2011 F150 5.0 KNOCK Cylinder Distortion/Piston Slap Options
 

I posted this in the 09-14 forum and got some views but no responses so I thought maybe someone in here had experience with this:


"Hey Everyone, I'm new to the forum, not long ago purchased an F150 truck and I love it except for one thing.

It's a 2011 with the 5.0 coyote and I have diagnosed it to have the cylinder distortion issue on #3 causing piston slap (has knock when warming up). No other issues yet as it only has 68k miles (no excessive oil consumption, loss of power, misfires etc.).

However, I do want to be prepared to take action if/when judgement day comes and it loses cyl #3 as it is out of warranty (unfortunately purchased it this way, relatively quiet knock most of the time).

So my first question to anyone who has experience with this is, is this a longevity issue? Will it ever affect my truck in any other way than a sound? I believe the only way to fix the issue for good is a new engine and I really do not want to shell out 3800 for a brand new short block from Ford plus labor so I would be getting a scrapyard engine out of a wrecked truck. The question is, can I use an engine out of a 2013.5-2014 truck in my 2011 without modification to avoid my new(used) engine having the same exact noise when I crank it up? So in your opinion, what should I do with this thing? I love the truck and I'd want to fix it if I have to."

Hey Man, I think im in the same boat as you, and are looking to find out about the same things.

I posted about it here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ine-knock.html

Hey thanks for the reply, I read the thread you added a link to and I’d say we are 100% in the same boat. When I test drove mine I also heard no noise cold or hot so I thought it was fine as I knew a little about this issue and I figured piston slap ought to do it when cold so I made sure to hear a cold start.

Sure enough the day I brought it home I heard it, like you. One saving grace for you and maybe me is, you have 100k on yours and the noise is relatively the same and I don’t hear of many of these engines coming apart so maybe they’ll go awhile like this.

I also do think they can last pretty long, but I also fear that in the end either the piston or cylinder wall will have worn down to much so it will break.

For now i'll ask a tuner to raise my idle rpm just slightly enough so I wont hear it anymore, and I will start putting some money aside for a stroker kit with oversized pistons or something so I can rebuild the engine later.

Let me know if you find out new things or if your situation changes

Okay, same goes for you, let me know if your engine rebuilder says it’s rebuildable.

I think it’ll lose compression one day on that cylinder and it’ll start missing due to the excessive cylinder wall/piston wear; who knows when that day will come, could be next month or could be 100k miles from now. So I agree, I’ll also be putting some money aside for when that day comes. Such a shame that I need to be thinking about a rebuild/engine replacement on my 70k mile truck.