot. What oil did you use?

 

fullsynthetic 10W-40 (German spec.)