2.3 "clacking" under load or snapping the throttle

[Dr76]

'93 2.3L is currently "clacking" when under load, but only after it warms up (driving a mile or so, here in FL). I can only reproduce this noise when in Neutral if I quickly snap the throttle (and again, only when warmed-up). Noise is (or seems to be) from under the valve cover, but it holds a steady vacuum of about 18 - 19" at idle. I currently have the valve cover off and see nothing obvious.

* Are there any type of "deflectors" available for oil control when operating w/o the valve cover? After reconnecting MAF and TB, I did start it for a second or two and probably lost a quart of oil in that time and made quite the mess!!!

Any ideas on the "clacking"???

Thanks!

 

[Nater]

Had the same sound....check the oil to make sure there are no metal shavings...

 

[Dr76]

Nope, no metal shavings.... what caused the noise in your situation???

 

[Nater]

Worn out bearings. According to the mechanic I took it to, the previous owner decided to run the motor with low oil for quite a long time...

 

[Dr76]

Still scratching my head on this one....

Changed the oil to see if any signs of metal shavings, but looks pretty darn clean. I uploaded a video (just for the audio) to Youtube, so you can hear the noise. It's much more noticeable when driving under load, but you can hear it when decelerating after a rev, most noticeable at 0:14 - 0:16 and 0:18 - 0:19.

Hit me w/ your thoughts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c__8uOYGp0

 

[Derek The Great]

Noisy valvetrain.. Mine does the same thing. When its cold the oil is thicker and therefore suppresses the noise generated by the lifter hitting the rocker arm. When its warm (and at idle - lower oil pressure) there ends up being slack between the two and theres the noise. Its not worth tearing into the engine to fix. it goes away when you rev the engine above idle anyhow. Mine has been doing that for the past 45k miles, no issues.

 

[Nater]

Sounds like the same exact noise I had!

 

[modelageek]

Turn the radio up!!!!

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

yep pretty normal
my 2.5 has it too
since i got it and it has near 124,xxx

 

[Robert_1967]

Could it be a low Octane knock?!?! , I had a 69 cougar that would knock like crazy when I used the cheap gas in it and stomp the fuel pedal down and when going up hill (I miss that old beat up car).

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

yeah sometimes the engine will "ping" if u use a low octane fuel
i could say yours has a pinging sound, mine did it when i used cheap gas
the valve tickling goes away when the engine revs up

 

[rurouni20xx]

what grade oil are you using? i used 5w30 in my trk like it calls for and heard the noise, went to 10w40 (my truck uses some oil and you cant find 5w30 at a dam gas station and dont like mixing weights so i went to a common weight) and the noise went away. little slower to start when below 40 degrees (thicker oil at lower temp) but other than that runs great, you may want to look into that just as an experiment if your really worried. also full synthetics are thin and makes an engine sound like that if its ran mineral oil its whole life. if you switched to a synthetic recently you may want to go back to mineral oil or use a blend (castrol syntec blend or mobil 7500 are synthetic 50/50 blends for example, mobil 5000 is mineral oil 7500 is a blend and 10000 is full synthetic for those that wondered wat the dif was). food for thought, i run castrol gtx (not high mileage) and the motorcraft FL1A filter no probs.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

mine does that, more severely with thin oil, i use 20w-50 and it really softens the noise.

i recently switched to 5w-30 and it is much louder

 

[96RedRanger]

sticky valves? do you chance the oil often/ does the truck sit for long periods of time?

 

[Dr76]

Thanks for all the input, but I think I may have a different situation.... my noise is loudest under acceleration, whereas most of you seem to have had (or still have) the noise at lower RPM's then go away above idle. I need to drive a mile or so, then it just appears out-of-nowhere. Only when I let off the gas and/or push in the clutch, does it go away. Under any load, it is VERY present!

It's pretty much (or was!) a daily-driver, so never sat for long periods of time. Oil was changed on a regular basis, and have been using 10w-40 for some time now. I've always used "name-brand" gas, but I guess there's no guarantee even with that. I hadn't just filled-up when it started, so kinda shying away from thinking it's the gas, but...????

I'll try to get an audio clip when it's under load, but I've only got a cell phone to record it, so might not be of the best quality...