I would swear that my noise is valves ticking, but it's not. I've been around motors all of my 40+ years, and I would guarantee you that the noise coming from my V-10 is valves. But I've had 3 dealership mechanics and 2 independent mechanics listen to it. All 3 Ford guys said 'piston slap', 1 independent who knew what he was talking about said piston slap. The last independent said the lifters were bad, so I kinda figured he had no clue, since this is an OHC engine. I'm not saying for absolute sure in your case, but chances are,,,, If you do invent something, what do you have in mind ? Explain please what you're thinking, thanks and good luck, Ken

 

I don't have any ideas for slapping piston. I was more on the lines of cold startup as the oil will already be lubricating the heads before start up, which eliminates start up wear on valve/lifter problem.

 

ken04,
I still have a lot to learn about these new Ford engines. Because it's an OHC engine, why couldn't it have a valve tap from sticky lifters. I laugh b/c I was told that my engine might be have sticky lifters. I kind of agreed with the guy b/c my old Jeep did have sticky lifters and they sounded the same as my V-10.

 

Have you been able to determine the problem?

Could it be an exhaust leak?

What have you done to locate the noise?

 

Normally overhead cam engines do not make the same 'sticky lifter' noise that a OHV will because there is no lifter in the valley riding on the cam that collapse over the years and click. It's certainly possible to get valve train noise with an OHC engine, but there are no lifters, the cam spins and opens the valves directly. The sound does sound like old or sticky lifters you're right. I would swear that was the problem with mine too, but it isn't. We're all learning about our engines, all the time. It's very interesting, I love the new technology, that was what really attracted me to the V-10, Ken

 

Ah, like a pre-luber or pre-oiling system. Summit, Jegs, J.C. Whitney, lots of people have them for sale. You can go cheap to mega-bucks with pre-lube systems but basically it's a tank of oil that is pressurized then prior to start up you open the valve and pre oil the engine. They're very good at reducing wear at start up which is where most of the engine comes from I would think, good luck, Ken

 

Awwwwww...thanx for the reference.

 

The Ford modular OHC's have "hydraulic lash adjusters" - basically one end of the rocker arm (cam follower) pivots on the top of what is basically a hydraulic lifter. The other end of the follower sits on top of the valve, and the cam pushes the follower down in the middle. So, yeah, they can get "sticky" (or just plain lazy).

If you don't have enough oil pressure (or flow) up to the heads, they certainly will tick. Dirt, a little rough machining in the adjuster or low oil pressure/flow can certainly affect valve-noise in these heads...

I have a '97 Cougar 4.6L and it ticks up top, sounds like only one valve on the passenger side - sounded just like the piston slap some people have talked about... however, I've found that if I beat/rev on it a bit, really get the oil flowing, the noise will go away for weeks even months. Then, just babying it too much after letting it sit for a week, and it will start to tick again. To me, it's a classic hydraulic adjuster tick. I have never located it with a stethoscope though, so it's possible it's piston slap, but it still sounds like valve tick.

art k.

 

Huh, I did not know what the valve train config was, I figured a bucket, or a shim type, like I've seen on motorcycles all my life.

So if you wail on your mod for a while you do not get the noise ? That's intersesting, I have mine at every cold start, til it it warms up a bit. Heavier weight oil quiets it a bit, but I always have it at start up. But never any other time. It ticks more in the winter, and longer, but it always goes away. I wonder,,,,hmmm, maybe I'll try your wailing on it suggestion, but it's hard to really find a place to do it around here. I'll make alot of people angry driving it that hard for that long. But I never baby my motor, it earns it's keep. Especially pushing that box through the air at 90. And in Portland, if you're not first out of the light, you get cut off by every jerk wad in his rice grinder, so I do tend to use my throttle,,,, yuk yuk, Ken

 

I remember working on an old Escort(?) and the head had buckets WITH hydraulic lash-adjusters built into them... my Triumph TR7 used shims under the buckets ... pain to adjust, always ticked no matter what anyway

My '97 Cougar 4.6L has something in the lower-end on startup, it's only 18K miles so far, but it's done it since brand-new, sounds like a VERY light case of piston-slap. Comes from the driver's side bank, lasts one or two firings in one cylinder only. It's so slight, I'm assuming it's piston slap, but could be just the IAC opening way up and it's the exhaust I hear...

The ticking is high up in the motor, passenger side, and I can hear it in the head with the hood open (or at least, it seems to come from there - never had a screwdriver to listen to it).

I beat on it a bit, maybe 15 minutes of high-revving driving, and it's GONE for months, somtimes weeks, but lately, it hasn't happened since February and only cropped up the other day - an uncharacteristically warm day, too in the 60's. Didn't do it when it was in the 30's last week... I think it's an air bubble in a lifter... it's trapped, and can't get out. Or, the lifter leaks down and can't get back up 5w30 Castrol dino

Random chance that when I shut off the motor, that one valve is open and the lifter bleeds down and doesn't pump right back up? Restricted oil feed to one lifter because of a bad drilling in the head, and I have to get the oil pressure up high to get it to pump back up? Don't know. When it's there, it's there, when it's not, it's not. I'll probably find out when I rebuild the motor in 20 years - it's a 30th Anniversary Cougar (last of the rear-wheel drive ones, made Aug (on edit: April!) '97), so I plan on keeping it for the rest of my life

Sorry, I seem to have hijacked the thread...