Wesley

You're lucky thats all it was! I had a very similar noise on my 016 and multiple dealer visits wouldnt confirm any problem. It turned out to be a left lower control arm/ball joint that was on the verge of separating with close to 1/4" of lateral movement. I wound up replacing the control arm myself because of it being out of warranty, even though I complained about it early on. It wasnt worth the fight. For what its worth, I reported the problem to the NHTSA for possible recall info.

I have an 016 Edge Titanium (shouldnt be much difference in headlights than your SEL). I have complained about the lights since we bought it new in 016 and have tried a bunch of alternatives, including LED, HID, and finally, the H9 replacements for low beam. Sorely disappointed in the LED and HID options and all but the H9 halogens have been a flop. I did install LED in the high beam and they're quite a bit better than the original but still not what I feel are a safe option. I get a lot of reflectivity down-road at night but the road itself is all but impossible to see at speed. For our comparison, my wifes 09 and 014 Lexus are substantially better. You said the Sealight kit was an improvement over stock, as good as the Lincoln with HID. Thats quite an endorsement. Do you still like them enough to keep?

We drove it off the showroom floor and this is what is so frustrating. This is not our first Ford nor our first new vehicle. My previous 08 Edge had almost 180,000 miles with few problems, and certainly none as premature as this.

I got the drivers side lower control arm from eBay because Rockauto was temporarily out of stock. I got the passenger side lower control arm from Rockauto. Both were considerably less expensive than the Ford items (a bit sour on Ford at the moment). Strangely, Moog and other reputable suppliers dont make a replacement! Advance Auto, OReilly, Autozone, NAPA, none of those show a replacement.

Final update: After I doublechecked the passenger side lower ball joint, I found it to be considerably out of spec as well plus the rubber boot showed signs of wear. This in a vehicle that sees no abnormal use and just at 55,000 miles. I replaced it (the lower control arm) as well and after an alignment, all feels like new again. Still, I feel considerably disappointed that a vehicle with this mileage showed such abnormal ball joint wear. The vehicle was unsafe to drive with these ball joints at the wear level. It would dart from one lane to another on some roads. Lastly, when I priced the repair at our local dealer, he indicated he would use "Quality Ford Replacement Parts". My quick response was "the original quality ford parts were pretty crappy, why should I use them again!"

As I posted in my topic of front end noise with our 2016 Edge at 48,000 miles. Our 2016 Ford Edge Titanium has made a front suspension noise for the past year. I first noticed the noise at about 48,000 miles, and is now at 56,000 miles. It was first heard/felt as a clunk or knock in what I believed was the left front suspension area and when first moving from a stop, eventually to an extreme grinding and popping when turning or going over a bump. I could feel it in the floorboard. Our driveway is gravel and has a long turn-radius of about 200 feet. During the entire turn, the clunking is VERY noticeable. When I asked the dealership where we purchased the vehicle new in Feb of 016 of the noise, they could not duplicate the noise when I enquired about it when they did an oil change, nor did they find anything wrong on a subsequent oil change. I asked if they have had any complaints about front end noise and they said they didn't but they did state they had replaced quite a few strut bearing plates. They said there were no TSB's on that problem. Several visual front end suspension inspections showed no obvious faults. Out of frustration, I even removed the drivers side strut for an inspection but couldn't find anything wrong. Shortly after I had the last oil change, I noticed the vehicle would not track in a straight line and any road imperfections would send the vehicle into another lane. When they changed the oil, the vehicle was lifted, unloading the front suspension. This sudden difference in driving attitude told me something was loose causing a tire toe change. I raised the vehicle myself and found that the drivers side lower control arm ball joint had almost 1/4" movement! This lower ball joint movement resulted in about 1/2" tire toe in-toe out while driving. I obtained an estimate from the dealership for a replacement and was quoted around $650.00 with the arm being almost $375.00 alone (the ball joint is integral to the lower control arm). I ordered one online with the proper bolts and replaced it myself. The noise is now gone and the vehicle drives normally. I will be checking the passenger side ball joint more thoroughly as my wife says she feels a knock in the passenger floorboard too. I checked it when I had the arm off but I felt there wasnt enough movement to require replacement. According to my online Chiltons repair manual, there should be no play in the joint but I felt a little. Question: I have been driving vehicles since the mid 1960's, many well over 250,000 miles and many others with never replacing a ball joint under 100,000 miles. Somehow, this feels like abnormally premature ball joint wear. No one can say it was due to a lack of maintenance as the joint does not have a lube fitting. The vehicle has never been in an accident or curb hopped. About me: I am a retired ASE Master Auto and HD Truck Technician, one of the first group to be certified as such in 1976. I taught advanced automotive diagnostics and repair at the local Community College in the mid to late 80's and fully retired as the director of education for a nationally recognized automotive training program. I retired the ASE Master status in 2000 and served on the ASE advisory panels for over 10 years (I helped write the tests). To simply put things into perspective, I feel I know my way around a vehicle and feel fully competent in repairing faults and performing most of our vehicle repairs.

