93 ranger 3.0 horrible lifter tap

joeschmo2190 · May 13, 2016

So a little history on the motor got the motor off craigslist, did a light rebuild on it, new connecting rod and main bearings, gaskets, freeze plugs ect. installed it in the truck to find i have a really bad lifter tap (sounds like a sewing machine). the tapping increases with rpm and just sounds horrible. I thought possibly the lifters were bad, so i got all new roller lifters in there now and still have the tap. pushrods all checked out good. I'm pretty sure all the lifters are full of oil as they cant be compressed anymore. I took the valve covers off and noticed that on the driver side only 1 rocker arm is getting oil cylinder #6 exhaust rocker i believe. Its spewing oil like a geyser which seems a bit much. the passenger side is normal though getting what seems to be the right amount of oil. I dont know what can be causing this and figured i'd see if anyone on here can point me in the right direction.

Trucks a 92 ranger converted to 4x4 and it has a 93 ranger 3.0 motor and m5od trans any help is greatly appreciated.

Rearanger · May 14, 2016

Get you're oil pressure checked.

joeschmo2190 · May 14, 2016

Yeah i plan on putting a mechanical gauge on it today. Someone told me maybe the oil pump relief valve went bad and its pumping too much oil causing this problem does that sound plausible? Well gonna put a gauge on it and report back with my findings.

RonD · May 14, 2016

New lifter on #6 could have bad spring or valve.

Hydraulic lifter should compress slowly because of spring and valve restriction.
And rocker is adjusted so lifter is compressed 1/4-1/3 at cam neutral
Reads like you are either getting full travel from lifter or no resistance so oil squirts out pushrod

joeschmo2190 · May 14, 2016

Would that take away oil from the other lifters in that bank?.

Just hooked a mechanical gauge on it. I got 55 psi on a cold engine at idle which seems normal so im gonna replace that 1 lifter and see what happens

RonD · May 14, 2016

No.

55psi at 1,000RPMs is way to high even cold.
Probably why oil is squiring out

10psi warm, maybe 15-20psi cold at 1,000rpm.

warm - 10psi per 1,000rpm up to about 35-40psi at 4,000rpm is "rule of thumb"

High oil pressure is as bad as low oil pressure.
High pressure "washes" the bearings causing high wear.

Since bottom end was redone what was the condition of oil pan and engine surfaces, fairly clean or sludgy.

Just wondering if you have some blockages in the lifter passages causing the ticking, dry lifter, and squirting of #6 because oil can't get thru.

If you do pull the intake then I would pull all the lifters(and spark plugs) and crank the engine, watch the oil passages and the pressure gauge.
Without spark plugs starter motor should get about 250-300rpm from engine so about 3psi oil pressure.

joeschmo2190 · May 14, 2016

Well i think i figured it out. That rocker that was shooting oil like a geyser, i pulled its lifter and tried to blow thru the side hole, it was stuck open, checked all the other lifters and it took a lot of force to blow thru them and even then it was the tiniest amount of air going through them. My theory is that, the stuck open lifter was taking all the oil pressure and not allowing the lifters downstream to recieve adaquet oil. Popped in a new lifter and once its stops raining i can resume working on putting it back together. Got my fingers crossed this fixes the problem

joeschmo2190 · May 14, 2016

RonD said:
No.

55psi at 1,000RPMs is way to high even cold.
Probably why oil is squiring out

10psi warm, maybe 15-20psi cold at 1,000rpm.

warm - 10psi per 1,000rpm up to about 35-40psi at 4,000rpm is "rule of thumb"

High oil pressure is as bad as low oil pressure.
High pressure "washes" the bearings causing high wear.

Since bottom end was redone what was the condition of oil pan and engine surfaces, fairly clean or sludgy.

Just wondering if you have some blockages in the lifter passages causing the ticking, dry lifter, and squirting of #6 because oil can't get thru.

If you do pull the intake then I would pull all the lifters(and spark plugs) and crank the engine, watch the oil passages and the pressure gauge.
Without spark plugs starter motor should get about 250-300rpm from engine so about 3psi oil pressure.

Those pressures (15-20psi cold idle) seem way too low for a cold engine. my old oldsmobile which had all new everything always had around 60psi on a cold engine at idle and would drop to about 30-35psi at idle when warm. every car i've had always had around 60 psi when cold, i use 10w-30 oil is almost all my cars and thats whats in my 3.0 10w-30 synthetic. 15-20 psi on a cold engine is way to low. and in the tech articles on here it says the 3.0 should have 40-60 psi at 2500rpm doesn't say whether thats cold or hot.

the inside of the motor and oil pan were fairly clean when i got it not much sludge like pretty much none,

Rearanger · May 15, 2016

joeschmo2190 said:
Those pressures (15-20psi cold idle) seem way too low for a cold engine......and in the tech articles on here it says the 3.0 should have 40-60 psi at 2500rpm doesn't say whether thats cold or hot.

I'd have to agree. Cold start, fast idle on my truck can see about 50 psi with full synthetic 0w-30. Hot running gets about 37-38 psi.

My theory is that, the stuck open lifter was taking all the oil pressure and not allowing the lifters downstream to recieve adaquet oil.

That's hydraulically possible, depending on the hydraulic circuit. But that lifter is spilling flow not pressure.

RonD · May 15, 2016

OK I will give you a pass on cold engine oil, VERY COLD, at 30-40psi, 1,000rpm, but IMO that would be too high.

Oil pressure relief valve is usually set for 65-75psi

And it is set that high so it is hopefully never used unless filter starts clogging up, so it doesn't blow the filter off and pump all the oil out.

10psi per 1,000RPM, up to 4,000rpm then it should start to level off, more is not better.
High oil pressure is like high blood pressure, doesn't kill you right off but should be managed

joeschmo2190 · May 16, 2016

well i replaced the defective lifter, and now all the rockers are getting a good steady supply of oil. but its still got the lifter tap. I checked all the rockers and none of them have any play in them. idk what else to do, i dont wanna keep throwing money at this motor and then still have the lifter tap. it sounds like its coming from the backside of the motor as i can hear it a lot more inside the truck. the last thing left to replace would be the pushrods and rockers, but all the push rods seem good and roll perfectly straight on a glass surface.

RonD · May 16, 2016

Ford fuel injectors can get quite loud and sound like lifter tap.
Unplug them one at a time.

CPS sensor?

joeschmo2190 · May 17, 2016

Not the injectors. And no it has a distributor

joeschmo2190 · May 21, 2016

Well finally got the teu k registered today and got to drive the truck for the first time since the conversion/swap. It seems to run and drive great, motor pulls hard. Except for the lifter clatter. I noticed when the rpms are around 600-800 it seems quite and barely noticeable. But once the rpms are brought up 1000+ its very audible. It has brand new lifters and great oil pressure. All rockers getting steady oil flow. What else could be causing this?

joeschmo2190 · May 22, 2016

I uploaded a video of the noise to youtube take a listen and let me know what y'all think. https://youtu.be/N92KGc2hpFQ. The noise is a lot louder inside the truck then it is outside the truck

93 ranger 3.0 horrible lifter tap

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