Engine rattle

Unfortunately with any direct injected vehicle there is always going to be a "rattling sound" and the pump they pointed out was the high pressure fuel pump. I would recommend you get second opinion at another dealership and ask that they pull up another vehicle to compare. Chances are it is a normal characteristic of the vehicle.

That would be something else and you should have the dealership look into it since you are still under warranty.

The miles to empty is just an estimate and not an actual calculation since the mileage will vary depending on your driving pattern. Since you only drive 3 miles round trip the mileage will be less especially if your stop and go vs. If you drive 30 miles to work at 65 MPH steady speed because you will consume more fuel taking off from a stop then if you would when you reach a steady cruising speed.

If there was an issue with burning too much fuel your on board diagnostics will Flag it and trigger a check engine light. Also if you look in your owners manual on page 160 it will state that. Here is what it says.

Impacting Fuel Economy � Incorrect tire inflation pressures. � Fully loading your vehicle. � Carrying unnecessary weight. � Adding certain accessories to your vehicle such as bug deflectors, roll bars or light bars, running boards and ski racks. � Using fuel blended with alcohol. See Fuel Quality (page 154). � Fuel economy may decrease with lower temperatures. � Fuel economy may decrease when driving short distances. � You may get better fuel economy when driving on flat terrain than when driving on hilly terrain.

I hope the information clarifies some things for you. If you any other questions let us know.

The miles to empty is not anything I would go by on a vehicle to measure anything. Especially this time of year with the winter gas formulation and if you drive only short distances. That is because your engine isn't getting up to temperature in that short of time. An example for you. The Journey my wife drives will show the estimated mpg as you drive it. In the summer on mid grade gas and driving longer distances it will show an average of 21-22 mpg. As soon as the companies switch to the winter blends the mileage drops to 17-18 mpg for the same driving. Plus if you are in an area that has bumped up the sale of ethanol in the gas, that kills mileage even more. Then if you ever let the car idle to warm up the numbers will get even worse as will driving in cold temperatures. A much better way is to record your miles and the gallons put into the tank, every time you fill up, however you need at least 10 fillings to get a meaningful number.
Another thing is that this is a new car that has barely been driven which means the engine isn't really broken in yet, and short drives like you do are worse for that than any other type of driving. What you may want to do is take the car on a longer trip say 200 miles or so. Then check the numbers on the system.

Hi,

Jessica I have a few questions about your car I need to know if it is an (Front Wheel Drive) or (All Wheel Drive)or(Front Wheel drive/Hybrid)? And what engine does it have (1.5L turbo) or (2.0L turbo) or (2.5L). This information is important when diagnosing these problems because they may only apply to one of these options. Also can you send me the exact miles on the odometer.

Thank you,
Joe Terwilliger

As a point of interest, when I first bought my 1980 Plymouth Volare, I did fuel mileage tests by carrying measured gallons of gas, and purposely running out on the highway. I consistently got 28.3 mpg with that big heavy car in the summer, and just over 19 mpg on the same routes in winter.

Liquid gasoline does not burn. It has to be in vapor form to burn. To achieve that years ago, all car engines and small engines had chokes for the first few minutes of cold operation. Those were designed to force way too much gas to go into the engine in hopes a high enough percentage of it vaporized in time to burn and make the engine run right. The largest percentage of that gas went out the tail pipe, wasted.

Today we still have the same problem of gas not vaporizing well in cold temperatures, but instead of a cumbersome mechanical choke, we get the extra gas from the way the Engine Computers are programmed. If you only drive a few miles at a time, you're driving under the same cold-engine condition, and you'd be lucky to get half the normal fuel mileage.

Now I have a 2014 Ram with a V-8 engine and tons of power. It has all the electronic toys that give me a nervous breakdown worrying about when something is going to fail, as we all know they all do, but it has the instantaneous fuel mileage readout and the distance to empty calculation. Sometimes I go four miles before the distance-to-empty drops by one mile. Sometimes that reading drops by two miles at once. It has to do with the fuel level in the tank, and that is sloshing around. Those readouts cause more complaints than it's worth putting them on vehicles. As already mentioned, and as with dash gauges, those readouts are notoriously inaccurate. Their purpose is for the driver who has become familiar with them to notice when something is not normal.

Related to the winter fuel blends and additives, the ethanol used today lowers fuel mileage a lot. It is supposed to make the exhaust cleaner, but you burn a lot more fuel and create a lot more exhaust. My truck averages 24 mpg on the highway with straight gas, in summer, and it's down to around 19 mpg with ethanol-blended gas.

Can you please shoot a quick video with your phone so we can hear the noise? That would be great. You can upload it here with your response.

At my dealership I've had to explain this to many new customers about their fuel pump noise, very normal on these and other vehicles with the high pressure fuel pump. That is the word from Ford motor company themselves because several techs were replacing them.