2020 Navigator L Reserve, 3.5 twin turbo, 71,200 miles. bought it new in january 2020.
for the last month or so, the first start of the morning gives a loud rattle for about two seconds, like a can of marbles, then it goes quiet and runs perfect all day. only the first start. it lives in a garage that hits 105 by afternoon this time of year and it gets full synthetic every 5,000.
i know what everybody is going to say: cam phasers. my problem is the powertrain warranty was 6 years or 70,000 miles and i am 1,200 miles past the 70. any idea what this costs and whether Lincoln ever helps when you are that close?
a two second rattle on cold start only, on that engine and those years, is the phasers almost every time. the phaser locks the cam at rest, the lock pin wears, and until oil pressure builds the phaser rattles around.
it does not usually leave you stranded, but it gets worse, and it can eventually set timing codes and run rough. don't let it ride for a year.
go to the dealer, not an independent, and get it written up with your mileage and the date the noise started. ask the advisor to open a goodwill request with Lincoln. being 1,200 miles over on a first owner car with dealer service records is exactly the case where they say yes sometimes.
my neighbor had the same noise on his 2018 F-150 with the 3.5. his dealer did phasers, chains, guides and tensioners all at once since the front of the engine was apart anyway. he paid a bit over $3,000 and that was a year ago.
my uncle in Spartanburg has a 2019 Navigator and his did the same thing at 60k. Lincoln covered it under warranty with no argument but he was inside the 70. hope you get lucky. at 105 degrees in the garage i would be checking the oil level more than every 5,000 too.
dealer visit done. they confirmed the phasers, recorded it on video on a cold start at 6:30 am, which i appreciated. quote was $3,860 for both phasers, the timing chains, guides, tensioners and the related gaskets, plus a new set of plugs while they were in there.
the advisor sent the goodwill request to Lincoln. she said 7 to 10 days. we'll see.
$3,860 on a $100k truck is somehow still a punch in the gut. fingers crossed on the goodwill. let us know what they said, there are going to be a lot of Navigators and Expeditions hitting 70k this year.
closing the loop. Lincoln covered the parts, i paid labor and the plugs, $1,340 out of pocket. took four days in the shop. no rattle on the cold starts since.
if you are near 70k on one of these, check your coverage on lincoln.com under the owner section with your VIN before the miles run out, and get any noise written up while you are still under it. i should have done that in may when i first heard it once and told myself it was nothing.
