2012 Titanium Front Strut Low Speed Noise (Clunk/Rattle)

[gtncpa]

Per my local Ford dealer. May suspension parts ordered. They should be in tomorrow. I asked if they were from the TSB and he said yes .. and more. So ... my car has 40K on it. Who pays for it? Ford because of the TSB? Or would it fall under my ESP? And what if I did not purchase the TSB?

[Uptcv1]

confused...
the other day dealer called that parts were in (took 2 weeks) so I dropped it off... picked it up today (cant say much on noise yet as dealer is only maybe 2 miles to my house) but as I was just checking it looks like the gap from fender to tire is a little more than it used to be... (SE sport package)

checked ford etis wiht my VIN and this is showing:
BV61-5310-NG* Left Front Coil
BV61-5310-NG* Right Front Coil

-dealer service invoice though indicates BV6Z 5310 front springs...

- did they change the code numbers for updated parts?
or did they install the wrong parts (maybe for another configuration such as the SEL?)

[Lipshurt]

So I finally got my TSB done today, at heller ford in escondido. They were very nice.
The parts tools about a month to get here.
Just driving home, I must say, that the car is impressively quiet. The springs and bearing make some sort of huge difference. It was never this quiet or smooth brand new.
Now it's just wait and see if the parts wear out or the noise comes back.
I'm crossing my fingers:)
Itdid take a lot of conversations with the regional rep, and hat was facilitated by "Thomas" here on the forum. Thanks Thomas.

[wilsonfocus86]

Guys, I don't know.... over the problematic areas where it really rattled, the noise is gone. But over some heavy bumps, I can still "hear" the noise that was going on. Not that confident in this new TSB thus far. It is waaaaaay better than it was before, but c'mon. My 2001 had 167,000 miles on it when I traded it in and the front suspension was as quiet as a drunk baby.

[Shantheman2012]

Originally Posted by TiPilot

Update:

I've been trying to get mine fixed for a couple months. Dealer acknowledged the noise, worked with Ford, and was told current TSBs don't apply to my car. It was in again about two weeks ago and they were still told no fixes were applicable to my car. Note that this was after other folks had posted the newer TSB on here indicating the fix applied to any Foci built prior to 4/2/2012 - my car is a Dec 2011 build.

Fast-forward to this week... I've been going back-and-forth with my CSM for about three weeks. She stated this morning that the TSB still doesn't apply to my car, but I'll have to bring it into the dealer and they'll work with the Hotline - drive the car, etc. - to approve the fix. Was told the dealer would need to have the car for a while. She said to call the dealer to make an appointment.

So I called the dealer and they told me that the TSB does now apply to my car and commented about it being for all cars built prior to 4/2/2012 - note that this is about a month after that updated/expanded TSB appeared here on FF! The service advisor also mentioned that the springs are color coded and he has to get the car up on a lift to quickly check which ones my car has, then he can order the parts for the fix per the TSB.

It seems like Ford has a serious problem maintaining consistent information between corporate, service, and the dealerships! My dealer has been great in trying to resolve the problem, only to be shot down numerous times by a variety of sources at Ford. He specifically has made sure he's there whenever my car is in and has asked me in advance to come in on a different date if he can't be there. You'll hear no complaints about the dealer from me - they rock.

The good news is that progress is finally being made. The bad side of things is that it's taken a couple months at this point - and multiple drives to the dealer and phone calls with my CSM - to do so.

Sheesh. I wonder when we can ask Ford (corporate) to start reimbursing US for all the time we are spending navigating their ridiculous inconsistencies...let alone having it in the shop for the same unresolved issue. (I'm joking...mostly). Time is money for Ford just like it is for us.

On that note...I am randomly hearing small clunks from my driverside front now. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse...it is still better than when I took it in before the TSB was done.

Glad to hear u are getting somewhere finally.

