I have an 03 Ranger 3.0 a/t. A little while back I had a clogged cat, so I took out all the cats and since then it has slowly developed a ticking sound from what sounds like the top of the heads. Any ideas on what that might be?

 

I don't know if this will help, but check your oil level, check your spark plugs to make sure thier tight, buy a stethoscope for like $10 and play it on the valve covers to listen to the valve train, and also check your camshaft position sensor. It is either low oil, has a valve train issue, a spark plug is loose, or your cam sensor is bad or loose.

If I'm wronging anyway someone will correct me, but I'd check all those things.

Good luck getting it figured out

 

Welcome to FTE.
What conditions/problems caused the cat converter to clog up & has the problem been found & put right????
The engine, exhaust flow & emissions systems have been tuned with the specified cat converter in place, so removing the cat isn't recommended, nor is it legal.
A clogged exhaust will cause the engine & everything down stream to the clog to over heat, so your exhaust valves may be unhappy, maybe the oil has cooked onto the exhaust valve stem, making varnish, gum, carbon, sludge, that's messing with their operation.
What service grade & viscosity oil have you been & are now using???
Any additional historical info about the condition that caused the clogged exhaust, might provide insight into offering up a more focused diagnosis of the tic problem.

 

I've had exhaust manifold/header gasket leaks that sounded exactly like lifter noise. Might be worth checking.

 

So, I tried replacing the camshaft synchronizer. The old one was definitely sloppy compared to the new one, but that didn't fix the tick. I don't have a stethoscope but it sounds like it's coming from the driver side valve cover. I don't know why the cat was clogged, other than the truck has 144,000mi. I don't live in Virginia, and we don't emissions. It did have a cracked exhaust manifold on the driver side as well which I replaced at the time of removing the cats. I was using the recommended 5w-20, but after several recommondations I just swithed to 10w-40. How does one re-tune for no cats? This is the first time that I have heard that I need to have them. Everyone else has said it should run better without. And it wasn't a cat, it was 5.

 

Has always been illegal to remove cats.

 

Your 3.0L is specified to use 5W-20 & in an earlier time 5w-30, so the 10W-40 is a Lot thicker than originally specified, so unless its consuming oil, no need to have to go the 10W-40 route, especially in winter, when we need quick oil flow to the top end of the engine, so unless your doing long hard high speed highway runs, while lugging, or towing a load in the mountains, 10w-40 isn't likely needed. If your just puttering around town, with the engine rarely getting fully warmed up, the 40wt won't get to where its needed very quickly, or well, so it isn't likely doing the engine much good. Did the top end begin making its noise after the 10W-40 was used????

You've done so many mods that its difficult to suggest how to retune it.
If you're not going to put it back to stock, maybe consider talking to an exhaust, or tune shop & see what they might suggest, based on what they see & what you tell them you've done, but don't count on getting them to do much, as its not Federally legal to remove the cats. The computer isn't likely happy either, if you've also removed the cat monitoring O2 sensor.

What caused the cats to over heat & clog up????