Powertrain issues at 51,000 miles?

kramocramed · Jun 13, 2010

2007 Ford Ranger Sport 3.0L

Well, I had his intermittent chirping noise coming from my engine bay for a thousand miles or so and I chose to ignore it because it was very faint.

About a week ago the sound started to get out of hand. I took it to the dealership and their initial diagnosis was a camshaft sensor going bad. So I scheduled an appointment and came back.

So the tech installed new sensor (I'm still under powertrain warrantee btw) and it continued to make the annoying chirping sound. They further diagnosed the sound and it's coming from the transmission.

I only have 51,000 miles on my truck and I'm already having transmission issues? This truck is babied with all synthetic liquids, nearly ever redlinded, and kept in prestine condition. Could I have a faulty transmission from the factory? Do they use the same transmission between the 2.3L and the 3.0L with suddle changes and I got one not assembled correctly? Because I've NEVER heard of these kind of early issues on a 3.0L powertrain.

I'm so upset because that trucks my baby lol :bawling:

exbass94 · Jun 13, 2010

When someone mentions chirping noise on a 3.0, I immediately think of the camshaft position synchronizer. It's a common problem on the 3.0, and causes catastrophic failure when it finally goes.

Big Jim M · Jun 13, 2010

Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug!
When does it make the sound? Do you have to be moving? Does it make the noise in reverse? Talk to us a bit about it.
Big JIm

kramocramed · Jun 13, 2010

It will make the noise whether I'm moving backwards or forwards and when I'm idling. It varies in volume and sometimes it's not there at all. Very bizarre.

Could it have something to do with it taking it's time to engage drive and reverse half the time? Like I'll go to move forward or backwards, think it's engaged and hit the gas, and it does a hard thud. Sometimes I'll wait 3+ seconds before hitting the gas and it will still do it.

fourwheelford · Jun 13, 2010

I have read a couple of things about this, sometimes you get a crappy one, it just depends on if the guy or girl putting them together that day was having as crappy day, usually its my job in life to buy poorly built things that should work for a long time

as for the taking awhile to engage I had a thunderbird that did that and I had to change the tranny. Big Jim put it well, this crap happens, some times you get the bear sometimes the bear gets you. Are you still under powertrain warranty? If you are who cares if it goes out yes it sucks it went out but you get a new one installed for free so thats a big upside.

BRUTUS_T_HOG · Jun 13, 2010

chirping noise when moving? clunk when shifting from D to R? did they check the u-joints?

Big Jim M · Jun 13, 2010

I was thinking perhaps a U-joint also. But the time delay in forward and reverse could be a partially stopped up tranny filter. In any event I'd bitch and raise hell till it got repaired by the factory.
Big JIm

kramocramed · Jun 15, 2010

Well, I got a call from the dealership today. They located the problem. Turns out it was the valve body inside the transmission. I'm picking it up tomorrow so I'll have more details then.

fourwheelford · Jun 15, 2010

Make em fix it, like jim said raise a big stink and get that sucker fixed. Ford is really good about giving you the run around until your warranty is up then you get to pay for it. If your still under the powertrain warranty it shouldn't be a problem.

kramocramed · Jun 16, 2010

Ok, so I go to pick up my truck this morning. Very happy because I finally have it back after a week. I get home and park in the driveway and the truck starts making the noise... AGAIN!

The report I got back said they replaced the cam synchro sensor and it kinda dulled the noise, but the problem continued. So this other guy from Ford said it was the valve body and they replaced it.

I immediately drove back to the dealership and they said that they're gonna call an engineer from Ford to come diagnose it personally. I don't know how this guy differs from the first, but apparently they are different.

Here is a youtube video of me trying to capture the sound the best I can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6kcXtB_IvM

BlackBII · Jun 16, 2010

Idler pulley would have been my first guess....

aspevacek · Jun 16, 2010

my guess with out touching the truck, seeing how th esound is loudest at the bell housing would be the Transmission fluid pump itself. How much metal was found when they drained the tranny to pull the pan? Seeing it is an automatic you could also lean towards the Torque converter as wella weld could have popped on the inside causeing a vibration leading to a buzzing sound externally. I worked on a BMW M3 with a dual mass flywheel causeing a really weird buzzing sound threw in a solid flywheel and the sound disappeared. The funny thing was the Car was super charged and the dealer worked on the car for a week and had the customer convinced it was the supercharger that had been on the car for 2 years causeing the sound.... Kinda funny a sound at the back of the motor would lead a factory trained tech to think it was a part at the front of the motor causeing the sound...

If you want parts swapped take it to the dealer, if you want the real problem diagnosed find a poor man, we will only change a part after we are sure it can not be repaired....

Powertrain issues at 51,000 miles?

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