Ford Fiesta ST3 "after-noise"

[Stephen Ballinger]

Hello

Like probably all call drivers, our 2016 ST3 has done very few miles in the past 4-5 months over winter. It's only done 22,000 miles in total in 5 years!

Probably because of this (?), when you switch on the ignition, there is now a louder-than-normal noise from the engine and, when you accelerate and change gear up from 1st to 2nd, and then 2nd to 3rd etc, there is a obvious, louder "after-noise" whining just after the turbo kicks in.

It doesn't seem to make this noise down through the gears, but it is there idling along, though appears to be slightly better after a journey, albeit very short recent ones. There is no appreciable difference in performance and the turbo remains exhilarating. The engine, generally, just seems to be making more noise than it used to! 

It was serviced/MOT'd last month but the mechanics couldn't identify a problem. No surprises there.

Has anyone experienced something similar, or could offer some advice please. I will take it back to Ford in the summer when Chinavirus is more stabilized here in the UK, but for now it's annoying me as it is such a great car!

Many thanks in advance

Stephen