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2014 V6 Engine Knocking

8K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  FordService 
#1 ·
Hello,

I've had my 2014 V6 for a little over a year now, I just took it in for it's second oil change yesterday. I was checking the oil this morning to make sure all was well and I heard a knocking noise coming from the passenger side of the engine.

I had the oil changed at the Ford Quick Lane at my dealership so decided to take it back out there to see if they could be of any help. However by the time I arrived there the noise had stopped.

They recommended I make a service appointment with the dealership, so I went over and made an appointment. The earliest they had was for Thursday morning.

I wanted to post here and get your guys opinions and see if anyone else has had this issue and what was needed to get it fixed. I did a quick search of the forum but couldn't find anything recent with the same issue. So I figured I would just start a new thread.

I'll try to post a recording of the sound soon.
 
#2 ·
Welcome to the forum!
Just to get things straight here.......this sound just started after your recent oil change at the dealership?
Oddly enough........quality jobs and/or services are hit and miss these days. Never get a service done on a Friday! LOL!
You may actually be a bit low on oil (seriously). Sometimes the dealership is no better than the Quick-E-Lube other than they might not use bulk oil. My 4.7L Dodge takes 6qt of oil for fill. If not told, many Jiffy Lubes might put in just 5 going on a normal V8 average (including filter capacity).
First off, I am wondering how you heard knocking while checking the oil level. School of thought here is to check the oil with the engine shut off on level ground. Shutting the engine off lets the oil flow back to the pan in order to read correctly on the dipstick. Engine should be warm and wait about 15-20 minutes after engine shut off.
Secondly....we have a 2011 V6 and I have not experienced what you have. It has 48k miles on it and we are second owner.
Third.......I have experience with Chevy V6 and Dodge V8 engines mainly. I would say that a lot of times the oil flow starting up cold isn't what it should be. Far be it from me arguing about how they engineered things. I've dealt with top engine ticking for almost ten years now thanks to Dodge. What I have done to sort of alleviate the issue is to go totally synthetic oil with aftermarket high flow oil filters (K&N). In the cold winters here (15-20 degree days), my Dodge 4.7L V8 can still sound like a diesel starting up. Once the engine gets to operating temp and warms up, the ticking is gone. Not saying this is related to your issue, but you did say that once you drove yours to dealer, the sound was gone. I'm sure you're letting the dealership do the oil changes for warranty purposes. We plan on doing the same with our Mustang when it comes time for first oil change since we've owned it, but I'm going to supply the oil and the filter. This way I know exactly what oil is in the engine, and I don't care to spend $12 for a top of the line oil filter when the Mopar spec is around $6.
There may actually be something out of whack with your engine internally. You should keep your dealership appointment and hopefully they won't charge you a diagnostic fee. It's good to have things under warranty.
Best wishes that your dealership will take care of you and your top engine tick will be a thing of the past soon enough!
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply and the well wishes. I just noticed the knocking after the recent oil change. I haven't been under the hood on it since the previous oil change and it was not present then. It is hard to say when the noise started exactly. and yeah, I didn't check the oil with the engine running but did have it running previously to warm it up a bit and that is when I noticed the knocking.

When I checked the oil the level looked good to me, and they checked it again when I took it back to the dealer's Quicklane earlier today and said the level was good. I went back out a little bit to try and record the knocking but it still seems to be gone for the moment however it hasn't quite had time to cool down again.. I'm thinking it is only going to do it on a cold start.

I'm going to check again in the morning for the noise, and check the oil again. If I can get a recording of it I'll post it here to see if anyone can recognize it.

I'm definitely keeping the appointment since it is still under warranty I'm thinking better safe than sorry.
 
#4 ·
Your engine is a OHC so no rockers to make noise. If anything maybe it's just an adjustment issue. Overhead cams need adjusting sometimes, and sometimes some motors are just noisy. (I'm assuming it's a top end noise) I had a 91 Honda Accord and after it got a little older it started making that top end knocking. No matter how much I adjusted the valves it still wouldn't go away. Sounded like a freaking sewing machine. Hate Honda! BTW, I don't trust the dealer, sorry to say. Been disappointed too much over the years. Now I figure if anyone is going to mess it up it will at least be me (cut out the middle man:grin:) so I know exactly how I messed it up. Take the guess work out of it, and keep the change in my pocket.
 
#5 ·
Please keep us up to date on this.
Cold start ticking seems to be a common issue with a lot of V6 and (like I said) small V8s. I tend to throw in a bottle of Lucas fuel injector cleaner and upper cylinder lubricant once in a while in any vehicle I've had or have.
A knocking sound could also be coming from a loose bolt or screw. You'd be surprised at the possibilities there.
Again....good luck narrowing it down. Crap like that bugs me too!
 