Final Update: After dealing with the noise for several months and two dealer inspections, I finally tracked down the noise. When I had my last oil change, I noticed the Edge wandering or hunting when driving. It was all but impossible to keep in a straight line. I returned to the dealer and they said there was nothing they did during the oil change to cause the problem (of course it didnt). But, they did say they raised the vehicle on a lift which unloaded the suspension. I raised the vehicle myself and using a lever, applied force to all of the suspension points. The left lower ball joint had over 1/4" play in all directions which led to almost 1/2" toe in-toe out variations. Bingo! The right side had almost no play. Lastly, this vehicle has about 56,000 miles and the dealer says there is no TSB on it. The dealer wanted almost $600.00 to replace the arm. I ordered one online and will be installing it myself in a week or so. The vehicle is parked until then. And, yes, I am more than capable on replacing it to factory specs.

UPDATE: I removed the left strut assembly as that is where it seems most of the noise is occurring. The good thing is that I couldn't find anything wrong with it! The bad thing is that I couldn't find anything wrong either. The top plate and bearing assembly all appear ok. The load of the spring is taken by a friction bearing that rides on a smooth surface at the top plate, not the old thrust bearing I'm used to with my '08 when I replaced the front struts. Now that I got a good look at the front suspension geometry, it is apparent that the strut bearing place most likely is not the culprit (removing the strut wasn't that difficult, only about an hour). If you can get a look at the lower control arm, the lower control arm forms the bottom two points of a three point triangle, with the strut being the top. The front and rear pivot joints carry minimal loading but all of the acceleration and deceleration load. At this point, even if the lower control arm wears down to metal, they wont separate due to the design. I'm still looking before I bite.

Update: The noise has progressed to almost all driving conditions, especially on turns, and it seems worse on left turns versus right turns. I went to the dealer for an oil change coupon special and mentioned it to them. Of course, when they unloaded the front suspension for the oil change, they couldn't duplicate the noise, nor could I for almost 500 miles, but its back, and with a vengeance! I know the service manager fairly well and he mentioned that they are replacing quite a few strut bearing plates but there is not a TSB or recall from Ford, yet. I would say that this sound is exactly what I would describe with a bad bearing plate, especially since the noise went away when the vehicle was lifted and the suspension was unloaded. He did tell me that if I had to replace the bearing plates, Ford would repay me at the dealership warranty rate if or when a recall or TSB is issued.

No noise on turning the wheel nor have I heard it on bumps. It seems to only occur when moving from a stop, then only once. The brakes have not been apart, they still have more than 75% pad left. As a reference, the clunk "feels" like a loose motor mount but not as severe, but the moment of movement is the same. On immediate throttle tip in and weight transfer. The noise is NOT transmission slack. I know that when applying power to a front wheel drive vehicle, the wheels will attempt to torque steer, and depending on the geometry, the wheels will either pull in or out, and thats what it feels like. As soon as I get a chance, I'll pull the wheel and look harder.

We have an 016 Edge Titanium with about 48,000 miles. In the last couple of weeks, while starting from a standing stop, there is a light clunk coming from the left front suspension area. I can feel it in the steering wheel. I cant see anything loose or worn on a casual observation. It does NOT make the noise on bumps or turns or while engaging drive or reverse. In older cars, I would associate it with a loose motor mount, or something connected when moving from a stationary position. Ideas?

APIM maybe going out, again! On our 016 Edge, the GPS symbol with the strikeout line appeared again yesterday while driving. The Bluetooth phone function doesnt appear to be connecting, it tries every minute or so then drops. This is the third time the APIM is failing (or at least, the same symptoms are reappearing). If it follows prior history, I'll be contacting Ford directly through one back channel I have and hopefully get it resolved. The last time the GPS failed, it was trying to direct us through a local lake about 20 miles away. I can imagine what would happen it was an autonomous vehicle under its control!

Frankly, its a pretty poor design. Almost every time it rains, the weatherstripping comes loose. I finally resorted to gluing it back in place with clear RTV. Both sides. The body engineers really goofed on this one.

I havent used Forscan but I assume it is fairly intuitive? I am pretty fluent in OBD-II if that helps. Are the OE values defaulted or are they available through Forscan?

Our 2016 Edge Titanium has been a good reliable vehicle, up to about 24,000 miles when the navigation/GPS took a leave of absence. The dreaded GPS with a strike through it icon appeared on the lower left of the screen. This was accompanied by a noticeable slowdown of all screen functions including the touchpad for channel selection, volume control, temp control, phone, and so on. Online help indicated the APIM module (Accessory Protocol Interface Module) had failed. Bluebonnet Ford in New Braunfels was great to work with and installed a replacement. Even though it took a week to come in, they let us have the car to use in the meantime. Phase II. At exactly 35,900 miles, it went out again. Identical symptoms. Again, Bluebonnet Ford is fixing it under warranty and the replacement has a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty as well. Thats ok, but I'm concerned about the long term reliability of the APIM module as it is serialized to the vehicle and only serviceable by the dealer, plus, its expensive. Does anyone have any other input on what to do when (and I feel like based on history, that it will fail again) it happens again?