Logan24

I know 4 people with Ecoboost F150s. All 4 have had the rattle. So I'd say it's a large percent.

KrisInID

Anecdotal as it may be, my '12 EB has 99,910 and it has never had any startup issues.
Always full syn every 5k.
My father in law has a '12 EB as well with 122k and also no issues.
I live in Idaho and he is in SD.

jdunk54nl

There are over a million of the ecoboost f150's sold. It is a very small percentage that have stretch issues. Like less than 2%. Any anecdotal evidence on the forum about my buddy this or that is purely that, anecdotal. Actual numbers say that it is a small percentage.

Blown F-150

From what I've seen, Ford has made several changes and updates to the timing chain system over the years. The most recent version that I am aware of was just a few months ago.

The best thing you can do is buy the newest one you can get your hands on that comes with service records. 5k mile OCI's with good oil seems to be the best and cheapest insurance.

Like stated though, actual percentage of issues is pretty low. I'm going by feedback from my dealer (family works there) on how many trucks they sell vs. what comes in for service of this issue.

Ssls6

Ford went to a two timing chain system on the 2nd gen 3.5EB. That tells you what their engineers think of the original 1 double long chain scheme.

jdunk54nl

That on a new version of the engine they updated stuff.....Apple went with a different design on a lot of iphone iterations....windows has been through how many different versions and updates....google goes through like 100 iterations every day, you hardly ever use the "same" google.

The blow off valves moved from on each turbo on early 3.5's to on the intercooler on later 3.5's. Why did the engineers do that?

My point is, things change and get updated all of the time but it is still reality that the timing chain stretch only impacted like 2% of the 3.5's.

weiser

What exactly is this rattle at startup? I am thinking I have the exact same problem. I get this loud rushhhhhhhslap?? sound at startup and only when engine is cold and it begins immediately and lasts for 1 sec. Same thing? Why does it only happen on a cold engine startup and not after it has warmed up?
I have a 2013 SCREW EB

Logan24

Google the sound. There's plenty of videos on YouTube of the rattle. It's very distinct. I'd assume because it's not quite lubricated at startup but once it does a revolution it gets some oil.

Novo

Mine went out at about 40k, dealer fixed it with no problems. Never had the IC problem.

j20brett

107k miles on my '13 eco, full synthetic oil changed religiously at 5-6k intervals and zero noise at startup so far.