I recently bought a 1991 Ext. cab 4x4 Ranger. It has the 4.0 V6 with 143,000 miles. My question is: The lifters make a lot of noise until the motor gets good and warm, I changed the oil and filter and added a half can of Sea Foam, this made no difference at all. Does anyone have any possible solutions to this problem ?
Thanks,
Tim

 

What oil are you running and how's the weather? If it's a paticularly cold area and you're running rather think oil, lifter tick is normal until it's warmed up. Are you positive it's the lifers and not the injectors as well?

Flip your manual open, there's a chart in there that shows proper oils for proper temperatures.

Welcome to FTE and the Ranger forum!

 

Zach! When I start my Ranger 4.0 V6 SOHC, there is a lifter noise for 2-3 seconds. Is my engine ok? I have just change oil and oil filter. Oil - Mobil1 5w30.

 

try some rislone next time you change the oil that should help clean them up a bit. I think noisy lifters are really a result of poor oil change habits allowing them to accumulate crude and then trying to clean them out all at once.

The rislone is available at checkers, autozone etc. also before you change the oil maybe add some engine oil flush, it seems to be primarily kerosene but it does also seem to get the gunk out which can be bad and good. another product is marvel mystery oil, I used it for a gas additive but it says it can be used in the crankcase.

 

A great cleaning up method is to drain a quart of oil, add a quart of ATF, and run it for a few minutes. Then change the oil. The detergents in ATF clean the engine up quite nicely.

Pablo, yep it's fine to have a couple of seconds during the winter. I imagine it's quite cold in the Ukraine right now? As long as the noise completely goes away and oil pressure registers quickly, all is well. Just make sure you're using the appropriate oil according to your owners manual and the temperature.

 

Welcome to FTE tibet46

With the vintage of your 4.0L, you might have CCDI = Combustion Chamber Deposit Interference.

This is a condition whereby deposits on the cylnder head & piston crown, in the "squish zone", build up & come together, such that the pistion touches the head through the deposits on it's up stroke, until things warm up & expand enough to give clearance. This usually happens mostly at a cold start.

On my 4.0L, it sorta sounds like a noisey lifter, or maybe sorta like two metal ball bearings clicking together, which is called "marble noise" & there is a TSB out on it too.

If you think CCDI may be your problem, Ford has a "decarbon" proceedure to try.

It's link is in the "Tech Info" thread atop this forums front page.

The Dealer performed this proceedure on my 99 4.0L, with limited success.

A manual scrapping to remove the carbon deposits, while doing a head gasket replacement, kept it away for 18 months, so thats how I was convinced CCDI was my problem.

I now run Chevron, or Texaco gas with Techron & do the high rev "blow it out" part, of Fords decarb proceedure, on a regular basis, to keep er cleaned out & quiet.

The problem I have with Fords proceedre is that it gets expensive, when you have to buy three cans of the PM-3 & do the decarb proceedure three times. then change the oil, filter & plugs, or at least clean the plugs.

With the "Techron Concentrate Plus", all I have to do is add it to the tank, fill up & drive, while winding it out every now & then, which I like to do anyway!!!!! lol

I usually do my treatment just before a scheduled oil & filter change anyway & the Techron doesn't dirty up the plugs, it in fact helps clean them.

So if you decide to try Fords decarb proceedure, wait until it's oil change time & it'll cut cost some.

Just some thoughts for consideration.

BTW, did you put the SeaFoam in the gas tank, or in your crankcase?????

 

also if you have hydralic lifters, and if you oil is thick it may take a few second before they "pump up" if they take excessively long time they may need to be replaced. also i think the gen. 1 4.0L uses the same heads as the 2.9L which is bad because of the design. they have poor oil circulation. which is why on most 2.9L you hear the lifters making a bit of chatter. usually my self on every oil change i replace a quart of oil with a quart of Lucas oil. it bonds itself to anymoving part, so even if the oil isnt there right away it still coated and lubed from the Lucas.

