My father-in-law just bought a brand new superduty, so i just got a handmedown runaround truck! Its an 84 f-100, I-6 and a 4 speed on the floor. As long as I can remember this truck has always ticked from the back of the motor, in the valvecover. He said he pulled the valvecover, and the back two rockerarms were dry. THis truck runs great, strong power, as a matter of fact he is an EMT, and it was his responce vehicle. What do you think it could be, and how extensive could the damage be after years of running it this way? Im a competint mechanic, i just want to get some opinions. THanks. SEAN!

(Sorry its an F-100 NOT and f 150)

 

You would have to verify that oil is actually coming up through the pushrods, but it's quite possible the two back rockers are gauled out to where the oil can't get through to run down along the rocker. I had this happen on mine with a new engine! One of the rockers was wore just a certain way that no oil could get through. Yes, this would really wear the rocker if it went that way a while. I think I would slightly loosen the two rockers, and then run a drill into the oil pump to pump some oil, and verify that oil is actually making it up the pushrods. I'd almost bet it is. I guess you could do this running also if you are brave enough to fend off oil dripping. I'd do one at a time, and slightly loosen it up while running. It will really clack...But it might let the oil run through enough to verify. If the oil is pumping, get two new rocker arms. Verify the pushrods are straight. Roll em along a glass table or something.. If not get new ones of those also. They are cheap. MK

 

How many miles are on it? It should be able to run w/o oil for some time, but it is a ford I-6 and should run forever. If its free just drive it till you have to fix it. My grandpa said "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

 

Thats the thing. THis truck is my 6th perfectly good running vehicle between my wife and I!! So I don't HAVE to drive it if I dont want to. I think Ill pull the valve cover, and see if the pushrods are bent, or see if the rocker arm holes are closed off and just rnn 'er till she dies! THanks!

 

How many miles on the truck? How loud is the ticking? If it were mine and didn't sound like parts were breaking I would run 2 cans of the Rislone Engine Treatment concentrate (the 15 oz size). Many have said this got rid of ticking noises. I used to run it all the time in my '84, not for ticking, but general purpose. Rislone is cheap compared to opening up the top end and if it dosen't get rid of the tick it will help clean out the engine a bit.

 

Is THat rislone the stuff in the silver can> Oh wait thats engine restore. I guess I dont know what that is, but I have tried running it on high Idle, and I thinned out the oul like crazy with Marvs and let it run a few minuts before changing the oil the last 3 or four times ( My fatherinlaw is not very mechanical) and the thing still ticks. It has about 160k miles on it, and the ticking is actually pretty loud. On idle it ticks faster then I could say 'tickticktick' if you understand that.

 

Rislone is in the yellow can: http://www.rislone.com/engine.htm

If Marvs didn't help it not sure Rislone will. I had a '77 300 I6 that the rocker would back off. Once the rocker fell right off the stud while driving. Perhaps if the rocker was loose it might tap, or if the lifter was collapsed. Donno.

 

YEah...i think its gonna take a new valvecover gasket, and a hours work...but that 'cold trough' is going right across us now and it 20 degrees out! Ughhhh.... My little heater in my shop wont keep up, so its gonna have to wait a while! THanks for the suggestions, and ill keep this posted!

 

"Location: Small town USA"

Cold Trough? 20 degres? You sure you're not in Canada or something? I an in Detroit and its in the 50s today and tomorrow it's going into the 70s! I suppose North Dakota could freeze your rear end off right now though.

 

I live in Western nebraska. A town called Kimball, and trust me, its coldern a witches tit here :-)

 

hey 84 maztang:

first: be very proud it is a f100! it'll almost always be the only one in your neighborhood. take care of it and you can give it to your kids and it will still be running.

try a couple of cans of rislone (wally world or any auto parts store). you also might go to 20w oil while u give it some time to work.

should that not do the job, then you can check the rocker arms. they probably need replacing if it has been going on for all the time u mentioned.

if it still runs fairly decently perhaps there's not a lot of damage yet.

 

It runs better then my 87 EFI 5.0! I originally got this truck to give to my brother for his first car....but now I think he can take the ol 87....!!! :-)

 

Make sure you got all the Marvel Mystery OIl out as that could cause noisy lifters (something Rislone won't do). I did a 1 qt flush with some watery stuff once and after the flush my engine was noisy for several minutes, I guess until the fresh oil filled the lifters. So if after the MMO it was still noisy, but different noisy, maybe that is the problem. I wasn't going to push the Rislone too hard, but maybe it is worth a try. I still say the concentrate as it has all the additives of the full size, just less base oil.

 

Ill give it a try...Thanks!

 

The chemicals won't work if there is no oil flowing onto those rockers. Unless a lifter is sticking, it won't do any good. You'll either have to restore oil flow, and readjust, or if oil is flowing , you will also need to adjust the valves, if the rocker is not wore out. Studs can sometimes pull out also. You'll have to fix this one right if you want to get rid of the noise. The rislone or marvel oil, while pretty good at cutting varnish, etc, won't do the trick in this case being it's been doing it for a long time. Your valves are too far out of adjustment. MK