I have a Ford Explorer Xlt 89,000 just started taping has been running great with thicker oil and quicker changes its been 3 months how long can I last cheapest price to repair in Philly area is $1300

 

You are hearing lifter tap, and that is caused by thick oil. Not enough volume of oil can get to the hyrolic lifters, so they do not expand proporly, not tightening the valve train, creating clearances which will cause "ticking" when running. Why are you using thicker oil? In my chebbie, i would get lifter ticking with my 5w-30. When i changed the oil i replaced a quart of oil with Marvels Mystery Oil, and that cleared it up. MMO is not snake oil. MMO will clean out your engine better than any other product i have used. I have a 5 psi across the board higher oil pressure. Put 5w-30 back into that beast and try that. Thicker oil is not the answer. With thicker oil, oil does not flow like it should, creating more backpressure creating oil pressure. There are some other reasons though. If you oil pickup is plugged up with crap, thicker oil will give you higher pressure because of the decrease in oil volume going through the pump. MMO will clear the sludge out of the engine. Whatever you do, do not put a fram on that rig. There are better filters out there. From my expiriences, frams have poor anti-drainback valves, letting the oil in the gallies drain back down into the pan. Thus each time you start your engine, you get a dry start. Not very good on an engine. My advise is to change the oil back to 5w-30, use a good filer like motorcraft, wix, hastings, or purolator. Put a quart of MMO in the oil, and run it for atleast a 1000 miles, see if you still had your original problems, which if you are running thicker oil, was probably low oil pressure, which was cause by worn bearings, sludged up oil pump or pickup. Hope this helps.

 

Thanx 78fordman I will do this

 

If this is the 2.9 engine, they are noted for eating their cam bearings, and thus causing lower flow to the lifters, and then they tap. To get a real notion of the engine condition, you need to measure the real pressure with a good gauge. In general, thicker viscosity oil will have higher pressure, cold and when warmed up. As long as the bearings get enough flow, and you have more than minimum pressure, most engines don't care what the pressure is. BUT, the lifters flow oil, in the small block style, all the time. The old lifters flowed little oil as long as they weren't dirty. So the new ones will collapse and clack a lot easier than the FE and older style. As long as you keep oil in it, and keep a fresh egg taped to the bottom of your gas-pedal foot, the engine will last a long time. MMO is a very detergent, and very low viscosity lube. If you have gummed up stuff, it may dissolve it. May. I would look at the owners manual before putting in a 5w-XX oil, as they depend more on polymers to keep them thick at high temp than oils with a more viscous (natural) base, such as the 10W and 20W series. Once the polymer breaks down, you in effect have 5W oil in your engine. That may not be enough to keep the pressure up (by being thicker, it restricts somewhat the flow thru the bearings and whatnot, thus having 'more' oil to pass up to the lifters to keep them pumped) The thinner oil can leak out past the bearing clearance more quickly, so there's less left to keep the lifters full..
tom

 

This engine is a 4.0 sohc and i did pick up some MMO thanx

 

The 4.0 sohc engines have a habit of making noise because the 'cam cassette' and chain tensioners get weary. It will have a noise at startup that may go away as the oil pressure builds. There is a TSB about the cam tensioners (i think) with new parts...but not for free. You will need special tools to align (time) the cams if you take it apart.
tom

 

Duh, woke up this AM and remembered the cassettes are on the dohc car engines. The chain tensioners do go bad on the 4.0 sohc engines, and make noise when cold, and some noise at idle.
tom

 

Thanx Tom will check on the tensioner