My 99 had the morning ticking on startup when the temp was below 50. After warm up no problems. Traded it at 16000. The 01 hasNO noises; popping, clunking, ticking or leaking. I also changed the oil at 500 and 1000 miles. Now at 1200 and NEVER (I swear, you listing SVT) drive above the speed limit and take my time getting there!

------------------
1999 Black Lightning

• 1940 of 4000

Traded for: 2001 Silver Bolt

• Adopted 3/24/01
• Red Line Water Wetter
• Wet Okole's
• Bed Rug
• JL Stage II Ram air
• Chipless in Jersey

 

Jac Nasser said his sole purpose was to increase shareholder equity. Under his watch we have phantom 320 Cobra, Leaking Lightnings, Modular Mush, Focus Frailaties and 15 separate recalls on the 2001 Explorer BEFORE it left the plant, plus recalls, recalls, recalls!

Let's recall Nasser!!

Sal, start working o a 5.8 retro kit! I have not had any problems with my Gen I. My '01 has only 508 on it so thus far no problems.

------------------
1993 Lightning,Complete Bassani,FoMoCo mass air conv,K&N,Bilsteins,pheno spacer, roller rockers
1994 Pace Car,full Bassani, K&N
'00 box stock

 

2000 L with 17.9K on O and no knocking, been listening for since heard of problem, but nothing but injector ticking so far, i do have an i/c leak but no internal engine components ready to fly. has there been a fix to this problem? and is the problem with a cretain production date range or not??

jim

------------------
-White 2000 L, stock, currently, 17.6k miles and having more and more fun with it everyday.

-1991 ford mustang lx conv.
stage 5 Kenny Brown suspension.
302 short block, twisted wedge heads with street fighter port.
Cobra upper and lower intake.
Vortech 8psi huffer.
190lph felp pump with t-rex helper.
36lb injectors.
3.73 geared.
AOD trany customized by the local seeed shop, (Alternative Auto).
Battery Relocated.
2 1/2 inch. off road exhaust.
approx 400hp and always going up, not exact numbers not been on a dyno yet.
Hasnt been to strip, being built for the turns..

 

2000 Lightning; 27.3K miles; No noticeable engine knock. Intercooler leaking. Had clunk.

Wilk

------------------
'97 F-150 4x4 Super Cab; XLT 139" Wheelbase Flairside; Silver Frost Clearcoat; 4.6L. (Romeo); 4-spd Automatic Transmission; Preferred Equipment Package 507A; 3.55 Limited Slip Axle; Electronic Shift 4x4; California Emissions; Sliding Rear Window; Trailer Towing Package; Off-Road Package; 6-Way Power Driver's Seat; Remote Keyless Entry/Anti Theft; 6-Disc CD Changer; Ford Bedliner; Ford Running Boards; Ford 600 Plus Vehicle Security System; Ford Nose Mask; Roll n Lock Tonneau Cover; Ford PremiumCare Extended Service Plan (5 year/100,000 miles).

2000 SVT F-150 LIGHTNING XLT; 120" Wheelbase; Flareside; 5.4L EFI SOHC V8 SC Engine; 4-SPD Automatic; Silver Clearcoat Metallic; SVT Online Store Lightning Front End Mask; Roll n Lock Tonneau Cover.

 

well i noticed this weekend i have an odd sound.. sounds like a diesel engine... i havent tracked it down, but its very distinct when im laying under the truck...

tranny bearing?

 

whoops, hit enter too quick..

currently at 1200 miles.

3 wks old

 

1200 miles on clock and no knock!

 

My 01' has the knock at start up only with only 2500 miles

 

Mine don't make any rattling noises-yet, but same as my 93L which happened every 20k, I have 3k on it and the sound I hear occasionally on startup recently is the beginnings of a loose serpentine belt sound. Not everytime. All else is fine so far and I don't pamper it. If I can't drive it at least as hard as my Dodge Caravan then I might as well get rid of it. drove my 93 L hard (77k) and all I ever had to do with that was replace belts every 20k, brakes (disc), 2 batteries, 2 sets of tires, one set of radial arm bushings----you 93-95 owners do know that heat will cause the passenger side bushing to prematurely fail right? Put a pc of aluminum btween it and the exhaust and that will prevent the heat from melting the bushing.

 

My 99 has about 35k, 2nd i/c. clunk, but no slap. A very small rattle on startup sometimes. no mods to the drivetrain.

 

As the owner of an auto repair and towing business, I really do not see what all the fuss is about. Rattling noises at start-up are not unique to the Lightning. They are not unique to Ford. Some vehicles do it, and some don't.......... however, I could easily find an example from EVERY manufacturer.

Does this mean that every engine, or the rattly ones are going to blow up due to this........ of course not.

