I'm sure many of you guys have heard of the awful noise on start up that a lot of people complain about in our 3.5 EB engines.

Well a few months back I brought my car to the dealership to have this looked at. it only happened on cold starts or if its been sitting for over an hour or 2, but when you start it, you could hear a terrible clacking sound (almost sounds like a knock) for roughly 2 -5 seconds. The sound is a bit embarrassing for me at least in front of many other car friends and to have  a noise that sounds like a rod knock coming from your 2010 SHO.  They came to the conclusion that the oil filter was bleeding off air pressure and that's what caused the low oil pressure on start up to make you hear the noise it was making.

After the oil change it was much better but it was still there, instead of 2-5 seconds it would only last for 1-2 seconds. Still a noise I am all to familiar with in many of my mustangs over the years. With 230 miles left on my factory power-train warranty I brought it back in to have it evaluated again.

This time they tried to tell me that ford had put out a news letter saying that this noise is perfectly normal for the 3.5 EB engines and does not affect the power or longevity of the engine. I explained how I have heard many of EB engines and the noises they make and that was certainly not one of them and that they need to listen to it again because it's not normal. Anyway the next morning they contacted me saying I was right and there going it look into it.  Later that day I stopped by to pick up a rental car  and while I was there I looked at my car in the service shop and saw it up on a lift and the entire engine and transmission was on the ground. Pretty shocked to say the least but they say that was the easiest way to look at the timing chains which is what they were figuring the noise was.  Was pretty cool seeing both of my turbos just sitting right out in the open!

When I talked to my service adviser he said that the secondary timing chain on the passenger side and the main timing chain on the driver side were both loose and few other things, its on the paper I got but its in the car. ( I can get it later if anyone wants specific details on what was replaced ). They finished it yesterday and said it seemed to be fine now but wanted to keep it over night to be sure so they could do a cold start to verify its gone. Got a call while I was at work saying the noise is no longer present and everything is good to go. I was still a bit skeptical that it was gonna have some kind of noise but not as bad, but to my surprise it made 0 noise, almost sounded like a electric car! At least from what i was use to , it did.
The best part was that everything was paid for by ford due to the factory warranty, I even got a free oil change since they had the timing cover off during the process.

Sorry for the long post but I hope some people find this because it seems to be pretty common in a lot of our 3.5 Eco Boost engines. I got the car with 50k on it and it looks like holding off until the factory warranty was off  to buy a tuner,  exhaust, intake, meth, etc  really payed off.

That is really good to hear,  not many dealerships are like that anymore. Glad it all worked out for you. Now it's time for some mods!

Ya, definitely would like to know what parts were replaced.  Cam phasers maybe?  Like to hear more dealership service success stories

Always try to obtain a work order stating exactly what was performed on the vehicle for future records,even down the road you want to sell it,receipts,documentation,work orders will give you a peace of mind,the proof is in the pudding.

Sounds very familiar to the Mazda 2.3l DISI MZR...
Loud racket on cold start, which was loose tension of the timing chain, resulting in the chain slapping up against the bottom of the valve cover.
The failure is considered imminent on OE. Mazda even extended warranty coverage to repair the anomaly.
The fix is revised components - revised, beefier chain, VVT actuator, and tensioner, all replace the OE.

What sucks is, if left uncorrected, the chain can easily skip a few teeth, if the tension becomes loose enough...

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Hope the 3.5EB is a non-interference engine!  Read on the web that the torture test engine skipped a couple of teeth.

Wish all engines were build like the Toyota 22R. I have a hilux with 219,8xx miles on it and I just changed the timing chain because it had worn threw the guides. Everything else is stock on it. Still starts up on the first few cranks every time. Winter and summer. Pretty amazing.

Great outcome!  Nice job at being persistent.  I suspect you headed off a major problem getting the timing chain problem fixed!

definitely sounds like a tensioner/timing chain issue.  i hadn't heard of it a lot with our 3.5 EBs.  i owned a 2004 Maxima, also 3.5 liters, that had a tensioner problem...

Quote from: MeanKS on September 13, 2014, 11:36:18 AM
definitely sounds like a tensioner/timing chain issue.  i hadn't heard of it a lot with our 3.5 EBs.  i owned a 2004 Maxima, also 3.5 liters, that had a tensioner problem...

Love your avatar pic!

Hey guys, sorry for the delay on getting back to you on what was replaced, been real busy with work.

They first came at me with what ford had released some kind of news letter saying that 

"Engine may exhibit a light ticking noise after a cold start which may last until engine warm up. The noise is due to the combination of light load operating conditions and the normal cylinder head and valve-train clearances present in a cold engine.. This noise does not affect peformance or long term durability of the engine. effective date: 10-November-2010"

After I told em that it was more severe then a light tick on start up they took another day with it and came to the conclusion to tear it apart.

When I got the car back the paper work read this 

"Performed engine tear down to timing chains for inspection. Found RH secondary timing chain loose and the LH chain tensioner doesn't return a tight chain after compressed back in by hand. Also found that the primary timing chain is loose. R&R all timing chain tensioners and gskts. Reassembeld engine and retested for noise. There is no more engine rattle on start up and no DTC in any systems."

He wasn't the best speller but by all means he got my car back to how it should of been the entire time so I'm  indeed happy.
I really am glad that i didnt shrug it off because I would be in a whole different mess not to far from now.

And on that note, now that I hit 60k miles  and have no more warranty I ordered my SCT Livewire TS today from Torrie!

Is there a warranty on the work performed, similar to the 2-yr they give out for paid work?  Good luck with the Torrie Tune , looking forward to your experience with it!

Thanks for sharing the service department correspondence. Interesting...

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My car had the exact same issue that they were never able to duplicate when it was at the dealer.  I ever stood out on the service bay with the manager and remote started the thing and he said he could hear what I was complaining about...pissed me off.

Anyway, car went in for major misfires and ended up being low compression, which led to a teardown to find a cracked piston.  New shortblock was put in the car.  Moral of the story, my noise that I bitched about for almost two years is suddenly gone.