 

The temps have been in the forties. I'm using Valvoline 10-30. Not sure if its the injectors making noise or not, it sounds like lifters to me. It doesn't do it right away on start up it usually takes a few seconds before it starts ticking. I get good oil pressure right away so I'm sure its not an oil pump problem.

 

[QUOTE=pawpaw]Welcome to FTE tibet46

With the vintage of your 4.0L, you might have CCDI = Combustion Chamber Deposit Interference.

This is a condition whereby deposits on the cylnder head & piston crown, in the "squish zone", build up & come together, such that the pistion touches the head through the deposits on it's up stroke, until things warm up & expand enough to give clearance. This usually happens mostly at a cold start.

On my 4.0L, it sorta sounds like a noisey lifter, or maybe sorta like two metal ball bearings clicking together, which is called "marble noise" & there is a TSB out on it too.

If you think CCDI may be your problem, Ford has a "decarbon" proceedure to try.

It's link is in the "Tech Info" thread atop this forums front page.

The Dealer performed this proceedure on my 99 4.0L, with limited success.

A manual scrapping to remove the carbon deposits, while doing a head gasket replacement, kept it away for 18 months, so thats how I was convinced CCDI was my problem.

I now run Chevron, or Texaco gas with Techron & do the high rev "blow it out" part, of Fords decarb proceedure, on a regular basis, to keep er cleaned out & quiet.

The problem I have with Fords proceedre is that it gets expensive, when you have to buy three cans of the PM-3 & do the decarb proceedure three times. then change the oil, filter & plugs, or at least clean the plugs.

With the "Techron Concentrate Plus", all I have to do is add it to the tank, fill up & drive, while winding it out every now & then, which I like to do anyway!!!!! lol

I usually do my treatment just before a scheduled oil & filter change anyway & the Techron doesn't dirty up the plugs, it in fact helps clean them.

So if you decide to try Fords decarb proceedure, wait until it's oil change time & it'll cut cost some.

Just some thoughts for consideration.

BTW, did you put the SeaFoam in the gas tank, or in your crankcase???

I put the Seafoam in the crankcase.

 

I also have a 92 Ranger with the 3.0 V6 that I've owned for 8 years. I've never had a problem with lifter noise in that truck. Is this something that is more common with the 4 liter motors ?

 

"Marble Noise" is common to the 4.0L.

It seems to have several different noise problems, none of which are life threatening.

CCDI, from poor factory control of part tolerance build up at assembly, which makes it very sensitive to combustion chamber deposits.

Mine is very sensitive to the slightest deposit buildup. When I've let deposits build up, it'll usually take around 20 seconds after a cold start, for it to begin it's nose.

Some 4.0L have issues with wrist pins, others with piston slap, due to removal of most of the pistons skirt, to cut friction, which can ake it want to "wobble" in the bore, if not sized carefully at the factory.

All of these sound an awful lot alike, so it's really dificult to determine which it is.

Seeing as how you've added the SeaFoam to the crankcase, without any change in the noise, I'd say it's not likely lifter noise your hearing.

As you've described it, it sure sounds like the CCDI that I have.
So I'd consider a good decarboning of the engine & see how things go.

Also seeing as how your up in cold country, you could use 5W-30 & that should help with cold starts & gas mileage too.

Keep us posted on what you find & do.

 

the 3.0 vulcan is a totaly different designed engine from the cologne series (being the 2.6 2.8 2.9 4.0 ohv 4.0 sohc) the 4.0 ohv is basically a bored stroked 2.9 (but it is a new cast block) that uses coil packs instead of a distributor. one the first gen of these 1990-1992 they had the same oiling problems as the 2.9 and the same lifter noise issues. the 3.0 has a total different design in the block itself. the oil return on them engines are different.

edit note. if it is carbon build up in the 4.0 which is common as stated. do not run high octane. run 87. 89 + only makes this problem worse. once you clear out the carbon its recommended that you run the engine over 3k rpms a few times a day as you drive it to keep the build up from accuring to start with.