jeff711981 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) Final Update: The verdict is in. It's normal for these engines. They started two other Fusions with 1.6L Ecoboost engines with a similar amount of miles on them right next to mine and all three sounded the same. Long story short - if you notice your Ecoboost engine clattering almost like a diesel when cold, especially under load, it's likely nothing to worry about as long as it goes away when it warms up. Update 2: So far the response from the dealership is that they can't find anything wrong with the engine. They acknowledge that the noise is there, but they're saying it's likely normal for this engine. They're going to keep it overnight again and compare it to some other cars on the lot and see if they do the same thing. Sounds like they're just going to give it back to me tomorrow without doing anything. I told them I'm good with that as long as they put it in writing so it's recorded that I reported the issue if it gets worse or something fails catastrophically. Update: I dropped my car off at the dealership last night and went back this morning so they could hear it run when cold. They heard the noise I'm talking about and said they'd contact Ford HQ and see what they want to do. I guess the possibilities are: do nothing, troubleshoot/diagnose the issue, or replace the engine and have mine sent back to Ford for teardown and analysis. Hope I hear something from them soon. I have a 2013 Fusion SE with the 1.6L Ecoboost. I've noticed that when cold, there's a noticeable knock coming from the engine that I believe is piston slap. It's too slow and too hollow to be injectors or valvetrain noise, in my opinion. At idle it's barely noticeable. Off idle at moderate load around 2000 RPM it's most noticeable. At higher engine speeds it goes away, and once the engine starts to get warm it goes away. It only takes about a mile of cruising at 45mph for the noise to go away as the engine temp comes up. I'm going to try to record a video of it on my phone tomorrow morning and see if I can capture the sound, but I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this. I know there are a bunch of GM guys that complain about it, specifically in GM trucks, and GM typically doesn't do anything about it because they haven't found it to reduce the longevity of the engine. I also know Livernois Motorsports has come up with an aftermarket forged piston for the SHO: http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=123070 I suspected the pistons in the 1.6L Ecoboost might be forged, because I know forged pistons expand more than cast pistons, and being turbocharged and built to last, I assumed they may use forged pistons for the durability. According to that post on the SHO forum, it appears the stock Ecoboost pistons are likely hypereutectic cast aluminium in all the Ecoboost engines, which means my previous suspicion that the noise I am hearing is indeed piston slap, but is normal due to the forged pistons may be inaccurate. I'm more concerned now since hypereutectic pistons were designed specifically not to expand a lot so tolerances can be tighter even when cold. It still may be slap, due to the short skirts on the pistons, but I bought the car and intend to keep it for a while and would even like to do some bolt-on mods to it, but not if it may jeopardize a powertrain warranty that I may need to cash in on at some point. Definitely don't want my pistons looking like these... Edited September 24, 2014 by jeff711981 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junehhan Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I do not believe that Ford uses forged pistons in any of the Ecoboosts. If in doubt, have your dealer look at it as it should be easy to diagnose by leaving it in their lot overnight. Recording a video may not help much as generally it is hard to record audio with high enough fidelity. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) I do not believe that Ford uses forged pistons in any of the Ecoboosts. If in doubt, have your dealer look at it as it should be easy to diagnose by leaving it in their lot overnight. Recording a video may not help much as generally it is hard to record audio with high enough fidelity. Oh sure, I don't expect a dealer to make a diagnosis based on a video/audio recording. I'm trying to make plans to do that, but supposedly this dealership's engine guy is booked for 5 weeks out, and the transmission guy is booked even longer. I wanted to be a smartass and say, "wow, so lots of Fords with drive train problems, huh?" But I figured that wouldn't speed anything up. I may have to shop around at different dealers and try to get someone less busy. I'm waiting for a call back from the service manager with a date and I'll go from there. The video idea was to hopefully capture what I'm talking about in hopes other people on here could either say "yes, mine does that too and it's no problem" or "yes, mine did that and I had it serviced under warranty as a result." Edited August 27, 2014 by jeff711981 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Engine service date scheduled for Sept. 23rd and transmission service date scheduled for Nov. 17th. Apparently they're backed up because of the Focus transmission recall. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junehhan Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 That is what I mean. The lack of fidelity will lead to too many opinions on this forum with nothing concrete. Take the Coyote 5.0 for example as people were posting their videos thinking that the engine was knocking on the F150 and Mustang forums. The quality made it difficult to tell whether it was a low end knock, timing chain tensioner noise, or just plain loud valvetrainor fuel injector action. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 That is what I mean. The lack of fidelity will lead to too many opinions on this forum with nothing concrete. Take the Coyote 5.0 for example as people were posting their videos thinking that the engine was knocking on the F150 and Mustang forums. The quality made it difficult to tell whether it was a low end knock, timing chain tensioner noise, or just plain loud valvetrainor fuel injector action. I'm fine with that. I don't mind hearing other opinions and experiences, that's why I'm here. