My wife's high-mileage Expedition had the ticking lifter problem too. We always ran 10w-30 too, as it had a lot of miles when we got it but the lifters never ticked until she ran it out of oil one time. It still ran fine after that incident, but the lifters ticked BAD. The proper oil didn't help once I read up on that. I replaced them in the truck with new ones from Autozone - at $8 a pop. It got quieter, but didn't stop ticking. A few weeks back she finally killed it and I pulled it out for a rebuild (With a new crank and rods - one journal was shot and knocking). This time I installed genuine Ford lifters and it is quiet as can be. On the oil subject, however, I filled with conventional 5w-20 for break-in oil. I also installed Motorcraft filter. Though I checked bearing clearances, when hot and idling, the oil pressure light comes on and pressure gauge drops. (haven't installed a REAL gauge, yet - the one in the dash is apparently an 'idiot gauge' as it only has an oil pressure SWITCH, not a true sending unit and this appears to operate both the light and so-called gauge). I went ahead and changed the oil to 10w-30 and no loss of pressure at idle and so far, no lifter ticking either. Again, it never ticked until it was run low on oil, so maybe I'll get lucky running the 'wrong' stuff. I understand the reasoning behind the lighter viscosity oils from an engineering standpoint, but in practice, they suck IMHO. That crap looked like WATER draining out! On that subject, I saw oil at the parts house that said 0w-20. WTF is zero weight oil - air? I didn't pick it up to see if it was an empty or half-full jug. Is it imaginary? LOL. I may try the 5w-20 again in a synthetic once it's broken in good. Also, I DID find significant wear on the chain guides - one was wearing well into the aluminum, as stated above - but then it had 240K miles on it too. At least those things are cheap - nothing else for a modular motor is! Grrr. Just my $.02 on the oil weight and on cheap (not really cheap) lifters. Use real Ford ones if you ever DO have to replace them. I also used Fram filters for years, because 'back in the day' they had a good reputation. I've heard a lot of people say lately that they're crap. Maybe quality slipped over the years like on many things. I've started using Motorcraft on all my Fords these days and Wix on everything else. Neither are much more money than the others for peace of mind if nothing else. I hate to hear you have the ejected plug problem after all. That sucks. Good luck with it.

 

You must use the 5w-20 to operate the timing chain tensioner properly. That ticking may well have been coming from the timing chain. There is an orifice in the tensioner that is designed to only use 5w-20. Other viscosities will not flow properly if at all and will ruin the timing chain and associated guides. Use only Motorcraft filters on Fords as they are designed to operate all aspects of the oiling systems. It's not like the old days when you could try different oil viscosities to make up for lost oil pressure. I've found that out just like you likely have. My next engine (going in soon) will see only Mobile 1 5W-20 coursing through it's oil passages.

 

I get what you're saying about the oil, but I have NO PRESSURE at hot idle with new crank and bearings. I can't abide that, tensioners ticking or not. The lifters WERE collapsed, and that's where the bulk of the noise was coming from, without a doubt. Hopefully it won't be long before I finally get her another vehicle. In the mean time, I also can't have her oil light flashing on, even if it does no harm or I'll hear other constant noise that I don't want to, if you get me. ;-)

 

Just to close my contributions to this thread - I finally got the ejected spark plug repaired yesterday and it resolved the sound I had originally been hearing. It was a tick/tap sound that was very hard to localize, and still not sure how a loose plug causes it. But it's gone now...