2018 GT low rpm engine rattle, cylinder damage pics, Ford buyback process

[bigriver]

Buyback almost done. My car has been released to the dealer and they are paying it off. For those of you wondering.... It took almost 2 months to do something that could have been done in a week.

That is great! I had to chase Ford down all the way to final loan payoff. They almost dropped the ball on that and used up all the cushion for the interest per diem amount.

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[Paddy_0511]

you meight hear it when the car goes out of the garage

Mine sounds exactly like yours. I dont have any new delivery dates of the new block. In Germany its not easy to get a buyback. The dealer have 2 chances zu fix the issue and after that you can get a buyback, but its not easy and take a lot of time:(
I very sad with that issue, i had the PreVL and had a good engine but a bad driveshaft with vibrations. Now a bad engine with no vibration. Hope Ford will work on better engines, because a lot of people have problems with that 2018 engine:(

 

[Madtwos]

That is great! I had to chase Ford down all the way to final loan payoff. They almost dropped the ball on that and used up all the cushion for the interest per diem amount.

Hopefully they pay them off quick. Just made a payment so im not 30 days late. RAV sucks... The process was ridiculously long considering you upload everything to their site. Everytime something was needed from me i had it up within the hour. Then it took them 4+ days to look at it.

They didn't refund me the state tax.... So thats over 2K I gotta figure out how to get. I also didn't get my payments back. But in the end... I got rid of a car that had an engine issue, a shift fork thats breaking, and scratches that were put on the car when it was in the shop.

In this whole struggle the only thing that was easy was dealing with the dealerships. They were great. IF i buy a ford again it will be because of them.
As far as Ford themselves - They essentially broke MD state law but because they are the big guy and im the little guy they muscled me into accepting their deal. They know i dont have months to wait around on this shit. One mention of "my lawyer said" and they said well at this point we have to close this process and it will be handled by our legal team because anything we say can be used against us. Funny thing is...they told me all this fluff stuff before that i found out wasn't true. So whats different?

They said they'd do this, they said theyd do that. In the end, they simply gave me what I owed for the car after leaving me carless and paying insurance and loan payments for a car i couldn't drive.

The dealership I bought my stang from has mustangs coming back for the same issue. I spoke with them on Wednesday. They told me to come and buy another one lol. I had to respectfully decline.

Anywho - Thanks Bigriver. You were a huge help. I offer my assistance to anyone thinking about doing a buy back.

 

[Madtwos]

Congrats @Madtwos. So you didn't get your purchasing price - mileage usage on your buyback?

I'm just chilling with my rattler because no dealer will look at it seriously. Ford dealers have really turned me off. Any 2019's out there with the rattle?

Actually my neighbor who has a 2018 GT has the rattle. When he drives by my house in the morning when the engine is cold I can hear it echoing off of my house when my windows or front door are open.

Also, i ordered a Steeda H pipe when they were on sale for $103.96 labor day weekend.

I got my purchase price minus my taxes paid, gap, interest paid on loan, and payments. The annoying thing is they could have put the taxes, gap, and interest on my offer but instead I now have to run all over trying to get that back from the DMV and insurance company. Because they took so long I also had to pay my insurance premium.

Honestly...the process only needs to take a week at the most. There seriously isn't that much going on.

 

[Paddy_0511]

some pics of one of the cylinders

 

[bootlegger]

some pics of one of the cylinders

Hard to make out much from that. It doesn't look like scuffing I have seen from other engines.

 

[zackmd1]

So interesting observation here... It got "cold" over the weekend here in Maryland (68 degrees instead of 100000 degrees....) and while my rattle was still there, it was much harder to produce and alot quieter when I could produce it. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

Makes me wonder what a colder thermostat would do to the rattle...

 

[zackmd1]

My car is quieter the hotter it is. Almost to the point where it's not even there.

That to me says we have the same noise with multiple causes. That said, very little data to go off here.

