I have an '06 with 5.4, 4 wheel drive, came with the tow package.

I was towing my 33 foot travel trailer between Knoxville and Bristol, Tennessee. Very hilly interstate. I was driving up a rather large hill and began hearing a noise under the hood. It was a metallic grinding sound. My daughter said it sounded like thousands of ball bearings being dropped on tin. I could feel a rattling under my feet. At first I though something had caught underneath. I pulled of the highway for a look-see. Nothing appeared un-normal....Pulled back on the highway and the noise continued, but ONLY while the engine was under load and only when my speed was above 20 MPH.

I thought, Oh, I know what this is. I lost a motor mount in my 1970 Dodge Charger 440 when I was in high school..... about 34 years ago... LOL

I though I had better let the professional handle this job. I didn’t know if I could just put a 2x4 under the oil pan and jack up the motor with a hydraulic jack like I did on my charger to change a mount or not.

Mechanic call to let me know that the mounts looked fine. There were no scratches on the fan shroud and the fan blades looked fine. He drove it and it failed to make that noise... (of course!!! )

Well, it is still making a terrible racket, but only on hills, when the motor is under load and my speed is above 20 MPH like I stated earlier.

All gauges look fine. Engine seems fine. Transmission is OK. When I force a downshift, the noise goes away. When I let off of the accelerator, the noise goes away immediately. It seem like I might be experiencing some power loss when I hear the noise, but I'm not sure.. could be psychological thing since I hate that noise. LOL

I've been driving the truck for a couple days (this happened on Sunday) almost hoping something would fall off the truck so I'd know what the sam hill is wrong with the thing.

My truck is operating normally except for the metallic grinding god-awful noise it makes sometimes... almost like I was dragging a large piece of sheet metal.

My family is going on vacation beginning May 25th. We are towing our camper with this truck that is making all the noise... about 600 miles. Not much time if I have to order parts and have them delivered. I still don't know what is wrong.

Anyone have any ideas? Or recommendation for me to troubleshoot the problem? Do I need to take it in to a mechanic and just eat the cost to let him troubleshoot. My warrantee is off.

Thank-you everyone for your help.

Craig Bryant
Bristol, Tennessee, USA

 

Funny you should post something like this, not funny that it happened. This happened to me over the weekend also on my 08 FX4 5.4. I was pulling a friend's boat so that he can have it docked again and mine was in Chicago, so there were no hills at all. I just ogt mine back from the Dealer yesterday. I believe that my sounds are exactly what you have experienced. What they determined, and replaced, was the clutch fan, I.E. Radiator fan. They said that the controller for the fan was working properly, but my fan has malfunctioned and in essence, blew up. It was replaced under warranty, so it did not cost me anything. I have less than 8000 miles on the truck.
What the dealer told me was that this was not uncommon on the F150 trucks from 06-08, which had a PCM controlled module.

As a result of my experience, I have concluded that I will be upgrading my truck to a Troyer Performance dual electric fan setup. I had electric fans on my 69 442, and got more hp while saving gas.

I am pretty peeved that I got rid of a perfectly good Dodge Ram to acquire a Ford that has KNOWN spark plug probs, tranny probs, cooling probs, exectrical probs, etc.

If I were you, I would take it in and have them recheck the clutch fan.

 

Hey Crizzo, thanks!

That sounds like it could be it. Anyone else have another idea or experience with this issue. My truck is off warrantee so I'll be installing a new clutch fan I guess..

Has anyone done this or have any advice for me.


Thanks all,

Craig (U.S. Navy (squid, LOL ), Vietnam Vet)

 

It is actually rather simple, once you get all the garbage out form under the hood. The fan bolt turns counterclockwise and the shroud would have to be removed. Then the new one could be dropped in with the shroud and bolt back up. There are bearings on the clutch fan and I believe that is what blew up on mine. The fan turns, but I guess it was stripped or something?? Don't know.

But that is the install in a nutshell. I think fans are around $80 or so at autozone.

USMC Grunt, Iraqi Freedom Vet

 

You ROCK Crizzo, thanks!

 

Hello

I am sorry to hear that you are having troubles with your truck, i have an 07 FX2 with a 5.4L that i did a troyer stage III kit on. I just so happen to have a fan and shroud for sale for your truck with just about 5,000 miles on it.

contact me if you are interested.

Take care

 

Could it be a heat shield?

Those make a terrible racket sometimes.

 

Thanks for your help everyone... I appreciate it

On another ford f150 list someone suggested I try and put the truck into 4 wheel drive while I heard the noise. I did and the noise immediately went away. That means I am having vacuum troubles with my IWE system. Possible a IWE solenoid(vacuum solenoid).

Another someone mentioned sometimes the problem isn't with the solenoid, but the pmi throwing bad information out... well.. I have an edge evolution programmer and this morning I went back to the original factory program and the noise is gone.

My truck's computer bleeds code. This isn't the first time I've lost a certain function that was fixed just by reinstalling code. Does anyone know why that happens? Seems weird to me... LOL

 

The fact that you went back to the "factory" settings tells me the tune you were using had too much ignition advance (in towing conditions) and the rattling you heard was engine knock (pre ignition). Contact the company that you bought the tuner from and inform them of this situation. They should be able to set you up with a different tune to use.