I have a 96 F350 with a 460 with 124000 miles. The truck has been simply just been parked for a few years needing some work. Recently, I have put some work into the truck. I have replaced both pumps, fuel pressure reg, exhaust and performed a tune up. I have not drove the truck much and when I have, I thought it was a dog; I bought the truck used. I recently found out that I had a dead cylinder, number 7; no compression. I pulled the valve cover and found that the number 7 push rod was gone; no where to be found. I am baffeled. Checked with a light and a magnet; I also drained the oil and found no metal. I bought a new rod and now the truck runs great; but now I have a nosiy tickish clicking sound that was not thier before. Any suggestions

 

Sounds like the previous owner took the push rod out to get rid of whatever problem it had. Why? Who knows. Some people do really stupid things sometimes.

You might have an issue with the lifter would be my guess.

Welcome to FTE. Post some pics of your truck. We can't get enough

 

Yeah I would imagine that that lifter is sticking and making your clicking. I'd make sure you keep an eye on oil level and pressure. Hopefully it'll go away soon.

 

I was hoping for a simple fix and that the problem would just disapear but that's not my luck. I have never had this type of a problem so this is all new to me. My old 77 highboy had over 200,000 on it before I built a new motor and never experienced this. I especially cannot belive that someone would go through the trouble of removing a rod to hide a problem. I suppose I may be pulling the mainifold and replacing lifters. Some say that replacing one is ok and others are saying that I need to replace them all along with the cam. Any thoughts towards this?

 

Could be valve backlash not set properly, or a collapsed lifter.

 

How do you adjust for backlash on a pedistal mount? Is thier a certain way a pedistal mount rocker arm should be set? If so, does anyone know the steps? I have been wondering if I set them correctly.

 

Ok, at the great personal risk of releasing the anti seafoam hounds of hell down on me, here goes-warm up you engine, shut off, pour about 1/2 can of seafoam into your oil, start it up and drive it easy for 10-15 miles, drain and change your oil. NO PROMISES, Guarantees, you are on your own... I did it to my 94 F250 5.8, 155k... Doing that reduced my oil consumption from 200/ qt to 450/qt... My engine was pretty tired, so felt it was worth the risk, oil use to get BLACK in just a few miles, now I can still see through it after1500 miles, and a lot of little lifter types ticks are gone, it idles smoother too...it won't fix worn or mechanical deficiencies, nut it seems like it has helped our old truck. Rebuild is in it's future... Been a lot of fun learning about these trucks on FTE!!!

 

tranny fluid works good too. just pour some in the crank case and drive around for a while, then make sure the oil is still hot when you drain it so that any particles wont sink to the bottom of the pan. i would say give that or seafoam a shot before you rip it apart again.

 

There is a sequence to installing the rocker arms.

Position #1 pistion to TDC on the compression stroke and install the following rockers in this order:

#1 intake #1 exhaust
#3 intake #8 exhaust
#7 intake #5 exhaust
#8 intake #4 exhaust

Torque bolts to 18-25 ft lbs

Rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees clockwise to the TDC position and install the following rockers in this order:

#2 intake #2 exhaust
#4 intake #3 exhaust
#5 intake #6 exhaust
#6 intake #7 exhaust

Torque bolts to 18-25 ft lbs

Then check valve clearance. There is a tool you can use for bleeding out the lifter, or you can push down on the push rod side of the rocker arm to do the same thing. The tool makes this so much easier. Hold it there and use a feeler gauge to check clearance between the valve stem and the rocker.

Position #1 to TDC on the compression stroke just like above and use a feeler gauge to check clearance. Should be between 0.075 - 0.175 desired is 0.100 - 0.150

Rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees to TDC position and check clearance on the valves like in the second step above. Same clearance specs as above.

There are a couple different options, depending on the clearance, you may need new lifters if the spec is way out and you know for sure the lifter was bled down all the way while checking. If you replace one, replace them all. If the clearance is close, there are two push rods you can use besides the stock one. One is 0.060 shorter, and one is 0.060 longer. If the clearance is close, you can determine which one to use from there. Either way I'll say its more likely the lifter.

 

Yes, tranny fluid works well for this kind of thing, too. I'd add half a quart to a quart, then drive it around for a while like was suggested and see if that helps.

Tranny fluid has a higher detergent content and can sometimes un-stick things like this.