What's this terrible noise?

[ROBERT BONNER]

this begs a separate question though. Doesn't this procedure embarrass some of you in public? i.e. you're in a crowded parking lot and you have to do this two-step startup procedure, where it basically sounds like you're trying to turn over a 1976 400CI V8? it takes 2-3 tries?

Yes, it does. Mainly because it does not exemplify the Ford that I knew decades ago. I worked for Ford from '84 - '07 in various "vehicle" manufacturing management roles. The "Powertrain" organization was always the bane of the company's existence, even then. They received more money than they needed and had too many people for what they did, and they were always the center of our quality and launch problems. Just read through this forum, it is dominated by engine and transmission issues. Phasers have been an issue since the 3V heads on the old modular V8's and still are.....That's 20 years of production problems with development totaling over 25 years. From an engineering standpoint it's more than embarrassing, it's a crime against the customers/shareholders/fellow employees/retirees. If these were identified as issues at launch and I or one of my contemporaries were the launch manager, I swear there would have been human sacrifices taking place to teach the rest of the Powertrain crew their fate if the issues weren't solved in 24 hrs.

Don't get me started.

 

[GlennSullivan]

Yes, it does. Mainly because it does not exemplify the Ford that I knew decades ago. I worked for Ford from '84 - '07 in various "vehicle" manufacturing management roles. The "Powertrain" organization was always the bane of the company's existence, even then. They received more money than they needed and had too many people for what they did, and they were always the center of our quality and launch problems. Just read through this forum, it is dominated by engine and transmission issues. Phasers have been an issue since the 3V heads on the old modular V8's and still are.....That's 20 years of production problems with development totaling over 25 years. From an engineering standpoint it's more than embarrassing, it's a crime against the customers/shareholders/fellow employees/retirees. If these were identified as issues at launch and I or one of my contemporaries were the launch manager, I swear there would have been human sacrifices taking place to teach the rest of the Powertrain crew their fate if the issues weren't solved in 24 hrs.

Don't get me started.

And there it is, right from the horse's mouth.

 

[5280tunage]

Appreciate that all. That certainly makes it worse, i'm sure other mfr's have similar issues, but if in fact ford has had issues with phasers for 20yrs+, that blows my mind. In the last 20 years I certainly didn't have any issues with phasers on any of my others vehicles. Youd don't seem to hear of these issues on say Mopar V8's, Toyota 6/8's, etc. All with VVT. Not to say they don't have issues, but sheesh, how can we continue to engineer a terrible design for so long.

@Robert, I'm embarrassed for you. But @Calidad just brought up a good point for me. While they crack this thing open yet again, I'm going to ask them to do the timing chain while their at it. yes, I'll pay for it out of pocket but might as well. I'll try to get them to do the tstat, what about water pump or anything like that? I like Calidad need to get 2-3 more years out of this, to pay off the wifes car before I have to figure out what's next.

 

[Calidad]

Toyota has had phaser issues also. By the way the phasers are made by a range of different parts manufacturers that all play games with materials being substituted in when costs jump or availability is slim. Its a huge issue across all auto companies continually getting sub par batches of parts that lead to major problems. Heck Subaru couldn’t even source valve springs or torque converters that were made correctly the past 15 yrs. And those are age old simple parts.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

Toyota has had phaser issues also. By the way the phasers are made by a range of different parts manufacturers that all play games with materials being substituted in when costs jump or availability is slim. Its a huge issue across all auto companies continually getting sub par batches of parts that lead to major problems. Heck Subaru couldn’t even source valve springs or torque converters that were made correctly the past 15 yrs. And those are age old simple parts.

Agreed, and Chrysler and GM have lots of problems with the cylinder deactivation components which Ford intentionally avoided for 30 years...until the new 5.0L's. Nonetheless, it isn't an excuse. All of the parts, including the tires that go into or onto the vehicles are 100% the responsibility of the OEM, Product Development for design intent and Manufacturing for design execution and product surveillance.

Clearly Ford has huge blind spots in the Phaser and Transmission departments; but, those responsible work with others who decided to bury the water pumps inside the lubrication system of the sidewinder 3.5's, go with open deck architecture without copper O rings on the turbo 4's, in addition to the latest fascination with burying drive belts inside the sump...I swear they must be handing out hallucinogens in Powertrain with the coffee.

In the meantime, the Vehicle folks revolutionized the industry with high volume Aluminum bodies that work, and Chassis Frames so stiff that these things spend more time 3 wheeling off road than 4 wheeling. Most objective comparisons show initial quality excluding powertrain TGW's far better for Ford's trucks and full size SUV's than any of the competition including Toyota.

 

[5280tunage]

I swear, cars have Pea-Brained organisms in the ECU's that know how to screw with you. This nasty noise, has been embarrassing me for weeks. I finally took my car to dealer last night. I purposely took it the night before and parked it in their lot, so that when I checked in for my appointment this morning I could get the service writer and tech to hear the noise from a cold start, so there was no doubt. And just my luck, on start it didn't make the noise. Well it did a little but it was very faint. I showed them and sent them my recordings so I'm assuming it won't be an issue but how frustrating.

To top things off, they have no loaners. Gonna need one in a couple days for sure.