Fired up my slick yesterday and took it on an errand; the 352 was running kind of rough and was low on power up hills. Cut the trip short and came back home...Listened under the hood and didn't hear any real strange noises, but when I went around back I could hear a distinct ticking sound coming out of the passenger side tailpipe (was very faint coming out the driver side).

I'm thinking (hoping) maybe just a collapsed lifter? I have heard that sometimes they will pump back up if you just let the truck idle for a while. anyone ever had this happen?

I was going to change the oil tonight and let it run for a while and see what happens. I normally run 15w40 Rotella and change the oil every 2K miles or so (which is about every 6 months).

Any other suggestions?

 

It's very common to have exhaust manifold leaks, because Ford didn't install exhaust manifold gaskets on these engines, just stainless steel head shields.

So, the ticking sound could be the typical exhaust leak. Losing power on hills is prolly carb related, needs an overhaul, the kit includes the power valve, which would be my guess what needs to be replaced.

 

I replaced the manifold gaskets last month; I ended up having to use a steel one and a soft one together on each side...worked out pretty good. Carb was replaced with a re-man last fall...although it could use a tune since the weather is changing.

The whole truck was vibrating though like the engine was running on 7 cylinders. Ran great 3 days ago.

 

1st question, is there a reason you are running such a heavy oil in your engine? FE's are supposed to run 10w30 according to the ford manual. I ask because the heavier oil can have long term adverse effects. 2nd ) how long has it been since you have replaced plugs and plug wires? running a heavy oil you, might have gummed up the plugs. 3rd) when was the last time you changed your fuel filter? 4th) what distributor are you running and is it a points set up, and if so when is the last time you changed the points, cap , and rotor? 5th) how many miles are on the engine or do you know? 6th) what is your compression like, have you checked it recently? All of these are simple things you can check, that will give you big clues as to what is going on in your block .. if You can answer all of these question, for us it will clearly help narrow things down to what is potentially going on.

 

I run the Rotella for two reasons, 1) because I heard it was good stuff, 2) because I heard it had a higher zinc content than other new oils. I figured i would put 10W30 in it this time in light of the current issue...

Plugs and wires are a year old; plugs probably need changed...

Fuel pump and filter were replaced about 6 months ago.

Distributor is original, with pertronix setup...installed 1 year ago, along with cap, wires plugs, and rotor at the same time.

The truck shows 81K miles, which I believe to be original. The truck has never been restored. Still had the oil bath breather on it when I bought it. It sat for quite a while in a garage.

I have not checked compression yet.

The truck has ran great for the past year, up until I started it up yesterday. Every other engine failure I have dealt with in past occured when the engine was running or driving. Kind of weird...

 

Okay that is a start! My guess is that you might have 181,000 on it , as that is more likely with this age truck.... a forty plus yr old truck with 81,000, well that is 2000 miles per year, not very likely....

You might try running a can of sea foam through it before you do your oil change. half a can in the block, and the other half in the fuel tank.. just the small can would be fine! If you have anything sticking, or a collapsed lifter, that will help to free things up. Warning though Only run it for a few days at most one week with the Sea foam, and then drain it all out, as it can cause damage to seals, and gaskets with prolonged usage. You can get it at most any autoparts. It might help you squeeze a few more mile out of your engine.. but you might be headed towards an overhaul!

 

Changed the oil (used 10w30 this time) and the spark plugs (they were a year old). Runs great again...Number 1 plug was fouled out. Thanks for the advice!

 

Awesome but what fouled the plug, as it will do it again?

 

Not sure...Maybe a bad valve seal or something? We'll see how long this set of plugs lasts...the last set made it a year.

 

SO was it wet, or was it sooted up?

 

I wouldn't say wet...not powdery soot either. I guess I would say it was closer to soot.

A couple of weeks ago I fired it up and left the choke on while it was warming up and it started chugging out black smoke..I'm thinking maybe it got fouled then. She never ran as smooth after that until I just changed the plugs. The rest of the plugs looked good, although the #5 plug (the driver side front?) was starting to get a little fouled.

 

Probably did get fouled when you over choked it, but revving it usually blows that out... You might want to pull the valve cover, and make sure the oil is draining properly out of the head... there are Galleries (drains) for the oil at either end of the head, and if one gets plugged by oil or debris it can cause oil build up in the head around the rockers and valves, that will pour through the valve seats into the cylinders... It is common in older engines, and on occasion right after a rebuild if too much sealant was used on the gaskets for the intake manifold.

Turbohunter had a post showing how to use a piece of small hose attached to an air gun to blow the galleries clear. As I recall he used a threaded brake line hose from a rig, then threaded it into the blow gun... Warning if you blow out all of the galleries, then do an oil change after, as the debris will all invariably end up in the oil pan... You might even consider pulling the oil pan and cleaning it out..

 

Good advice. Thanks. Valve covers are kind of leaky so they should probably come off anyway.

 

Always glad to help out a fellow FE slick owner!