[Robb]

Well, I did it. I purchased my Focus ST last night at new-to-me 60,000 miles. I drove about five hours round trip to pick up my TS ST3 and couldn't be happier.

Except for one thing... between the time I left the dealer and got home, I noticed a noise coming from the passenger side of the motor. The dealer was in a fairly desolate area of Maryland, so by the time I got back to my area, the dealer had closed and I had given up on driving back for the night.


At first, it sounded like brakes. There are drilled/slotted rotors on the car, so I'd expect a little bit of noise. But as I played around a bit with revs and brakes, I noticed that there was definitely correlation with load and not the movement of the rotors between the pads. Also, when I reference the location of the noise, I'm not talking about the loud tick of the injectors, but rather a "dragging" or pulley bearing noise (similar to sticking brakes).

Are there any known issues with any of the pulleys? My local dealer wants nothing to do with checking it out at zero charge, so it'll be a $100 fee for me to bring it in with my warranty. I'd rather just replace a $20 pulley, but before I get time to take it apart this weekend, I'd still like a few opinions.

Edit here is a better idea of the sound:

Here is a poor example of the noise (Take off at 0:16 has the most sound):

Some googling shows that this is pretty normal with the 2.0 Ecoboost - but man, this is considerably loud! Can't accept that as a norm, as I've not heard it from any other ST I've been around.

Thanks to all, I can't wait to keep having fun with this car!

 

[grindMARC]

I don't hear anything. What do the tires look like? What kind? Wondering if you are hearing some tread noise.

 

[Robb]

I don't hear anything. What do the tires look like? What kind? Wondering if you are hearing some tread noise.

Yeahhhh, the GoPro kind of sucks butts with sound pickup. I'll try to get something better.

As for the tires; no cupping. If I push in the clutch while driving, the noise dissipates while driving at the same speed.


Edit: I uploaded another video which has the high pitched grinding a bit more:

 

[Duchess]

I can't tell from the video, but if the noise goes away when you put in the clutch, it's likely the throwout bearing.

 

[Robb]

It doesn't go completely away, just quiets down. I can hear it at idle also.

The noise is pretty difficult to capture on camera.

 

[Blitzen_ST]

If you're talking about the engine noise at idle, its completely normal. These ecoboost engines, while being complex and powerful, are also very noisy especially at idle.

 

[Unfitproduct]

Go in for a check up on the wheel assembly.
Now when i'd drive by parked cars or high curbs i'd hear something like a phoop phoop phoop, knida like a quiet helicopter coming from the wheel area, but it seemed to be normal cause i pulled off the whole assembly and checked.
Cars make noise.
when it comes to owning it for awhile you need to distinguish between bad, real bad, and acceptable for the time being.

 

[Unfitproduct]

If you're talking about the engine noise at idle, its completely normal. These ecoboost engines, while being complex and powerful, are also very noisy especially at idle.

Pulleys are the loudest on my car before I pulled the engine out. Now its the quietest ecoboost ever.

 

[Robb]

If you're talking about the engine noise at idle, its completely normal. These ecoboost engines, while being complex and powerful, are also very noisy especially at idle.

Definitely not anything related to the DI system. I've had several DI cars, all of which make similar injector and fuel pump noises.

Go in for a check up on the wheel assembly.

It's there at idle when not moving, definitely not related to any drivetrain components.]

 

[Unfitproduct]

pulley assembly's are loud.

 

[Robb]

I'm just overly surprised that it's so loud. I've honestly never ran into a car that made this much noise from just the pulleys. Seems unusual and wasn't present in any of the other FoSTs I've driven.

 

[Robb]

I dropped it off at my local dealer today, because why not use the warranty if I've got it? I was trying to save the $100 by just replacing it myself, but with everyone claiming that this was normal, I didn't want to chance it. Anyway, they confirmed it to be the tensioner pulley making the noise - which is what I suspected (I had taken the belt off and spun the pulley by hand, but without load, it wasn't terribly noisy) was an issue.

Additionally, they're performing the TSB on the rear engine mount and clutch line. Kind of makes me wary that the dealer I purchased it from swore up and down that all open TSBs were handled prior to me purchasing it. But hey, I also found half of a pound of wheel weights to fix a vibration I complained about pre-purchase.