tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
I am about to go out and do battle with an engine one more time. The car has been sitting for 8 months since the last time I did battle with it and that was the second time since it got laid up December 2015.
To set the picture my wife said there was a tick back then and I heard it faintly myself. A lot like a lifter that might be a little clogged and since the engine had 208,000 miles it could be possible. So I changed out the oil for some Platinum Plus which worked incredibly well with the Mazda's ticking HLAs. The ticking didn't go away this time and decided to look further.
So I took the upper intake off so I could removed the valve cover over the back cylinder for 1-3. Checked rockers, turned engine, checked pushrod clearance and all looked fine. Put all back together except when putting on the upper intake I heard a tink. I didn't see anything but it sounded like something small fell into the lower intake ports. However, nothing was missing, all nuts accounted for, and an optical probe showed nothing.
All together and start the engine only to hear this grinding as though someone was crushing rocks in a pestle. Yikes! Then that sound went away and was left with a loud steady tap. Take a pushrod tip and hit a valve cover with it and you can imitate the sound. So I tear down the engine top to bottom. Everything in the bottom half is fine and the bottom of the oil pan has nothing in it. Heads off and pistons are fine. Pushrods are straight. Rockers normal. Timing chain and gears are fine. Nothing amiss.
Back together and the tap is still there. Since I should have done it the first time I remove the intake to get to the lifters and pull them all to soak and clean. Back together and the sound is still there. So today back to it one more time to fix or get rid of.
The car has been started numerous times and you can hear the tap from 15 feet away easily. When started you hear a rapid ratatatatatat--ratatatat--ratatat-----tap----tap---tap---tap---tap. The first part takes about 2 seconds, small break, another rapid bunch for 1 second before eventually settling down for a stead tap at 900 rpm. Clearly the steady tap is pointing to one piece of the 12 section valve train. With stethoscope the sound is strongest over the back valve cover, not the front, not the center of the engine, nor the timing cover area.
The engine runs fine. Normal rpm, no misses, no codes thrown, live data is normal other than the damn loud tap. Ok, the engine is a 3.0 Vulcan V6 which tends to be a long lasting Ford engine as it is not so powerful as the kill itself. My intention, after taking off the intake assemble is to remove the back cylinder head for another look. Since I have another known good one then maybe place it on the car exchanging out all the valves and springs. So thoughts on what could cause that loud tap that I haven't looked at?
To set the picture my wife said there was a tick back then and I heard it faintly myself. A lot like a lifter that might be a little clogged and since the engine had 208,000 miles it could be possible. So I changed out the oil for some Platinum Plus which worked incredibly well with the Mazda's ticking HLAs. The ticking didn't go away this time and decided to look further.
So I took the upper intake off so I could removed the valve cover over the back cylinder for 1-3. Checked rockers, turned engine, checked pushrod clearance and all looked fine. Put all back together except when putting on the upper intake I heard a tink. I didn't see anything but it sounded like something small fell into the lower intake ports. However, nothing was missing, all nuts accounted for, and an optical probe showed nothing.
All together and start the engine only to hear this grinding as though someone was crushing rocks in a pestle. Yikes! Then that sound went away and was left with a loud steady tap. Take a pushrod tip and hit a valve cover with it and you can imitate the sound. So I tear down the engine top to bottom. Everything in the bottom half is fine and the bottom of the oil pan has nothing in it. Heads off and pistons are fine. Pushrods are straight. Rockers normal. Timing chain and gears are fine. Nothing amiss.
Back together and the tap is still there. Since I should have done it the first time I remove the intake to get to the lifters and pull them all to soak and clean. Back together and the sound is still there. So today back to it one more time to fix or get rid of.
The car has been started numerous times and you can hear the tap from 15 feet away easily. When started you hear a rapid ratatatatatat--ratatatat--ratatat-----tap----tap---tap---tap---tap. The first part takes about 2 seconds, small break, another rapid bunch for 1 second before eventually settling down for a stead tap at 900 rpm. Clearly the steady tap is pointing to one piece of the 12 section valve train. With stethoscope the sound is strongest over the back valve cover, not the front, not the center of the engine, nor the timing cover area.
The engine runs fine. Normal rpm, no misses, no codes thrown, live data is normal other than the damn loud tap. Ok, the engine is a 3.0 Vulcan V6 which tends to be a long lasting Ford engine as it is not so powerful as the kill itself. My intention, after taking off the intake assemble is to remove the back cylinder head for another look. Since I have another known good one then maybe place it on the car exchanging out all the valves and springs. So thoughts on what could cause that loud tap that I haven't looked at?
