BBQ Tick After Oil Change...

[Berk.s550]

Well, I figure I should bump this thread and get some opinions on what I am hearing tonight.

I'd like to preface this post with the statement that I had heard some of the earlier videos a while ago with obnoxious random rattling at idle and figured if I was listening for BBQ tick, I'd be listening for that.

Earlier this year when spring hit and I got the car out for the first time, I heard a very light rhythmic sound coming from the passenger side that I didn't not remember hearing before. I didn't really pay much mind to it at the time.

Every so often when I'd be in a drive thru or next to a wall, I'd hear that noise ever so slightly. Haven't thought much of it, car runs/drives fine and doesn't burn any oil. I'm used to very mechanical sounding engines like the eaton blower on my marauder or the vanos system on my m5.

Since I'm always paranoid and trying to find issues that may or may not exist with my car (I have been dealing with the driveline vibe since day 1), I started researching the BBQ tick again and decided to go have a listen to my car while it was cold and sitting for a couple days.

Now, I'm no engineer, but while the drivers side of the car is totally quiet, when I move the camera over to the passenger side and bump the throttle between 1-2000rpm, I can hear random ticks at time and it sure as hell sounds like the early stages of BBQ tick. I've NEVER heard this before, but yet again I've never been looking for it to this extent so I can see how I'd have missed it.

The car has 11,9xx miles on it, I had the oil changed roughly 900 miles ago I believe, pretty much when it got warm out I took the car in for an oil change since it was parked all winter (this car is stored during the winter months).

I'm just looking for some validation that I'm correct in thinking this is BBQ tick before I ring up my dealer and have them take a listen and tell me everything is normal.

I apologize that this video is a little long, just wanted to be thorough. At one point I move the camera from the side of the car to totally under the car and you can really hear the noises then.

[ame]

Just to note: Since the car was new I always had the oil changed at the dealer. I believe I've been in for 3 now. The car has no powertrain mods, the only mod that went near the engine was the JLT catch can.

Any update on what caused that tick? I have the same issue.

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[Berk.s550]

Mines ticking away, don't know what to do about it. The engine runs fine, no loss of performance I can tell.

It seems many Mustangs have the tick, and it shows up at random times, disappears, gets worse, gets better, comes back.......

I'm going to remove my tune before I take it in, that's if I don't buy a 2018 GT in the next few days.

Ever found out what was causing it? I have the same issue. 1-2k rpm ticking.

 

[Berk.s550]

Mine has had the BBQ tick since first oil change at 8000km. I heard it as I was driving out of the dealer's lot, so I turned around and brought it up to them. Technician there deemed it as "normal" and they weren't going to look into it any further. Of course I protested, but at least I have it on paper that they determined it to be normal... lol. I don't go to that dealer anymore anyways, they tried to jerk me around on some other warranty work and I finally had enough of their games.

Anyway, I would really like to find the root cause of this noise, but I'm on the fence. It's not down on power at all, no codes, no flashing CEL, no misfires, nothing at all out of the ordinary except for this noise. It now has 40,000kms on it, and has been supercharged since just over 20k - Installed by Roush dealer, so warranty intact. My noise is a bit different as it does not happen at idle, only under very light throttle at around 1600-2000rpm. And even then, it doesn't do it all the time. I'd like to think its cam phasers doing their thing or maybe a lazy lash adjuster... but I don't know. It sounds identical to some of the videos I've see posted here... An intermittent metallic tapping noise, not a knock. It seems to be a little louder after an oil change, then quiets down after a while like others have said. The oil change before last, I could barely get the car to make the noise at all... although it was earlier in the year and colder outside.

I guess the point of my long-winded post is that I should probably bite the bullet and take it back in again, but part of me worries when I see Ford is only replacing short blocks and not giving a long block that is sealed from the factory. Yeah, I know, swapping heads and setting timing is not a big deal.. but seriously, the difference between "factory sealed" and "dealer sealed" is huge, at least in my mind.

Did you find out why it wasn’t making that tick?

 

[Berk.s550]

After reading this thread, the multitude of others on this forum, other forums, taking the car to the Ford dealership (who to my surprise were well aware of the issue) and demanding they do an inspection, and a friend who is a master tech I took the plunge. I ordered a bottle of Liqui Moly Ceratec. I changed my oil not long ago (2nd oil change), only has 400ish miles on it so I drained just enough to put the Liqui Moly Ceratec in. I dumped in the full 300ml, waited a few min, checked my oil level, then fired the beast up... I assumed it would take some time for the wonder liquid to work, maybe a couple hundred miles, but was astonished, no tick, at all, as I drove out of my neighborhood. This typically takes me 2 - 3 min during which I can hear the "tick" with my windows down. Always the same, low speed, under load, up to about 2K rpms (the typical symptoms described and video'ed a million times, and it always went away when the oil got up to temp).....