Every engine is a little different. Tolerances are going to be slightly different from one engine to another. Dissimilar metals have different thermal expansion rates. Thus, if the engine is a little looser (we are talking very small differences here), you will get some noise due to the dissimilar metals. Think about it people. It makes sense.

If rattle at start-up (we are talking start-up only....... not in normal driving) was a sign that the engine would blow, then every 2.9/4.0 ever made would have never made it over 50,000 miles. Yet I have yet to see one blow. Majority of the ones we are working on have 150,000 to 200,000 on them and are still running strong.

At our shop we work on all makes and models. We have heard every noise you can image....... and they come from every make on earth. The one gentleman who talked about the F150's with the 4.6 made a good point. Have we really seen any engine failures due to a little rattle at start-up? And I don't count those who race their trucks every weekend and try every chip on the face of the earth as good examples.

I know I will probably get flamed to the end of the earth for this. Many people in here want to blame big bad Ford and demand a new engine. All I have to say is get real.

Oh, our '01 has over 9,000 miles on it and does not make any noise.

 

Gloria,

Thanks for the sarcasm. All you have to say to me and some of the others is "get real"? Nope, I don't want a new engine from big bad Ford. I'm just a little disappointed that my very expensive truck was quiet when I bought it and now embarasses me in front of my Chevy friends with it's paint-ball racket that goes on loudly for several minutes. And by loudly I mean it can be heard for about 30' or so.

So, you're telling me to "get real" and just accept POS assembly practices that allow for sloppy piston skirt tolerances that result in this obnoxious noise. No, I'm afraid your explanation of "expansion" doesn't quite cut it with me because of the many others, like you, that don't live with it. And yes, there have been a few members with noisy engines who lost them altogether. You see, we're not talking about 125 hp 4 bangers here. When you make serious hp like the L, it had better be fairly well balanced and toleranced correctly.

Oh, and I'm very happy for you that yours is quiet. I would imagine you'd be pretty pissed if you turned the key in my shoes, so to speak. The reason nobody will see mine or your message is because this thread is three months old and has been read already. So rest assured, you won't be flamed to the end of the earth. Happy motoring.

P.S. After posting this reply, I read further down the topics and noticed this thread that was posted today. https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=49882 It's my opinion one should be able to change the oil and not have noises like this. Mine does it worst after an oil change too. Did you notice where Georgia_Moon lost an engine? I know for sure Lightningquick did. And maybe alphadoggy too. You see my concern now? No flame intended towards you. It's just really that bad.

Jim

 

I agree with Jim, the L should not be making that kind of racket. You may cry "apples and oranges" but my Porsche 2.5-liter blown 4-banger made over 300 hp with parts cast and forged in different metals, and it was quiet as can be, even when cold. It was quiet at 65K miles when I sold it in 1998 too. (Don't laugh at the 4-banger either, it is BIG - half of a 5.0-liter V8 from the 928, so it's comparable to the 5.4 in our L's). If they could make my engine start and run quietly in 1986, then Ford should be able to achieve comparable quality in 2001. I didn't baby my Porsche either...

You may change your mind if you had the opportunity to listen to Jim's L, so I can't hold it against you. You should not be able to hear anything from 30' away (especially at idle) like Jim is describing - there is a definite problem there.

 

One question I have for the oil change problem. Did you fill your filter with oil before installing it? If not, this could cause the starvation, and thus the noise being worse after the oil change. We never run a dry filter when we do an oil change.

As far as how bad yours may be........ I do not know Jim, I have not heard it. I did hear the Mazda MPV that we did work on the other day, and it sounded like it was going to blow up when started cold. My 93 EB Explorer sounds terrible on start up (as has every 4.0 OHV I have heard). I realize I am talking apples and oranges here, as I have not heard every L out there. Was just trying to let people know that this is not an isolated issue. I mean geez, look at the Tundra page....... they are having the same problem and it is the vaunted, never breaks down, runs for 10,000,000 miles without an oil change Toyota.

Your problem may indeed be bad, however, many people on these boards have a tendency to lay under their vehicles with a stethoscope and then complain about every little tick they hear. Like I said, I am not saying you are one of these people. Also, like I had posted before, I don't consider someone who has beat the daylights out of their trucks with mods and racing to be able to sit there and say "it blew due to the 30 second morning rattle."

Maybe it is just my problem with perception...... I don't think so. My other has done more than his share of racing. He has done more than his share of breaking. When you race, you WILL break.... it is just a matter of sooner or later. If you don't want to break, don't race.

Yes some trucks may have a problem....... whether it is going to cause them to blow up...... guess we will have to wait and see.

Of course you could sell the L and go buy an oil guzzling, $50,000 Z06 (can you say some are going through a quart in as little as 400 miles).

 

I have seen that people using that POS oil filter Fram likes to call good on some cars and it will knock as decribed. Once a motorcraft filter is installed, the noise goes away. I don't think anyone here would use an inferior product like Fram on an L but you never know....