2010 4.0 random tick on cold start

[SuperCab]

So my mom recently picked up a 2010 Explorer. Pretty nice, very low miles for the year. Around 70k I think. I was checking it out the other day and noticed on cold start (very cold, it was around 5°) there is a fairly loud tick or click noise. Pretty random interval... and seems to go away as soon as it starts to warm up. The thing has a partial warranty for the first month so just wanting to make sure it’s not serious.

[CowboyBilly9Mile]

Something driven by the serp belt(?).

[dustybumpers]

Exhaust manifold studs?

Remember, this is one of the cars that hit the news for carbon monoxide in the cabin.....

[SuperCab]

So it turns out it's the fan clutch... it's run electrically and unplugging it's plug can stop/cause the noise. Only does it intermittently so if it ends up failing at some point I'll try to remember to update this thread

[fatherdoug]

So, it's an electric fan?

[SuperCab]

It's a mechanical fan with an electrically triggered clutch as opposed to the traditional thermal clutch. As far as I could tell anyway.