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Lifter noise?


Derek The Great

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2008
Messages
114
Vehicle Year
1994
Transmission
Manual
Hey fellas,
I've noticed the noise for a couple of months now but never checked into it, until today. Whenever i start my truck it sounds fine, no clickity clack. but after it gets fully warmed up and is at idle, I can hear clickity-clickity-clack most of the time. My first guess was the valve train, so i put my ear near the rocker cover and the noise seems to grow louder, but then out of sheer curiosity i stuck my head under the truck, close to the oil pan and it seems to be louder? Did I "spin" the bearings somehow? Do spun bearings have their own characteristic sound? The truck runs great, and the noise goes away when I step on the gas so I think its the valve train but I'm not sure.. On a side note, the last time I changed the oil I didn't prime the filter and it sounded like all hell broke loose (really loud clickity-clickity clack) for about 5 seconds then went away. What do you guys think???
Thanks,
Derek
 
sounds like your loosing oil pressure with the hot (thinner) oil and its starving the top end. verify with a mechanical gauge. how many miles are on this motor? how clean is the oil shortly after changing it? does it turn black right away?

i spun bearing would be more of a loud knocking sound and it would occur any time the engine was running, regardless of temp.

i wouldnt sweat not filling the filter with oil. a few seconds of dry run isnt going to cause any considerable damage. you should hear the new 5.4L engines after an oil change. the timing chains flop around and make a hell of a racket.
 
Thanks Wicked,
You know its funny you mention oil pressure.. (picture 94 and ealier instrumentation): When i bought the rig the oil pressure needle always rested on the "O" of normal. After stretching her legs a few times it sometimes went to the "L" and now it typically is somewhere between "RM" As far as i know the engine has 122k on it, and its been about 1500 miles since i changed the oil and it is still clean, and is a dark caramel color after about 3k. I didn't notice the clickity clackity until about the second oil change i did. (bought the car at 112k back in december) My oil of choice has been castrol 5w-30, i use an FL-1A motorcraft filter. When i noticed the noise i tried runnin 10w-40 and compared to the 30wt that is in it now it was a little quieter..
 
As far as I know Rangers never have had a true oil pressure gauge. The "gauge" is really just a dummy light. Either it reads pressure or not. My '92 had an issue where the oil pump was plugged and the pressure would fluctuate. The gauge would either read between the R and the M or nothing at all, no matter what the oil pressure actually was. It wasn't until we hooked up mechanical gauge that we got a clear idea of what was going on.
 
Last edited:
merlinicorpus is right. the guage on our trucks is designed to read halfway up the scale any time the oil pressure rises above 8PSI (the minimum required to float the crank at idle). there are several reasons why your gauge doesnt always read at half scale, none of which i'd worry about (mine does the same thing).

it sounds to me like the engine is fairly clean inside (when i get a motor in that turns brand-new oil black in the few seconds of running it takes to fill the new oil filter - it worries me). if you'd like, you can try the cheap-o method of engine flush at your next oil change:

check and top off the engine oil. drive the truck around for 10-15 minutes to get the oil up to temp. dump 1 quart of cheap ATF into the motor, and let the truck run at an idle for 10 minutes. change oil and filter per norm.

ATF contains impressive amounts of detergents that can help dislodge crap and remove varnish from inside the motor. if this doesnt help...i would install larger speakers, cause valvetrane tapping is rarely worth tearing the top end of the motor apart.

refrain from using thicker oils in your engine, they will only mask problems, and can actually accelerate wear on the motor. next oil change i'd switch back to 5-30, no thicker than 10-30 if you really must.
 
Thanks for the replies fellas!
That was gonna be my next question, "does it really matter that the lifters tap?" (bigger speakers + amp is on the way...) If its not a big deal i wont do ne thin about it, but i will try puttin some ATF in there to see what that does.. Its funny you mention the gages.. The one thing i have always hated about fords is how the gages always go to the middle, no matter what is actually going on, and how there aren't any numbers to show you what the needles indicate... So when i noticed the gage actually moving i was surprised and was about to believe that ford gages actually work lol. What are the reasons why the gage is movin around like it is? If i change the sending unit will the gage read like a normal gage?
 
it could be dozens of things. a bad ground at the sender, a bad regulator inside the instrument panel, a bad guage, old wiring, ect. since these instruments are all electrical, they require the proper voltages and resistances to function properly. as wires and connections age, their resistance can change slightly, causing the gauge to be off. then when you throw in moisture (in the air or a leak somewhere), the heating/cooling of the truck (from weather, from the engine, and from the heater and a/c systems), and vibration....you can see why readings can get a bit flakey on older vehicles.
 
Ladies and Dudes,
It has been about 500 miles since i changed the oil.. Just before i changed the oil i drove around for a while (like 10 miles) and then dumped in a quart of valvoline atf, Dexron III type in. I drove for about 4 more miles and then let the thing idle for about 12 minutes. Fast forward to today.. Now its been about 500 miles after the cheapie flush and i gotta say that i cant really hear the lifter tap anymore. It slowly went away after the flush but man am i happy :yahoo: I tried the seafoam crap and motor honey stuff for grins, that stuff did nothing, but surprisingly a 2 dollar bottle of atf worked wonders. Thanks wicked! :headbang:
 
just as a note, my engine taps a bit at idle, 170K on engine, mechanical gage says 50psi at idle, 30 hot idle, 75 at speed...
 

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