 

[Cobra Jet]

So interesting observation here... It got "cold" over the weekend here in Maryland (68 degrees instead of 100000 degrees....) and while my rattle was still there, it was much harder to produce and alot quieter when I could produce it. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

Makes me wonder what a colder thermostat would do to the rattle...

At colder exterior temps, the engine oil becomes thicker until it gets to operating temps. Not sure if that would have any bearing at all on the situation, but just something to make note about.

Read up on going to colder thermostats.... that used to be the thing to do, but actually it can be detrimental to a N/A engine for a modern vehicle such as the S550.

For those not in the know about thermostats, here’s a good reading:
https://www.reischeperformance.com/WhyLowTemp.html

 

[bigriver]

Hopefully they pay them off quick. Just made a payment so im not 30 days late. RAV sucks... The process was ridiculously long considering you upload everything to their site. Everytime something was needed from me i had it up within the hour. Then it took them 4+ days to look at it.

They didn't refund me the state tax.... So thats over 2K I gotta figure out how to get. I also didn't get my payments back. But in the end... I got rid of a car that had an engine issue, a shift fork thats breaking, and scratches that were put on the car when it was in the shop.

In this whole struggle the only thing that was easy was dealing with the dealerships. They were great. IF i buy a ford again it will be because of them.
As far as Ford themselves - They essentially broke MD state law but because they are the big guy and im the little guy they muscled me into accepting their deal. They know i dont have months to wait around on this shit. One mention of "my lawyer said" and they said well at this point we have to close this process and it will be handled by our legal team because anything we say can be used against us. Funny thing is...they told me all this fluff stuff before that i found out wasn't true. So whats different?

They said they'd do this, they said theyd do that. In the end, they simply gave me what I owed for the car after leaving me carless and paying insurance and loan payments for a car i couldn't drive.

The dealership I bought my stang from has mustangs coming back for the same issue. I spoke with them on Wednesday. They told me to come and buy another one lol. I had to respectfully decline.

Anywho - Thanks Bigriver. You were a huge help. I offer my assistance to anyone thinking about doing a buy back.

I completely respect how you dealt with this given all the shitty circumsrances. Ford will learn one way or another that treating customers the way they do will be their downfall. Big props to you for offering help to others

 

[zackmd1]

Well just completed the first round with my local Ford dealer. They were able to hear the rattle but they were "unable to determine" where the noise is coming from (which is BS but ok). They cut my oil filter open and found no metal (not surprising). They then tested other 5.0s on the lot and "heard similar noises". So at this point I have paperwork stating that the noise was heard at my current mileage and that no causes could be found. Now for the bad part, they absolutely refused to borescope the engine even after showing them my evidence and had no good explanation as to why except for "we have a process to follow and have no evidence to support a borescope" (goes along with the fact that they could not determine where the noise was coming from). I plan to get an oil analysis done on my next oil change and possibly go back to another dealer one more time. I just want them to confirm scored cylinder walls. With that I think I have sufficient evidence should anything worse happen down the road to cover my a**. After that my next course of action would be waiting for a TSB and driving the vehicle!

 

[Justin Fontaine]

Man am I glad I got on this forum months ago and learned of these ridiculous issues that this car is having. I had picked out a blue 2018 GT and had my check in hand when I first heard of the shift fork issue. That was enough for me. I went the other way. I'm very sorry to hear all you guys that are going through buy backs, multiple trips to the dealer with no result, replaced engines etc. That's just wrong. This is not just some "trolls" out there making up reasons why they don't like the car. These are real major problems with a 40k plus Ford car. Never have and never will.

 

[2018OFPP1?2]

Man am I glad I got on this forum months ago and learned of these ridiculous issues that this car is having. I had picked out a blue 2018 GT and had my check in hand when I first heard of the shift fork issue. That was enough for me. I went the other way. I'm very sorry to hear all you guys that are going through buy backs, multiple trips to the dealer with no result, replaced engines etc. That's just wrong. This is not just some "trolls" out there making up reasons why they don't like the car. These are real major problems with a 40k plus Ford car. Never have and never will.

