thank you! I got the LV which I think is the suggested one

 

This eCVT tranny oil change video by Fordtechmakuloco is very good.

 

When you let off the gas in these vehicles - come completely off the accelerator - even at highway speeds - the Hybrid system can, depending on the state of charge of the battery, switch into regenerative mode. At that point what is happening is that the torque on the front axles is now being used to turn the regen. motor inside the transmission to charge the battery. From what I have seen watching the SYNC system carefully, you do not need to actually touch the brakes to cause the system to go into "Battery Charging." When that torque shift happens, it's going to place loads on bearings. And that's what you might be hearing. But it's strange that it only happens in a narrow speed range.

It might be just a bad left front tire.

 

I watched the "eCVT tranny oil change video by Fordtechmakuloco" mentioned earlier in this thread and the tech says to change the eCVT tran oil every 60,000 miles. I check the owner's manual on my 2009 FEH and on page 299 regarding the trans fluid it says "It is designed to be filled for life", which I assume means it never has to be changed since there is no mention of changing the trans fluid in the scheduled maintenance guide.

I have 145,000 miles on my FEH and have never replaced the trans oil. So should I ignore the owner's manual and replace the trans oil to keep the trans happy so I can get more miles from my FEH?

 

YES. Watch the video, do it yourself or have your mechanic do it. It is one of the simplest chores to perform on this vehicle. Make sure you use the right fluid. The manual should tell you, but it's one of two choices:

MERCON LV or MERCON V depending on your year. Do not confuse them. Use the recommended one for the year of your car; it should be in the manual. Mine is a 2010 which takes the Mercon LV.

I paid $62.50 to have it done on my car including the fluid with some recent brake work. "Filled for life" is a legalistic euphemism that bears no relation to reality on an out-of-warranty car.