Hey all. I just picked up a 2016 3.5l ecoboost. I’ll admit, I am not completely familiar with the ins and outs of it yet.

Now to my question- do they all sound like a quiet diesel? Not the “rattle at start-up” but just quiet tapping at idle.

 

Welcome aboard! You will learn a lot here from reading past threads on subjects that interest you. Personally, I find the forum search feature a tad underwhelming. You might try Google searches, which will show associated threads here.

As to your question, I never associated a gas engine as sounding like a diesel... even a quiet one.

Enjoy your new truck!

 

They do sound... unique. They can get a little tappy - it's fuel injector noise. But it shouldn't sound like a straight-piped 12V Cummins either.

 

Maybe “tappy” is a better way to describe it 😂

 

2019 5.0 14-15k miles at a cold start until it warms up sounds like it’s tapping also. At 12k miles I just had a fresh oil change with 9qts of motorcraft but yes it sounds tappy on mine also.

 

Welcome to the forum, congrats & good luck with the 16..
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If you aren't 100% certain of the fluid history of the vehicle, might be a good idea to consider a complete fluids swap. When it comes to oil, the 3.5EBs are notoriously hard on it... consider a good quality oil (many of us run full syn) of the proper weight, changed frequently (I run 5K OCI).