Sorry to hear about the guys with issues, but for every one of them, there are literally thousands of others with absolutely no issues. Just put another couple hundred miles "whistling zippidy Do dah out my a$$hole"* on mine today. Loving every minute of it. Such an awesome car!!!!

*National Lampoon's Vacation.

 

[Andy13186]

Heres mine .. im about 90% sure its piston slap. Goes away when warm, I may not worry about it.



From another thread I found when looking up piston slap :


"Here is what a GM engineer told me on this subject..


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you talking about piston slap during the first few minutes of warmup..??


If so...that is what it is. Nothing to fear or nothing really wrong...just the piston noise until the piston warms up to fill the clearance to the bore.

Pistons rock as they cross TDC where the thrust load from the rod angularity shifts from one side to the other. This makes noise. Harmless..but it is the source of piston slap in most all situations.

To prevent this, pistons are designed with long, tapered, flexible skirts so that they can be fitted very tight in the bores when the bore and piston is cold. The taper of the skirt and flexibility of the skirt then prevents scuffing when the piston is hot. Also, the piston pin in OEM production pistons is always offset to one side....it is NOT in the middle of the piston. By offsetting the pin in the piston, artificial thrust load is created to control the piston "rocking" as it crosses over TDC.

Unfortunately, all of the above control techniques, common in past model engines to the extreme, create excess piston mass, cause friction and cost power and fuel economy. With the desire to build in as much power and free-revving capability and to improve fuel economy as much as possible thru friction reduction these design features are pushed in the other direction on modern engines.

Piston pin offset has been reduced over the years to a bare minimum today to reduce the thrust load generated and reduce friction. Pistons have been lightened up considerably by shortening the skirts. This creates less rotating/reciprocating mass which is good for power, free revving capability and fuel economy. Light weight pistons are great but the skirts, by necessity, are short making it hard to make them both strong and flexible and the shorter ckirts make them more prone to rocking.

Unfortunately, when the performance and fuel economy oriented pistons are run cold they are very prone to "slap" until they warm up to operating temperature.

The piston designers and development engineers are always treading the fine line between piston slap cold and friction and power/fuel economy loss when the engine is warm.

It is possible that you are hearing piston noise from an engine that is on the "high limit" for piston clearance so that it makes some noise cold. The good news is that the condition is harmless and that engine is probably a little more powerful (due to less friction) than a "quiet" counterpart. The bad news is that...it makes noise cold.

As an example of what the piston pin offset can do, it was common back in the early 70's to turn the pistons around "backwards" in the large displacement Chrysler engines to gain power. Those engines had large piston pin offsets to create thrust load to control the piston slap. So much thrust load and friction was created that just turning the pistons around in the bores was often good for 10 HP. The engines were very quiet with the pistons in correctly and they slapped like crazy, especially when cold, with the pistons reversed so as to reverse the pin offset.

Racing engines do not have the pin offset and thus the pistons slap like mad...but no one hears them over the open headers...LOL.

The noise is an annoyance but will not hurt anything and the engine is fine.

I don't remember if that engine had full floating pins or not but they can also cause some ticking just after start. Same sort of deal...the "correct" clearances in floating pins will cause clicking after startup for 30 seconds or so. To prevent the start up noise, the floating pin clearance must be kept so tight that the pins are almost press fit again."

 

[Dfeeds]

I have the same rattle in my 2019 Mustang GT. I had it since the moment I drove it off of the lot with 4 miles on the OD. I just assumed it was something related to being a mod motor that I have very little experience with. I did stumble upon this . I was watching videos because I was legitimately curious about how t he GT350s sounded, but listen for when he revs the engine at about 3:45. You hear the rattle; the same exact rattle. It's faint, but it's definitely there. You can hear it at other points too if you just listen throughout the whole thing (tune out the talking). Take from that what you will, but I figured I'd share it.

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