Well, I put a new C4 in my 74 F100 about a week ago and ever since, I've had a ticking/knocking noise... Check out the video at the link below (file is too big for the forum).


or search 1974 Ford 302 Ticking - Lifter? on YouTube

The thing is, I can't pinpoint where it is coming from. I hold a screwdriver up to the valve covers, oil pan, exhaust, transmission bell housing and I can hear it in all of them. Seems loudest in the bell housing to me.

I find it wildly coincidental that this came up at the same time I installed a new tranny. Any chance it's the transmission?

Revs up with the engine, same noise cold or hot, new oil in it and I think the pressure is good.

What do you all think?

 

How long was it non-running? Could have a lifter that lost its prime and now loose... I find on my '65 Mustang that it goes away after a minute or two.

Pull the valve covers and check if any pushrods are loose which would indicate lifter or rocker issues.

 

Sometimes a tall head on a flex plate bolt will hit. Or a loose bolt. Suggest you inspect flex plate bolts for witness marks or loose.

 

HIO Silver - It was in the driveway for about 2 weeks waiting on the tranny. This does not go away no matter how long you drive it. I was a little dumb and drove it to work one day which is about 20 minutes away and it never stopped. Pushrods are next easiest thing for me to check. I would have thought a lifter would be most prominent through the valve covers though, not the oil pan and bell housing...

Blue and White - I was wondering about a bolt on the tranny. I took the flexplate cover off and made sure the torque converter bolts were tight and inspected the flex plate on that side but everything looked fine. I was contemplating pulling the tranny but I talked myself out of it because the click is so consistent with the engine speed.

 

Update - I took the drivers side valve cover off and have atleast two rocker arms that are loose as can be. It doesn't seem to be because the nuts backed off (Installed new ones that came with the new rocker arms). A storm came before I could get the passenger side off and inspect that.

So... at least two lifters aren't pumping up. Cam gone soft? Should I plan for new cam and lifters?

I should point out that about two months ago I had some serious problems. Had a shop do a rebuild and the valves didn't get adjusted (I'm blaming the shop). Ruined the rebuilt heads so i put some Edelbrock heads on. Had a different shop do that because I needed the truck in a hurry... Anyway, after they did that, they had to replace a lifter that wouldn't pump up. So this would make 3 bad lifters now. And I'm kicking myself for not going ahead and doing them all.

 

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If the noise seems to be coming from the bellhousing,and wasn't there before you changed the tranny,that's where you should look. Did you use the same starter ? Pull the starter and see if anything is contacting the flywheel.

 

You should be able to look at lifter and tell if it's flat or not. What kind of rocker arms are they?

 

I have roller tip rockers on the engine. #1 and #8 Intake and Exhaust are both loose. Pretty sure it's collapsed lifters resulting from the original rebuild that screwed up the valves the first time. That period with the tranny out was the longest the engine has sat since it was fixed (the second time). A really crazy coincidence... Maybe it was beginning before I replaced the tranny, but I certainly didn't notice it. I'm taking the engine apart now for inspection. Planning to change cam and lifters. If anyone has a good "how to" on changing out the cam, I'd love to see a link. It's not my first time changing a cam but it has been a while. Also, PA74F250, could you elaborate a little more on inspecting the lifters (and cam). What should I look for?

I also went ahead and pulled the tranny to inspect that area before I disassembled the engine. Everything looked fine. I even unbolted the bellhousing from the transmission, installed it on the engine and started the engine for a second to confirm the sound was still there. While I did that, I took a look under the truck at the rotating flywheel and nothing was hitting. Same starter as before as well. So I am 100% sure it's in the engine now.

Hoping the cam comes today and I can perform install. Will update once that's complete.

 

Cam install: There's plenty of instructional videos on the 'net. You could "google" cam installation and find some.

Checking lifters: Pull one or two and put a straight edge (or another lifter) flat on the lifter foot. If you can see daylight (concave) or even if its flat across, the lifter is shot.
A good lifter will have a slight hump (convex) in the middle, and rock slightly if put on a flat surface. A straight edge across the lifter foot would show daylight at the edges and will rock back and forth.

Usually the cam will be bad too. Most of the time the wear is caused by not enough ZDP or ZDDP in the oil, excluding the age of the cam/lifters.

Be sure to break your cam in right with some dedicated break-in oil and use some ZDP additive with every oil change...or some oil that has it already in the mix.

 

Are you positive the valves are not just out of adjustment? When I did my 445 on the stand I was very thorough in adjusting them but they still weren't right. Now mine didn't sound like that but after a short time I could hear at least one was way too loose. I ended up having 2 that were not right. You should be able to push on the lifter also and feel if they've collapsed or not which I kinda doubt.

 

Thanks for the info and thoughts guys...

I started tearing down the engine on Saturday for cam replacement and when I got the timing cover off I immediately saw metal shavings all inside the oil slinger... Then started taking the rocker arms off and noticed the push rods where the source of the metal as the tips were being eaten away on a few of them... Went ahead and pulled the cam and could see visible wear on the lobes and that the front cam bearing was badly scratched...

Time to pull the engine...

Pulled the engine and got it on the stand and when I pulled the cap for the crank bearing closest to the tranny I saw copper...

Then started pulling the caps for the rods to remove the pistons and noticed the caps had been mismatched with their respective rod (7 with 3, 4 with 6) and so on.

Took it to the machine shop today (a new shop that I was quite impressed with). He spent time and confirmed the lobes on the cam were bad and the way the rods had been mismatched had created some serious issues with the "roundedness" of the rods riding on the crank which probably led to the wear on the crankshaft. the crankshaft itself is ok but everything has to be cleaned up. Waiting to hear about the line bore of the block and how the heads are...

Sooooo.... Looks like I will be installing the engine completely rebuilt for a second time in a couple of weeks. And my suspicion with the knocking noise, is that it was a combination of crank knock and valves knocking that preventing me from locating it exactly.

I will be calling the shop who did the work tomorrow to see what they say and if nothing comes of that planning to file a complaint with the BBB. I will wait to see how they respond first. I suspect they let a youngster work on the engine without proper supervision and ruined it. Just took a while for it to happen considering I have only driven the truck 1000 miles or so since the rebuild (basically the entire time I was troubleshooting the engine).