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Without knowing exactly what you're listening for you'll have a hard time hearing it, but I accelerate once and it's barely audible. I accelerate a second time and it's a little more audible. Then I paused the recording and started it back up a mile or two later when the engine was warm enough that the sound was gone and accelerated from a stop light again. Very faint in the video... can't hear it much at all with the radio on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 I dropped my car off at the dealership last night and went back this morning so they could hear it run when cold. They heard the noise I'm talking about and said they'd contact Ford HQ and see what they want to do. I guess the possibilities are: do nothing, troubleshoot/diagnose the issue, or replace the engine and have mine sent back to Ford for teardown and analysis. Hope I hear something from them soon. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) So far the response from the dealership is that they can't find anything wrong with the engine. They acknowledge that the noise is there, but they're saying it's likely normal for this engine. They're going to keep it overnight again and compare it to some other cars on the lot and see if they do the same thing. Sounds like they're just going to give it back to me tomorrow without doing anything. I told them I'm good with that as long as they put it in writing so it's recorded that I reported the issue if it gets worse or something fails catastrophically. *EDIT* I'd also like to mention, for anyone questioning their choice to go with a Ford instead of a Chevy, I rented a 2014 Malibu with the 2.5L engine since Ford wouldn't give me a loaner. My initial impression is that it feels bigger and heavier than the Fusion. The 2.5L engine feels smaller than it is - for a moment I thought it was the 1.4L Turbocharged engine from the Cruze due to how buzzy and rev-happy it is. Seems like if I give it more than 1/3 throttle it downshifts to put the RPM in the 3000's and accelerates well into the 5000's before shifting. Speaking of shifting... the transmission gearing feels a whole lot more appropriate for the powerband of the engine than the transmission mated to the 1.6L Ecoboost in my Fusion. It works up through the gears at a steady pace and it never feels like any gear is more sluggish than another. The computer also seems more confident about what gear it should be in... the Fusion seems to do a lot of hunting when I'm bouncing between 40 and 50 mph in traffic. The Malibu is happy to sit in top gear just under 1500 RPM at those speeds, occasionally downshifting and bringing the RPM up above 2000 when I accelerate a bit. Edited September 23, 2014 by jeff711981 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff711981 Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 The verdict is in. It's normal for these engines. They started two other Fusions with 1.6L Ecoboost engines with a similar amount of miles on them right next to mine and all three sounded the same. Long story short - if you notice your Ecoboost engine clattering almost like a diesel when cold, especially under load, it's likely nothing to worry about as long as it goes away when it warms up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberius1701 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I know I am a bit 'Late to the dance' here, but the noise you are hearing is normal for nearly every direct injected engine. And when you say it is a 'diesel type' sound you are more corrct than you might imagine. When these engines are cold, the high pressure injection pump and fuel injectors are quite noisy until the engine warms up a bit. In fact, even when warm these engines have a characteristic ticking that comes from the injection pump. You will notice the heavy foam type insluator installed around High-pressure pump, it mutes most of the noise, but not all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junehhan Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 That noise is what throws a lot of the general public off when they buy their first direct injected engine. They initially do not notice it until they have gotten more familiar with their vehicles, and then they get shocked as hell as they hear it echo'ing while waiting at the McDonalds drive through window. My first experience was with the 3.5 V6 a few years ago and remember a lot of people being up in arms on some of the forums thinking something was wrong with their engine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey14SE Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Yes.....x2 on the direct injection system being very noisy and clattery when cold. Clears up pretty quickly on mine though. (1.5L) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junehhan Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 We actually have it lucky as Ford does a very good job masking the noise, Just listen to how loud it can get the next time a GM car or CUV with the Ecotec straight 4 pulls up or even a Hyundai Sonata with the base engine. The first time I heard an acqaintence's new Chevy small CUV idle next to me, I swore it was a diesel. My guess is that we could see our Ecoboosts go woth a dual fuel injection system at some point in the future once Toyota and Mercedez get their bugs worked out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey14SE Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Dual fuel injection? Whats that entail? Never heard of it. Like a normal port fuel injection system until the engine warms up, then switch to direct injection? that just sounds overly complicated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junehhan Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Yeah, Toyota/Lexus and Mercedez are the two companies that I know of that use dual fuel injection. I believe both systems utilize port fuel injection at idle and low rpms while switching to direct injection from the mid to the high rpms. I know that this setup hasn't exactly worked out perfectly when it first came out although I don't know about now. Don't quote me on that as I cannot remember exactly how it works although there was a recent article on one of the major car magazines that talked about it. In fact, the new 2017 Ford GT Supercar is also going to use dual fuel injection with its 2nd generation Ecobeast engine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodfatherJAM Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) The other morning I noticed this from my 2013 1.6 engine, manual trans at 31,000 miles. (I even turned Dave and Chuck the Freak down) . Stopped by the time I hit the main road. Worried me enough to check oil as I'm close to change time. Not sure if the cold Michigan mornings at 6:00 am had my oil a little thick. It was not as bad as the 3.4 engine or 3.1 GM engines I owned that did have a very distinctive noise. Edited February 19, 2015 by GodfatherJAM 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me32 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Its part of the direct injection. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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