I have a 2002 B4000, 4 liter, 4x4, 5 -spd automatic transmission, 36k miles.

I have been to my dealer 6 times now for a rattle during acceleration from 2500-3000 rpm. as soon as the transmission downships it will stop until i reach 2500 rpm's again. Sometimes it will continue to rattle until i get into 4th or 5th gear.

I originally thought it was the transmission. Then I thoguht it really sounds more like a ping. But I tried running higher octane gass and BG 44k, but the rattle was still there. If it were engine ping this should have eliminated the problem at least for that tank of gas right??

My dealer rebuilt my rear defferential and "updated" the valve body trying to fix this. I don't know what they were thinking rebuilding the differential, but that is a whole other story.

My dealer now tells me that it is engine ping and that it is just something that Ford engines do and I will have to live with it because they can not fix it.

I refuse to accept this answer as I have only owned Ford vehicles and I have never had this problem before. Pinging is a problem and no motor should "naturally" ping.

Any guidance or suggestions???
thank is advance
Chris

 

If it were pinging, you'd be feeling it power wise. Is there any way you could describe the rattle?

 

The best discription that I can come up with is: You know how an old a/c compressor wil start to become loud and rattle when engaged? Especially when it is low on oil. that is how it sounds.

This is very noticable when engine/transmission are cold and gets quieter once everything warms up. It really does sound like a slight ping.

 

Does it ping while under load, like on the freeway while accelerationg from 65 mph - 75 mph on a grade?

Usually ping only happens when the car gets to hot (cylinder temperature rise) because of bad AIR/FUEL mixtures in the cylinders. Usually, on a cool or cold morning the pinging is not as pronounced, if it truely is spark detonation (ping).


Did you pull codes yourself? Autozone or Checkers might do it for free. I think I'd do that first.

 

I don't know that it is pinging. The sounds is similar to pinging though. It does it primarily when the engine/transmission are cold and then gets quieter once every thing warms up. Also it does it primarily when accelerating from a stop 2500-3000 rpms. I originally told the dealer that it was in the transmission because that is where it sounds like it is coming from.

They have blamed it on everything from weak leaf spring, cupped trires, differintial, and valve body. They have replaces/fixed all of those, except the tires I replaced those myself with stoke size again. I think that now they have run out of excuses so they are saying it is engine ping and it CAN NOT be fixed.

I don't buy that though because engien ping would be eliminated by higher octane gas and BG 44k. This noise was not. Also if it was engine ping then it can be fixed, they just don't want to take the time to figure it out.

As of right now I am in a rental car that they are paying for and I refuse to pick up my truck until they fix it. At this point it has become more of a matter of principle because they keep giving me excuses. Also when they rebuilt my rear diff the messed it up, howling noice when 4x4 engaged, and when I took it back to them and dimonstrated the noise in the diff they told me that it was my fault because I engaged 4x4 on dry pavment to demonstrate it to them driving in a straight line. When I told then that I was a Mechanical Engineer and that they were full of crap and explained the physics behind it they didn't know what to do. Rather than admitting they messed up my diff they acted like, "ok, ok we will rebuild the diff again to make you happy" They just wouldn't admit that they screwed up. and Now they keep giving the run around on this rattle.

Oh and my ABS is leaking, but they refuses to replaced it b/c it is "seeping" not "leaking"

I just got the district rep from Mazda involved and am looking for some advise if he isn't helpful. Lemon law does not apply because I bought the car used. But if I had bought it new then law would apply in about 3 differnet ways now. My truck has been in the shop 6 times since August, for amost 45 days now. Yesterday was the first time that I refused to pick it up becasue my diff and rattle were still messed up.

Chris

 

Does it do it when the transmission is switched out of gear and your rolling at the same speed? Has the truck pulled anything before? Look at the back bumper and see if you can tell if anything was towed w/ the vehicle before.... scratches and so forth... Someone probably missed up the transmission and immediately traded it in.

Do a search on this board under transmission and see what happens... these trucks weren't meant to pull something really heavy for long distances..... although there are some that may disagree.

My neighbor did exactly that. He had a 4X4 explorer 4.0 Auto and he traded it in because it would not pull his boat. He said something about the transmission going ... Didn't get into details w/ him.

 

My truck has the factory receiver on it and has been used to tow a boat a few times, but it isn’t a large boat.

The problem wasn’t there when I first bought the truck it started about 4-5 months later in September or October I think. I would have to check my records, but I know the first 2 times my truck was into the dealer it was for other problems. I have noticed that the rattle is louder on cold humid mornings.

 

Well, you might to a search on rattle or something. I beleive I've read in here about other people having rattles and such... sorry, I'm all out of ideas.

 

Check out this thread rattle. Kind of sounds similar to your issue.

 

Exactly what I thought of when he described it. Sounds like you chain tensioners. Get in quick if u are still under warranty.

 

Could it be something simple like a loose timing belt?

Ryan

 

That sounds exactly like what I am experiencing.
I was looking at alldata.com yesterday and I seem to remember seeing something about a timing chain TSB. I will have to bring that up with my dealer and see what they say.

Slightly off topic here, but do Rangers come with the same 3yr/50k miles warranty that B-series come with???

 

Aftder reading fartehr into that thread wrr mentioned that that noice was still there, though a bit quieter. I gues I will just have to try it and see what happens. It is still under warranty so it isn't like it is my money being spent replacing parts. I need to wait and hear from the Mazda District Rep as well and see he what he says.

 

Fords have a 3yr/36k mile warranty.

 

I'm having the same problem Otto is. My 98 3.0L rattles when I'm accelerating, 99.9% of the time going up a grade. It's usually b/w 2500-3000 rpms and goes away once the tranny shifts. If I let it shift back down, it'll come back the next time I go up a grade. Doesn't matter what degree the grade is either.