360 making a tapping noise
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New User
Joined: Feb 2011
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From: Columbus, OH
360 making a tapping noise
I just returned from a 200 miles trip in my 76 Ford F250 highboy and the engine is now making a tapping noise. I sounds like it is coming from inside the engine. I feel like the engine is also lacking power now. Any ideas on what this could be?
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 229
Likes: 1
From: Phoenix, AZ 85008
Could be one of or several of the following:
Oil has thinned out. This may be especially true if you are past the point of an oil change
A lifter or lifters have collasped or the oil feed to any lifter is partially or totally blocked
Excesive lifter to cam wear
Excessive rocker arm wear - either atthe tip or on the area riding on the shaft
Excessive rocker arm shaft wear
Excessive push rod wear
These will cause a valve to not open fully which would give you lack of power. You will hear the tapping at the top end with roacker arms knocking on valve stems. Or the more common lifter tapping because the lifter isn't pumping up fully.
The FE engine was a tough engine. However the top end wasn't designed that great. The oil drains in the heads can get blocked and the pump starves for oil as it is all stuck up in the head. This makes for low pressure at the cam. This is especially noted on long high RPM operations. And the oil delivery system is a bit weak.
In addition the FE engine has some manufacturing issues in the mid to late 1970s. The tooling was not kept up and the tolerances were too far out in some applications. Most of that came out in the very late 1970s. Especially in high mileage (over 50,000 miles) engines that didn't exactly get the best servicing.
>>>>>>>>>>>Action
Oil has thinned out. This may be especially true if you are past the point of an oil change
A lifter or lifters have collasped or the oil feed to any lifter is partially or totally blocked
Excesive lifter to cam wear
Excessive rocker arm wear - either atthe tip or on the area riding on the shaft
Excessive rocker arm shaft wear
Excessive push rod wear
These will cause a valve to not open fully which would give you lack of power. You will hear the tapping at the top end with roacker arms knocking on valve stems. Or the more common lifter tapping because the lifter isn't pumping up fully.
The FE engine was a tough engine. However the top end wasn't designed that great. The oil drains in the heads can get blocked and the pump starves for oil as it is all stuck up in the head. This makes for low pressure at the cam. This is especially noted on long high RPM operations. And the oil delivery system is a bit weak.
In addition the FE engine has some manufacturing issues in the mid to late 1970s. The tooling was not kept up and the tolerances were too far out in some applications. Most of that came out in the very late 1970s. Especially in high mileage (over 50,000 miles) engines that didn't exactly get the best servicing.
>>>>>>>>>>>Action
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New User
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2
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From: Columbus, OH
Thank you for your replies. It is the original engine I believe. 68,000 miles. By the way, the noise seems to have gone away. I have no idea what it was. Runs fine now. Putting a new carburetor on this week though. It has needed one for a while.
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