Cord

It's hydraulic. The CEL comes on when the tensioner is maxed out.

snakebit95

If it is hydraulic, is there a way to check/monitor the residual oil pressure on the tensioner circuit when the engine is turned-off? In other words, is the tensioner circuit losing pressure over-night and losing tension on the chain. Then when you start the vehicle in the morning without chain tension, you hear the noise until the tensioner circuit builds oil pressure again. Has anybody disassembled an Ecoboost yet to map the tensioner oil circuit? I'm guessing there must be a check-valve somewhere in-line to hold the oil pressure / chain tension when the engine is turned-off.

vozaday

I thought it was hydraulic with a ratchet to hold it in place with no oil. Something we have also been discussing on F150ecoboost.net

snakebit95

Has anybody torn one down that is outside the warranty to diagnose the problem? I wonder why it's only the ecoboost engines experiencing this problem, when the 3.7 and 5.0 DOHC engines share such a common timing chain design? I actually have the 3.7 in mine, and have had no issues with it whatsoever. However, it concerns me that our engine timing setups are similar and whether I might experience the same issue as my truck gains miles.

bignfast

I am convinced that it is a result of extreme fuel dilution in the oil that the ecoboost is known to have. That would explain why the guys who have had their chain replaced had the noise go away for a few days and then come back. The chain obviously didnt go bad that quickly. They put fresh oil in when they did the swap. It took a few days for the fresh oil to become diluted with gas. Once that happened the noise reappeared.

My 2011 was making this noise for over 20,000 miles. It always went away for a few days every time I changed the oil. The last time I changed the oil I used pennzoil platinum pure plus. The noise did not come back after that point but I traded for a 14 and got a esp since the warranty was about to expire on my 2011.

papa tiger

Believe extreme wear occurs when the tensioner oil hole for the chain lubrication plugs causing guide wear to quadruple.

oldwrench

Here is a good article explaining timing chains part 1 and 2.
http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/338
http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/339

oldwrench

Good pics of parts.
https://www.f150forum.com/f102/p0016...-chain-267738/

snakebit95

Thanks oldwrench. I read the thread you linked and replied there.

huntnrig

Update January 28th 2014

Went to the dealer today after they've had the truck for another 15 days with no resolution and just drove home in a 2014 F-150 screw lariat with a 3.5 Ecoboost in Kodiak Brown with Pale Adobe two tone. They brought in a truck that matched my needs exactly from another dealer. After 5 and a half months of fighting with Ford on this truck my warm fuzzy feeling is restored but not too much love for Ford Corporate or their engineering dept.

I said I like these trucks... The new one was built October 14th 2014 so 4 days passed the TSB date for the chain issue. It will be run on Pennz Platinum/Ford Filters and oil changes every 5000-7000km. I don't care if I am throwing money down the drain. I might even get a catch can.

Which brings me to my next point. According to the service manager TSB 14-0194 is no longer applicable on these trucks. As in they are rescinding it because they know it's not fixing anything. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I can say the new truck is more responsive, sounds much quieter and smoother (on startup, idle and acceleration) and it's already getting better gas mileage. I offered to sell my Ford ESP warranty with the truck and they refused and said it had no face value to them. That is a horrible system.... As someone else is going to get stuck with it just like I was. I actually feel bad about that, but then maybe that thing will run crappy for another 100,000 miles before it craters. I wasn't taking the risk.

As for CAMVAP After reading through every piece of literature CAMVAP had on their website I found a little nugget that pretty much would have sealed my fate with the truck and the arbitration process (I feel anyways). I'll paste a screenshot of that specific statement below as it pretty much describes exactly what's happening with our issue (no fix - no ruling). This was taken directly from one of the arbitrators handbooks. You can find them here: Arbitration Bulletins - CAMVAP