[Lipshurt]

After 8 miles my clunk is back.....surprise surprise surprise
I will say that whatever they did seemed to make a lot of improvement at first.
Ford is dumb, becuase they ignored the main clues that I offered them. One of those being that it is HEAT RELATED. Air temperature heat. Some people here have cars that clink when it's hot, but mine gets better when it's hot. As it got worse, the temperature where it would clunk got higher and higher. Yesterday when they did the TSB, it was 90 degrees, and there was no clunk or noise.
Today in he morning it was 70, and the noise is back.
Ford is goingbonnrow away a lot of money by not listening to the clues, and not following a logical trouble shooting pathway.
I hope they will now let me take to my friends shop, pay us to troubleshoot it, and then finally learn how to deal with. They should pay me for being the lead engineer on this project. My guess is that it will take about another year to get this figured out.
In the mean time I'm going to monitor it, and post here whenever I find anything out.

[dyn085]

Originally Posted by Lipshurt

After 8 miles my clunk is back.....surprise surprise surprise
I will say that whatever they did seemed to make a lot of improvement at first.
Ford is dumb, becuase they ignored the main clues that I offered them. One of those being that it is HEAT RELATED. Air temperature heat. Some people here have cars that clink when it's hot, but mine gets better when it's hot. As it got worse, the temperature where it would clunk got higher and higher. Yesterday when they did the TSB, it was 90 degrees, and there was no clunk or noise.
Today in he morning it was 70, and the noise is back.
Ford is goingbonnrow away a lot of money by not listening to the clues, and not following a logical trouble shooting pathway.
I hope they will now let me take to my friends shop, pay us to troubleshoot it, and then finally learn how to deal with. They should pay me for being the lead engineer on this project. My guess is that it will take about another year to get this figured out.
In the mean time I'm going to monitor it, and post here whenever I find anything out.

Why would it take you an entire year to figure this out if you were the lead engineer? Even the worst mechanic would be able to take the suspension apart and replace one piece at a time (simple, no-thought, trouble-shooting) until the problem was found and replaced in less than a week. There are only so many parts.

You talk a big game, but haven't offered up a fix yet. And whatever fixes yours may not fix others. Something to keep in mind. I eagerly await the results you and your friends come up with.

[wilsonfocus86]

Originally Posted by Zillon

I feel that it's a combination of the struts and strut bearings. Over the next month, I'm going to piece together a rebuild for my front suspension that consists of Koni Sport struts, new Motorcraft strut bearings, and ST strut mounts.

I really don't mind replacing the struts because they were ultimately going to get replaced anyway, since OEM suspension is never good enough for me. If the clunk doesn't go away after my attempted fix, it may be the icing on the cake that makes me give up on trying to make the car right, and pay off what's left on my loan and trade the car in on something I should've gotten in the first place; either a GTI or Cooper S.

I think a lot of us are going to watch your outcome of the rebuild. Keep us posted man! Just got off with the phone and told my CSM that although the tsb "fix" has made the car a lot better than it was, I can still hear rattle over some heavy bumps. Then he offered for the dealership to replace the springs again....HELLO IT'S NOT A SPRING RELATED ISSUE.

[dyn085]

Originally Posted by wilsonfocus86

I think a lot of us are going to watch your outcome of the rebuild. Keep us posted man! Just got off with the phone and told my CSM that although the tsb "fix" has made the car a lot better than it was, I can still hear rattle over some heavy bumps. Then he offered for the dealership to replace the springs again....HELLO IT'S NOT A SPRING RELATED ISSUE.

I don't understand why they would think the spring for a 'clunk'. A 'creak', yes. A 'clunk' is not something a spring would do. Spring isolators, perches, bearings, bushings, and enen shocks/struts go clunk.

At least they are working with you. All I get anymore is a mechnic arguing with me or a pasa-the-blame mentality.

Edit: You have a rattle?

[Lipshurt]

When I said it would take a year, that was for ford to figure it out.....
If I did it, I would use microphones to really find it. Then I would insulate with shims etc and find the exact location of the noise.
I fully expect that ford will tell me that they have done all they can do. Not sure what I will do when hat happens. "Brian" my regional rep is going to call me today he say, and I will find out more then....