Valve clatter
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New User
Joined: Feb 2006
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Valve clatter
Hey all,
I bought a '98 f150XL reg. cab, short bed 4X2 with the 4.2L and a 5spd mid last year from orig. owner with only 25K miles on it. It is my first f150 and I like it alot. Only prob is the valves clatter at just about any speed when engine is warm. I have tried different octanes of gas and it does not help. There is also a strange, intermittent "ticking" noise that sounds like it is coming from under the dash. I have looked for something loose under there but cannot find anything. I could also be described as a mild electrical "arcing" sound but that might be stretching it a bit. Anyway, I am glad I found this forum and I realy hope someone here can help me out on these problems. Thank alot!!
I bought a '98 f150XL reg. cab, short bed 4X2 with the 4.2L and a 5spd mid last year from orig. owner with only 25K miles on it. It is my first f150 and I like it alot. Only prob is the valves clatter at just about any speed when engine is warm. I have tried different octanes of gas and it does not help. There is also a strange, intermittent "ticking" noise that sounds like it is coming from under the dash. I have looked for something loose under there but cannot find anything. I could also be described as a mild electrical "arcing" sound but that might be stretching it a bit. Anyway, I am glad I found this forum and I realy hope someone here can help me out on these problems. Thank alot!!
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 4,532
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From: Trussville, Alabama
I'm guessing by valve clatter that you mean "pinging" also known as preignition. This is the result of the fuel/air mixture not igniting/burning as it should based on design of the engine and combustion chamber. There may not be much you can do about it.
Some of it is, unfortunatley, a by-product of the way engines are tuned these days. Not to say that there isn't something causing yours to be worse than normal, but without being there to hear it, it's hard to say for sure.
The engines are tuned to give the best performance on 87 octane gas.
Winter gas tends to perform worse than summer gas (different formulations). The engines "knock sensors" will try to minimize the problem by adjusting engine timing on-the-fly.
As far as the sounds from under the dash.....
You got me on that one.
Some of it is, unfortunatley, a by-product of the way engines are tuned these days. Not to say that there isn't something causing yours to be worse than normal, but without being there to hear it, it's hard to say for sure.
The engines are tuned to give the best performance on 87 octane gas.
Winter gas tends to perform worse than summer gas (different formulations). The engines "knock sensors" will try to minimize the problem by adjusting engine timing on-the-fly.
As far as the sounds from under the dash.....
You got me on that one.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 352
Likes: 1
From: uk
hi,kawboy, strange ticking noise, if you only here this when at a stand still, it maybe the cooling of the catalitic exausts, as in my case it took some tracking down and is garanteed to do this every time you stop the engine. outside the truck it sounds even louder.
as for valve clatter, hydrolic valves should quite down as the oil pressure increases, seconds from start-up.
as your next posting surgests 1998 and the worry of the lower gasket failure, in some cases within this forum, valve clatter has been noted due to the pumping of coolant.
i hope with the very low mileage this is not the case.
as for valve clatter, hydrolic valves should quite down as the oil pressure increases, seconds from start-up.
as your next posting surgests 1998 and the worry of the lower gasket failure, in some cases within this forum, valve clatter has been noted due to the pumping of coolant.
i hope with the very low mileage this is not the case.
New User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Ok if you are hearing that "ticking" noise, are you driving and it sounds sort of like a chirp then it is your ac belt tensioner. I had that replaced on my truck and it obviously will only happen when you have the ac on. About 300 miles down the road again it started chirping again after it was replaced by dealership.
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