Intermittent long crack starting issue ongoing

[ThugFordEdge3.5]

I have a 2017 FORD EDGE TITANIUM AWD 3.5L V6. It now has 35,500 km and I bought it 8 or 9 months ago when it had 32,760 km. I had the rear main sealed replaced 3 weeks ago. From the moment I got my vehicle back I noticed issues. First the coolant level was 2 inches higher and took 3 hours of driving to get it burped back to where it was. The engine temp was 89 Celsius at that time. Also AWD was shut off somehow, but got that fixed right away. Then the next day or 2, after SUV sat over 12 hours I used remote starter and it crank over about 7 to 8 times straight before starting. Its been doing this for 3 weeks now. If I wait 12 hours or more it has long cranks turn over before catching and starting. If I try starting it before 12 hours or less it starts right up. Only one time after sitting 6 hours only did it long crank 6 or 7 times. I also have a ticking noise that gets better as vehicle warms up. Pretty much goes away unless if you listen where exhaust manifold is, then it sounds like a diesel engine there. The ford tech removed the exhaust manifold in bank 2 by firewall in order to remove transmission and transaxle PTU. I'm not sure if he even needed to do that. He ended up braking 2 studs and drilled to get them out. I'm pretty sure there is a leak in exhaust because noise. I did notice after the repair that the oil level went down slighty and oil smells like gas. Temperature has been between -7 Celsius to -27 Celsius.  Mostly -18 Celsius. Before this repair vehicle would start up in a flash by remote or push button inside. Another strange symptom the other day was when it was colder and I let my vehicle warm up 10 to 15 minutes and drove off and I could hear a slight growl coming from engine... almost like a ruff sound grinding. Hard to explain. But I felt as though the oil wasn't getting to the moving parts maybe. This actually happened once before when it was hot out in summer about 5 months ago. I never had it come back until just after this repair and starting issues and ticking noise. Any ideal what could be going on with this intermittent remote start long cracking time? The only time I tried push botton start is when its already started within the hour. So I don't know if this would still happen if I push button start instead. Also I've had the odd moment when I'm coasting and not touching gas peddle or brake before coming up to a stop, and I quickly feel SUV push forward slightly speeding up but stopping as soon as it starts. Like a forward spurt that happens fast and goes away and I'm left wondering if that even happened. This has happened since 7 months ago, maybe once every 45 days if that. I've also had couple times when I tried accelerating and it seems like it hesitates and has no power. But most of the time power is there and drives fine. I sent my oil out this Friday to Blackstone labs for testing to check if mechanic closed and protected exhaust hole when drilling, encase metal got in and this is a compression issue from damage? I do hear air leak sound when I'm looking under hood and engine is running. When I shut off engine with remote and I stand in front I hear air hiss as the last sound for a second. Another time I heard a winding down electric sound sort of thing. Kinda like a robot dying and running out of power. Or like electric motor dying Maybe. Was just odd.  The oil was lower and darker it seemed. Also seemed thick to me but I'm not sure. I use Amsoil 5W20 signature series and was changed 3 months ago and only has 1300 km on this oil. System says 70% life left on this oil. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

Edited February 16, 2020 by ThugFordEdge3.5