First post here!

2015 F150 XLT 2.7L 26,000~ miles

I had an engine rattle just start a few months ago, or maybe that's just the first time I noticed it. The source is from the drivers side of the engine. It sounds like a washer sitting on the end of a bolt if you shook the bolt back and forth.

This happens at any speed, on any road surface, in any gear, in 4x4 or 2wd.

It only happens when I am neither accelerating or decelerating, but rather have my foot just slightly touching the gas so its like there is no load on the engine and it is in a neutral load type condition, if that makes sense.

I have crawled around this thing checking shields and nuts/ bolts and held a scope up to almost every bearing or manifold I can, but I can't replicate the sound without driving it. Anyone else run into this issue?

BTW, I did take it to the dealer and they could not hear anything, so just chasing gremlins here. Surprise.

 

If you press down on the accelerator and or manually shift to a lower gear, does the noise stop?

 

If i engage the accelerator a bit more than just maintaining speed, yes the noise will stop. If I downshift to another gear the noise will go away, but as soon as I get to the same acceleration point (maintaining speed), it comes back. It is more pronounced at lower speeds with a higher RPM.

For example, if I am driving at 40mph in 4th gear at say 1,800RPM and I just touch the accelerator enough to maintain speed, the noise will start. If i downshifted to 3rd and went to around 2,500RPM the noise will stop until I press the accelerator enough to maintain speed again.

 

I've had this sound on my 2.7 since the day I purchased the truck. I'm at 45k miles and it hasn't been an issue mechanically, just annoying. There's a video on YouTube of a guy with the same noise and he found it was a small joint on the arm of the turbo actuator that vibrates at certain rpms/loads