I Just Bought A 1999 Ford Ex. Xlt 59k On It. Over The Last Week Since We Bought It When You Start It The Valves Rattle Bad, Not Just A Little. But It Only Last For Say .5 To 1.5 Secs. It Reminds Me Of When I Used To Drive A Old Gm Back In College With Hydralic Lifters And Ran It Out Of Oil. The Dealer I Bought It From Shows They Just Did An Oil Change But The Oil On The Dip Stick Looks Like It Has About 1000 Miles On It And Looks To Be Extremly Light Weight. A Guy At The Autoparts Store Told Me Tonight The Oil They Put In At The Dealer Could Be To Thin. My Question Is Would This Be The Case Or Is There A Bigger Problem Happening. I Have A 30 Day Powertrain Warrenty So If This Is A Bigger Problem I Need To Have Them Look At It Soon. If This Is A Normal Sound From The 4.0 Someone Just Let Me So It Can Just Bug Me And Not Worry Me.

 

I get valve chatter too, but only right after I change the oil and start it up for the first time with the new oil in it. It sounds like there's not enough oil up there at startup...also a symptom of using oil that's too lightweight.

 

This is somewhat common in the early model 4.0s, but usually after they gt 100k on them. Since yours is a 99 with only 59k, I'd exercise the warranty. Make sure they tell you exactly what they did to fix it. Don't let them dope up the engine with any magic/mystery additives.

Mike

 

It didn't make all that noise when you were checking it out to buy?

 

It only lasts for a few micro seconds. It wont do it if the car sits for less than an hour. Is this possibly the timing chain recall thing I have reading about because the other day driving it it sounded like a small diesel engine. As for when I bought it, it only did it the first time I started it. It didnt do it when we took it out a couple of days later. I wrote it off the first time because I assumed it had been sitting for a while. If there is something more going on here I need to know I only have a 30day/3000mile warranty.

 

Check it and see if it has a Fram oil filter on it. There are a lot of reports that because of a bad anti-drainback valve, this will cause valve train noise on start up. If id does have
a Fram, replace it with a Motorcraft, and see if this solves the start up noise problem....

 

purolator brand oil filter. would this be the same case with this brand other than motorcraft?

 

No, Purolator should be ok.....