Tapping noise

[michaelburns24]

Ok My 89 ranger 2.9L engine was making a tapping noise, everyone said it sounded like a bad lifter. I pulled the heads and replaced all lifters. Took heads down to machine shop to have cleaned and surfaced, had broken springs so ended up having to rebuilt heads. I have got it all reassembled and it is still making the exact same noise. It is kinda a higher pitch noise changing with engine speed. (i was told if it was something in the lower end it would be a deeper noise) Does anyone know what the probmem could be????
I did put the new lifters in a pan of oil, and used push rods to (pump up) the oil in the lifters before installing, Also I did replace all push rods and readjust all of the lifters
Any help would be greatly appreciated this truck is driving me nuts

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

A 2.9 just isn't a 2.9 without a tap.

Seems like you've replaced all the suspectable parts.

I have seen a 4.0 that had the same issue due to improperly torqued rocker shaft mounts.

Also on the same engine acually, there was a noise that sounded like a valvetrain noise but turned out to be a wrist pin knock. You can find that by pulling the plug wires one by one,

Other that that I'm all out of ideas, good luck

 

[shaysman]

when ford made the 2.9 cologne engines like the ones in rangers the lifters run "dry". meaning that the whole for the oil is very very small so therefore when you put oil in it its to thick to pump through the whole. adjust the lifter and use 10w 30 with some lucas oil stabilizer and i should quit or become so quite the only time you hear it is when the hood is up

 

[90B24wd]

Use an old heater hose and try listen if its coming anywhere from the top.

 

[tanbuddy]

Mine does it sometimes when its real cold in the morning, or if i drive on the highway for a little while. It still runs strong so i dont worry about it.

 

[tanbuddy]

would running a thinner oil help with the tapping at all? Its wierd that it just starts tapping with the engine already warmed up

 

[Psychopete]

would running a thinner oil help with the tapping at all? Its wierd that it just starts tapping with the engine already warmed up

Thinner may make matters worse. Oil "thins" out as it gets hot.

Before I rebuilt my engine it would clatter like hell coming off the high way warmed up. The bearings were down to copper. But I had a cracked head and the coolant is what caused the bearings to go. The oil thinning allowed it to pass through tolerances more easily (like the worn bearings), leaving less to reach the top end. But you would notice an issue similar to this with a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

Pete