I took the car for a little cruise, didn't notice anything else different (oil pressure, CHT, etc.. all seemed about typical). After about 15 or 20 min of driving I parked the car and let it sit for ~6 hours, usually enough time for the oil to cool and the tick to return. I started the car, mostly expected to hear the tick as I backed out, nope, no tick... drove it around the neighborhood past the spots I typically hear it, nothing. I've repeated this test now 2X, but letting the car cool longer (~10+ hours), still no tick, the car sounds like it did before I changed my oil the first time (at about 1K miles).

FWIW I have had mine checked out, no metal shavings were detected in the oil (drained it through a filter trying to catch any), cut the filter open, nothing notable (tech at the dealership did this with me standing next to him, saying his brand new car does the same thing so he was keenly interested). On inspection via scope the cylinder walls looked perfect (as you'd expect for car with ~2K on the clock). I've had no oil use issues, no check engine light, etc... honestly if not for the good 'ol interwebs I may have dismissed the noise as my other (EU car) vehicle has noisy direct injection and my previous vehicle had the good 'ol "hemi tick" but never any issues.

Just my experience for what it's worth. It's not scientific by any stretch, I am not qualified to say this would be effective for anyone else, and am personally still a bit skeptical. This experiment does however have me questioning more and more, thinking it sure seems like it's a lubrication issue. If I were to remove my tin-foil hat I'd say Ford put something in the factory oil, else why would this have made any difference, and why do sooooo many report it following the first oil change?? I'll keep listening and will report back if anything changes...

Update on how the car is doing now?

 

[Berk.s550]

Mine generally doesn't tick when idle, only when under load at ~2K RPM

Ever found out why it was doing this?

 

[Berk.s550]

Some more observation on my tick.

It is pronounced on cold engine starts and until the engine completely warms up. By that I mean oil and coolant temperature gauges stop growing. At that point it's either non existent or too quiet to hear.

And if after that I stop the engine for some period of time - i.e. go get groceries or something that lets engine cool down a little.... I do not mean get completely cold, - fluid temperatures are still within ranges - oil within green area but closer to the beginning, coolant is just not vertical anymore, but you can drive the car without babying it as it will get hot while you are maneuvering through parking lot. So the tick is back until the engine is completely hot again.

So I think the tick goes away when engine metal parts are hot and expanded due to high temperature.

Tells me that we are dealing with something being just a tad not within tolerances.

This sounds just like mine. Did you ever find out what was the issue?

 

[Berk.s550]

Figured I would follow up as well in case people aren't looking at the other active thread on this...

Dealer changed my oil today - tick came back as expected in the 1500-2000 rpm range under light throttle.
Drove home to let oil heat up fully and dumped half a bottle of Liqui Moly Ceratec in then went for a drive. Ticking is gone. Can't even force it to tick now in the right RPM range.
Tin foil hat on - I don't care what anyone else says... but it's clear Ford put an additive in from the factory, or used a high moly oil. To me this is the only logical explanation of why it started after first oil change - the factory filter was a bit different too...

Update on how the car is doing now?

 

[Berk.s550]

Just picked up the car. They said they replaced the timing chain tensioners. Notes say it diminished the noise. Went on to say they verified what noise was left was normal compared to another similar car.
Drove two miles home, pulled into garage and what do you know still tapping. I won't take it back. I'm done.

Ever find out what was causing it? I have the same exact issue.

 

[Berk.s550]

Do you have the tick, like the rest of us?

I ask, because my random idling tick, has turned into being quiet at idle, but more uniform with engine rpm above 1,500 rpm.

Did you ever find out what was causing this?

 

[Condor1970]

Did you ever find out what was causing this?

I've noticed it occurs when below 30psi oil pressure. Seems to be more pressure related than rpm related. I'm starting ot think it has to do with lazy/lagging Lash Adjsuters when the oil pressure drops low at idle.

 

[NoVaGT]

Ever found out what was causing it? I have the same issue. 1-2k rpm ticking.

Nope. It largely went away, was never an issue. Drive the car until 33K miles and traded it in. I used a 5W-30 oil and it seemed to be fine.

 

[scotty]

Update on how the car is doing now?

Still going strong... zero issues. Drive the car and enjoy it.

 

[offroadkarter]

Any update on what caused that tick? I have the same issue.

Ford field engineer said just ignore it, that's what the warranty is for.

If I worried over every QC fault on this car, I'd never drive it.

 

[VinnyVicci]

I’ve not

I've noticed it occurs when below 30psi oil pressure. Seems to be more pressure related than rpm related. I'm starting ot think it has to do with lazy/lagging Lash Adjsuters when the oil pressure drops low at idle.

I’ve noticed it has been oil pressure related as well.

 

[GT Pony]

Guys with a 2018+ Coyote can maybe disable the electronic variable oil pump function to get more oil pressure at idle. I'm assuming the oil flow (and therefore oil pressure) is cut back at idle and low RPM on the Gen 3 Coyote.

Maybe someone with the shop manual for a 2018+ can verify the oil pump variable flow funtionality.

The Gen 2 Coyote does not have a computer controlled variable flow oil pump.

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