#6 ·
Yes, I'll be sure to keep this thread updated when I learn anything else. I decided to go check and see if I could hear it again and this time I managed to get a recording of the sound.

You can listen to it at: https://soundcloud.com/jeremy-king-88/20150809-194827-1a

Now, it isn't the loud clicking noise, I'm guessing that is cold start ticking that a lot of other Mustangs with this engine seem to have.

The sound I'm concerned with is the much lower knocking. It is kind of hard to hear in the recording, It is loudest in the first few seconds. But is present in the rest of the recording as well. The knocking has a slower tempo and lower pitch than the ticking sound.

I also came across this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbc5h3ih-4 where someone's 2011 5.0 is making the exact same sound.

I found it in this thread from 2011:
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-2014-mustang-gt-tech/282502-engine-knock-video.html

The most prominent theory in that thread seems to be that it is the AC compressor putting a load causing the knock. Could be possible I guess? Well see what the techs at the dealership can make of it on Thursday.
 
#7 ·
Wow, they just don't make them like they used to. I'm glad I got the 4.0 and avoided many of these issues the 3.7 has. Heck, my 18 year old Dodge 318 (5.2) doesn't even make a noise like that. If they tell you that this is "normal" I would be seriously disappointed. You may have to go the "Additives" route to see if that goes away if Ford wont help.
 
#10 ·
That actually sounds terrible. I can't discern much from the audio recording. I've had A/C compressors make noise before, and when the clutch kicks in it will bog down the, but not sure where this would be. Best bet is with the dealership in a couple of days.
 
#11 ·
Hmmm....very strange. Doesn't sound like the early build 2011 V6 tick.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Wanted to post a quick update. They rescheduled my service appointment to this morning. I dropped the car off yesterday at lunch.

I just called them to get an update and they said they could not hear the knock. I gave the guy an idea on where best to listen for it and he said he would pass the info on.

Hoping for some more news this afternoon.
 
#13 ·
Well I called them back and they said they still couldn't hear anything abnormal. They wanted to keep it till monday but I figured if they can't hear it today they won't heat it Monday either.

I'm going to pick it up after work. Might end up taking it to another dealer for a second opinion.

I've been very disappointed with this one so far. Might have better luck elsewhere.
 
#14 ·
Oh man, I know how this BS goes. They can NEVER hear the sounds that you tell them. I went through that with my Dodge Ram when I first bought it. I forget exactly what the problem was since its been so long but I think it was that the tranny was sluggish to engage when cold in the morning. The dealer could NEVER reproduce the problem. Kept it for days and always worked fine for them. They even changed the shift points and all that and made it a mess to shift. Later had to take it to another dealer to put it back to normal. Gave up at that point and only later after many years found out in a Ram forum that the tranny in my truck doesn't pump fluid when in neutral so its sluggish when first engaging. The way to fix that is to place it in neutral for a few seconds before you go to reverse. Problem solved. Why couldn't Dodge simply explain that to me? I hate dealers, but good luck anyway.

PS: you could always get yourself a cheap automotive stethoscope and see if you can find where its coming from yourself. I don't know if that may help.
 
#17 ·
I did pick up an automotive stethoscope today, but was I wasn't able to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. I'll give it another shot tomorrow.

Hey man I hope there is nothing wrong with your car. Does it sound like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Rit90Ip5E or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DKFb0II7Pk. This is my problem and I didn't find any solutions for it yet.
Yes! It sounds quite a bit like those two. I to hope it isn't anything serious. I'm working on getting another service appointment at the next closest dealership to get a second opinion.

Have you taken yours in to see what is wrong with it?
 
#15 ·
I have bad hearing so there may be more going on, but I hear the injectors with something else just under that note but can't tell if it is a knock or not. The injector noise is probably right where my hearing aids are increasing the volume for me.
 
#19 ·
I took the recording on the passenger side of the engine phone betwen the inner fender and engine.

I just picked the car back up from the second dealership. They said the same thing as the first. Either they aren't hearing what I'm hearing or what I'm hearing is considered "normal"

Thanks to Deysha, the Ford Customer Service rep on the forums here, I have a case worker at Ford who is trying to help out, she says the next step is to see if either of the dealerships near me have a 2014 v6 in stock for me to listen to and see if it makes the same sound. I guess I'll try to see where that goes.

Otherwise I'm just going to drive it, and hope it is still under warranty when if this leads to something more catastrophic.
 
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