top end rebuild

[dangerRANGER89]

got an 89 ranger with the 2.9 and now its constantly ticking and not going away, still runs good tho but now i figure it prolly deserves a top end rebuild. so how much does it roughly cost to rebuild the top end? plan on keeping the heads and maybe the camshaft but everything else will get scrapped

 

[Big Jim M]

If the engine is running good except for a little clicking noise, why not just take the click out and leave well enough alone?
Those annoying clicks are easy to fix. The rest of the top end is fine. One or two new rockers and pushrods is usually all one needs to install to shut the thing up..
Big Jim

 

[almostclueless]

I've read in several places that the cam bearings are a frequent cause, which would make changing rockers and pushrods pointless

 

[Big Jim M]

So cam bearings would require a complete teardown.. how would one know unless he first installed new push rods on the loud cylinders? Most engines either have adjustable rockers or have slightly longer pushrods that would take care of worn cam bearings..
Big JIm

 

[90B24wd]

The theory of worn cam bearings causing ticking is bull shit! So is air in the lifters.
What is causing the ticking is improper oil flow in the oil passages.

Does the cam bearings get so worn out that the cam slops in its journal to cause ticking?
How many people solved their ticking problems by changing their cam bearings?

On my Bronco II I first made sure that my oil was flowing ,then I snugged up the nuts on the rockers. Didn't have to replace lifters or head gaskets. I'm cheap I don't want to waste money.

On my 2 recent purchases (90 Bronco II EB & 90 ranger) I didn't have a ticking problem because the previous owners had used synthetic oil which i guess kept the oil passages clean.
When I replaced the heads on the Bronco II, the cylinders didn't have a ridge. Bronco II has 143,237 miles and its the original engine.

 

[holyford86]

I believe that oil to the top end is dependent on how worn the cam bearings are, the cam doesnt slap around and cause the ticking, the increased "bleeding" from the cam bearings being worn starves the rest of the valvetrain causing the ticking.

 

[MAKG]

Because of the way the 2.9L oiling is designed, excessive cam bearing clearance causes low oil pressure throughout the rest of the system. It's not a cam knock.

BigJimM, the advice you're giving is right on for the 4.0L tick, but 2.9Ls have an entirely different design error.

 

[Big Jim M]

Because of the way the 2.9L oiling is designed, excessive cam bearing clearance causes low oil pressure throughout the rest of the system. It's not a cam knock.

BigJimM, the advice you're giving is right on for the 4.0L tick, but 2.9Ls have an entirely different design error.

Thanks MAKG. Wouldn't low oil pressure cause other than a bit of clicking.. More like low oil pressure in ANY Hydrolic lifter engine? I would guess a guy would be afraid of driving one that has lost it's volume of oil to the lifters..
Maybe I am totally confused by this engine..does it oil the lifters and then oil the rockers thru the pushrods? If so I betting minor clicking could be adjusted out of it..
Big JIm

 

[almostclueless]

It's POSSIBLE that the adjusters could take the rest of the slack out of it, and that the engine will soldier on for many miles.

I love reading about folks replacing their lifters because they were ticking. Unless the slop was from worn lifter faces or there was garbage in the lifters, they're just wasting time.

The vast majority of the time the tapping is from a lack of pressure at the lifters. The lack of pressure there is from excessive bearing clearances somewhere. Folks are lazy and don't want to go the full distance to fix a problem correctly.

I wouldn't even be surprised if the 4.0 worn rockers thing is the symptom, not the cause......and worn bearings started the whole fiasco.


The folks that replace lifters or rockers, etc, most of them probably never mention down the road that the engine blew up because it had oil pressure problems. Because that would prove they were wrong all along.

 

[90B24wd]

The folks that replace lifters or rockers, etc, most of them probably never mention down the road that the engine blew up because it had oil pressure problems. Because that would prove they were wrong all along.

Or that their engine still ticks.

In my case the rocker armshafts were clogged so oil was not flowing out of the rockers as it should. After cleaning out the shafts, oil was just pouring out. But the engine still ticked.
Thats when I decided to snug the rockerarm nuts. Figured that the lifters were worned out.

The key here is make sure that you have proper oil flow!

 

[almostclueless]

The shafts were almost completely plugged? Wow, that's severe!!


The FE crowd talk about oil control in the shaft assemblies....many of them restrict the passage that feeds the shafts (though I'd imagine the rocker to shaft clearances would have to be good in the first place).


I will say if I had a vehicle with shafts and tapping from valve lash, adjusting the rockers hot to eliminate clearance might be a reasonable triage method if I intended to just drive her 'til the engine gave up. Good clearances throughout the engine is of course the ideal situation.

 

[dangerRANGER89]

so should i just try going with synthetic oil first to see if that takes care of the ticking?

 

[Big Jim M]

Oh DR!

so should i just try going with synthetic oil first to see if that takes care of the ticking?

Synthetic oil will NOT do anything to an engine that regular oil won't do...EXCEPT one thing.. synthetic oil will tolerate higher temps than the engine itself will tolorate..
So short of a malfundtioning engine using synthetic oil is a waste of your hard earned money.. ALWAYS!
Big JIm

 

[dangerRANGER89]

well synthetic oil is thinner in overall viscosity which might help punch through some dirty oil passages

 

[almostclueless]

well synthetic oil is thinner in overall viscosity which might help punch through some dirty oil passages

And carry the theorhetical sludge/crap somewhere else....it's a crapshoot.