BUILTTOLAST

Very little for me,just a bit around the bottom of the tail pipe and that's about as far as it goes.
I keep referring to mine as a low knock,but as I said before,in reality mine is inbetween a tick and a knock,not quite a knock.Categorizing mine as a knock is more so just to get my point across on the noise.

Koolponycar

Mine is a 2012 5.0 and I have a borla tip without a drain hole and the edge is rolled so it will trap moisture until truck tilts some or revved moving. I have some black residue around the bottom too and inside looks black. When I first pulled my plugs around the 20,000 mark I eventually replaced them at 26k, truck now has 41k on it. I marked all 8 plugs in the boxes and saved them to compare. Most all have some black around them and at the center tip area are slightly black. truck runs strong and between 5k changes the oil is always in range. I catch some in my catch can but not a noticeable drop in level on stick.

gscrippler

slightly black around the edge

seanm243

Mine is pretty black on the bottom

tagle281

I think this is normal. My ecoboost gets black around the edge of the tip.

Koolponycar

Here is a link to the Ford mechanic Makuloco: He actually tares down and replaces a short block for the cylinder block distortion. Down in the comments he tells carissa Kinney that Ford Engineers alerted him to this issue and that it is a known issue to them. Also He tells on down Nick O that the replacements or newer ones are a updated design. So this 2014 should not have this same problem, not sure when the updating took place. Also the Techs should use the stethoscope and deactivate each cylinder one at a time to pin point if there is a knock in one of the cylinders like #3 or 4.

Koolponycar

Also I took mine in about 3 times for the detonation sound (ping) that mine made on the passenger side, and the low knock noise on the passenger side that I thought was a exhaust leak. The tech said my exhaust wasn't leaking and that I might have a slight piston slap that is normal. My truck uses no oil but if this noise continues or gets worse they will see me before my warranty runs out next year. The Ping is gone as far as I can tell. It sounded more like valve rattle noise at low rpms usually lugging uphill in 6th gear.

Koolponycar

I tried to compare the old block in the video above with the new replacement by opening up 2 windows and enlarging the screen to compare the cooling ports and holes on the old block and the new but can't see any obvious difference.

piperville

My 2012 5.0 does not like cheap unbranded gas and pings and rattles up hill. I now run Shell, Esso or Chevron only. Regular grade. No more ping!

Koolponycar

I know you finally got a new Long block and glad you got that resolved. i had that ping issue after about one year of owning the truck and I tried real 100% 93 no ethanol, Shell 93, and then switched to BP 87 and 93. Currently for the last 2 years BP mostly 93. I also used some sea foam and MM oil once. I use Lucas upper cylinder Lubricant about 4 times a year and keep my TB and MAF sensor cleaned on a regular basis. Also put a new set of plugs in at about 26-28K and gapped them down some, no more ping issues either. Once in a while I run E85 full tank and sometimes mix it with the 93. The E85 has such a high octane that if you have some bad gas you can mix it and it will take care of it. Of course you mpgs will fall off the face of the earth. I always wonders if there were some issues with these knock sensors as I read somewhere where someone with a explorer I believe had bad insulation and the wiring was rubbing giving faulty knock numbers. I have checked mine to see if anything is touching them.