I have been having issues with the update. I was told at one point that the update for transmission was not ready and would be an issue. On my next service visit they did both updates for the rattle and the transmission and it has been a problem since. The phaser rattle has gotten worse especially at start up when cold. I also have noise when idling. The transmission now lugs at normal road speeds as if the truck is trying to save fuel? I now have an appointment to replace some of the top end components. Hope fully that will fix the rattle. Does your engine make the rattle noise? If not, I suggest don’t touch it🤔

Thanks Davis&Sandy for sharing your experience on this. To answer your question, no I don't believe I have the engine rattle, although it's hard without a 1:1 comparison. I've looked through some of the videos online of other people's rattles, and those seem fairly extreme; to the point where their gas engine sounds like a diesel . To date I have avoided the update, and information like yours makes me want to continue to do so. However, it does sound like to get the warranty extension, you need to do the update 🤨

If the cam phaser is rattling on startup, it means the lock pin is not engaging just before shutdown and the phaser is flailing around at startup until enough oil pressure is available to properly operate the phaser. This can be caused by a variety of issues including wear/lack of cal for wear, low oil pressure, a clogged or partially clogged oil control valve screen or chain/tensioner issues. All of which should be detected where the mil (check engine light) should be illuminated. The transmission is completely isolated from the phasers but can suffer from performance issues if a code is set. When a cam phaser has an issue, the phaser will be parked or will try to park. As a result, this will be felt with reduced engine power and the transmission will try to adapt to the new lower output of the engine.
Just an explanation of the diagnostics since they are all similar and the phasers come from suppliers which are widely used from a variety of manufacturers. If Ford has a fix, it should be pursued because a failing phaser can cause further issues.

Jim

Just to follow up on this, incase anyone is interested, but I had the PCM update done at my Ford dealership a couple weeks ago and no issues have been encountered. I haven't had any engine knocking or hard shifts like others have reported . Now I just need to wait for summer so we can go camping, but we just got 10cm of snow this weekend. Guess I'll keep twiddling my thumbs