This starting problem just began a few days ago. Car has been running perfectly for the last 165,000 miles Normal maintenance issues have been addressed. Problem now is trying to start the engine. Turn key on, dash lights on and strange noises occur from the dash like the vents are trying to move. Then when I try to start it cranks over slowly and won’t start. Battery is new. Finally of if I keep cranking, although slowly, it will start. When it does it runs very rough and almost backfires.And a weird flapping sound from the lower front of the engine near the alternator area. Finally it will clear up and runs and starts normally for the rest of the day. Next day it begins all over again.
Would A loose timing chain and /or tensioner cause this ? I’m thinking in the morning oil pressure is low and the tensioner hasn’t pumped up yet Possible?
Another thought is a worn starter motor drawing high current away from the ignition system. But why would,it start fine for the rest of the day, and reoccur over night.m Check engine light came on once. Thoughts anyone??
have not checked for codes yet.

 

That's normal for mode and blend door operation and nothing strange with that. If you hear clicking noise then there's a problem.

The SoC (state of charge) of a battery (doesn't matter if it's brand new) will drop and become very low if it's not charged properly by the alternator. If you take only short trips (5 minutes) and drive it 10 minutes daily it's insufficient for the alternator to charge it. You will need to buy "Noco Genius 10" and charge it biweekly on the weekend, make sure the SoC doesn't drop below 51%.
You didn't mention you have cold or warm start issue. On the starting system, the wiring do not like hot weather. The warmer the weather, the higher resistance. The higher resistance the higher voltage drop. I strongly suggest you to check your battery ground cable and your starter motor housing (note your starter motor gets ground from its housing, the mounting bolts specifically), clean using wire brush and 91% isopropyl alcohol (spray type Equate brand from walmart). Before cleaning and when engine off key out, get a ohmmeter set the dial to 200Ω and measure the resistance between your battery's ground post and your engine block's metal part and observe the reading, next reading battery's ground to the housing of your starter motor (make sure it's the motor and not the solenoid), and last reading, engine block and the starter motor's housing. 3 readings are they exactly the same? Under 2 ohm? You can try again after cleaning.
If you are having cold start issue consistently every morning, do this tomorrow morning before starting, grab your battery jumper cable and use just the black alligator, clamp one end to your battery's ground post and the other end to the housing of your starter motor, then go ahead and crank it, doing so will bypass your battery's ground cable to the frame, and the ground strap from the frame to the engine block and from the block to the starter motor's housing. If this cranks much faster, you know you have a bad ground cable or bad connection somewhere. Note the bypass is for troubleshooting only, having an extra return path is not a fix, you also confuse the current flow which return path to take.

If you hear knocking sound that's possibly the timing chain guide and in initial stage you should hear that only during cold start. In severe stage you can hear during warm start as well. You will definitely need to find a reputable mechanic to have that checked up.

During cranking it's normal for the voltage to drop from 12.75V to 9.6V, if it's below 9V then there is a problem.
I strongly suggest you (and anyone on the planet who owns a car) to buy a battery monitor like this: https://www.fordforum.com/forum/new-...75/#post149475
so you can get SoC and cranking voltage in real time. And most importantly in your situation you can tell if your alternator is charging during driving, whether or not your battery will hold a charge that's different story.

Check them and post your DTCs here. If your scanner can retrieve ford's specific DTCs (like OBDLink MX+ or Foxwell NT510 Elite) that's even better.

 

Will check out the things you mentioned. Thank you. But the starting issues and noises are definately on first start in the morning. After that all seems to be ok.Also I’ve tried 2 new batteries and same problems. Will post codes once I get a chance. Does the car need to be running to retrieve DTCs.

 

No and don't do it. It won't do any harm (unless you erase/clear codes) but you can get more DTCs when not supposed to, a misleading scanning result. You just need the key or FOB to be in ON/RUN position.
Using OBDLink MX+ to monitor live data, then you can do both but normally during driving/idling that's when the live parameters are available.

Clean just the battery posts and try the bypass first, also get the battery monitor.

 

Cleaned and tighten the battery terminals. It turned over faster and did start but ran poorly as mentioned in original post. Although not as bad. Did notice that the belt tensioner was slightly rocking back and forth during the rough running and the a/c clutch pulley was cycling in unison with the tensioner. AC IS NOT TURNED ON. After a minute or two engine smoothes out and all is well. This happens only during first start of the day.

Ran the codes on my inexpensive code reader and it showed no codes with Key on, engine off

 

The belt should last 60k to 100k if you think it's causing problem try to set your torque wrench to 37 ft-lb and tighten the tensioner bolt and see if it was under-torqued.
If you decide to replace # 2 and # 5 shown above, get this belt: Gates K060840HD the green belt if available for your car and this belt tensioner assembly: and don't buy Motorcraft JK6844C belt. The HD green belt from Gates is the best possible belt you can get for your car if Gates make this green belt.



Also don't over-torque the the battery terminals, not that you can damage the posts, when it's over-tighten you can also get poor connection.
Check out the belt tensioner first, it could be reason why your battery is not being charged properly by your alternator.

 

Are all your heating/AC controls turned off ? Many vehicles will operate the A/C system when defrost is selected to blow dry air on the windshield.

If your vehicle is operating the A/C compressor when all controls are off, we have a different problem.

 

I’ll be putting the car on the lift in a few days and will pulling the belt and tensioner off. Will also check the alternator and PS pulleys. All are original at 165K miles. Belt has about 75K on it and tensioner is original at 165K..I can’t find the HD version of the Gates belt but is the regular K060840 version OK to use.

 

If Gates don't make the HD then stick with Motorcraft JK6844C.
And why didn't you replace the tensioner assembly last time you replaced the belt 75k miles ago.
If you'll be pulling the belt and tensioner off you might not be able to reuse the tensioner anymore might as well replace them both for the peace of mind.

 

Don’t remember why I only did the belt. But I will order both this time. Believe it or not, it has the original plugs and coils in it.. 165K miles on original plugs has to be a record have new ones to install . Other than this current problem, it runs very well. BTW, I’m not the original owner.