Time to rebuild or repair?

[MrRangerSir]

First time post so please forgive me if this has been covered before. Did a search, but could not find a specific answer. The 4.0 is new to me and I have not yet learned all it's tricks.

My 4.0 in my Ranger runs beautifully, does not smoke, but it does have a lot of clatter which, (I hope) is lifter noise. It also uses a fair amount of oil, 1 litre every two tanks of gas. I know the right answer would be to pull the engine and rebuild, or replace with a fresh engine. Money is tight and I don't have a place to pull the engine, but I was considering redoing the heads and valvetrain. It does have very high mileage, (350K Km's). The noise is definitely mechanical in origin. I've addressed the timing and carbon buildup problems that seem to be common. I've determined the noisiest part of the engine seems to be the right side valve cover area using a stethoscope. I am concerned that this could be a failing bearing as it does become more noticeable under load. I have replaced plugs, (# 2 and 5 were hopelessly fouled). Compression is even and oil pressure is good.

Any ideas as to how to confirm lifter or bearing noise without disassembling the engine?

 

[tonyjklh]

its almost for sure valve noise, pull your rocker arms off and look at the top of the pushrods, you will probably see a VERY noticeable wear to it. its not the lifters the have problems with the engine its the rocker arms and push rods due to poor oiling. i was putting about a quart of oil in my engine every 200 miles. and when i finally decided to do a rebuild i ended up finding out that the cylinders were wore past 60 over. had around 370,000 on it.

i say if the compression is even and its running good leave it alone, the valve noise wont hurt anything and is pricey to fix. wont do you any good to just redo the heads if they are not a problem and they dont sound like they are

 

[DirtRider031]

I agree, it's hardly worth doing the heads. It ends up being a rabbit hole with no bottom once you start. One you do the heads and valves then you need to do lifts, then push rods and rocker arms. Then cam, well heck look at the main bearings they are screwed. Ok, maybe not quite that bad but you usually find more problems then your willing to fix once you start.