I once owned a 1998 Ford Ranger with a 4.2L V6 and now own a 2002 Ford F-150 with a 4.2L V6 engine. After years of owning V8 engines, these V6 engines sound very noisy to me, especially on acceleration. The Ranger had 27000 on it when I traded it for the 2002 F-150. My 2002 only has less than 10000 miles on it. I love the F-150 but would feel better knowing where the engine noise is comming from. Could someone explain this to me? Thank you.

 

Ford put the 4.2 in the Ranger? Dayum,I bet thats a bada** truck!
My 97 made noise on takeoff due to the HD clutch fan.It sounded like an airplane taking off.I also know that the 4.2 has a carbon build up problem which causes it to detonate upon acceleration.To fix this you have to remove the upper plenum,and in bad cases the lower intake,to clean the EGR ports and the IMRCs.
Also,the fuel injectors make alot of noise too.

 

First thing, Welcome to FTE and the 4.2 and 3.8 forum. Glad to have you.
BOF has already mentioned a few things. I have not ever heard it (that I know of) but have been told the oil pump can make a ticking sound.

What kind of noise are you hearing?

Is it while idling, or accelerating, or driving down the freeway, etc?

 

Thank you both for your reply. As I stated, this sound, more of a "knock" than anything is in a nearly new engine, having less than 10000 miles. It may well be the natural sound of this engine, but it bothers me because I am not sure. I bought this truck with 7000 miles on it. It was a repo. The only reason I have not taken it to Ford for an evaluation is that the Ranger I had made the same sound.

 

Is it just on acceleration? Is the knocking metallic sounding or more like detonation?

 

Yes, just on acceleration and more like detonation, not a metalic sound.

 

Read my first reply up there again.

 

Thank you. That answers my question.

 

One more comment. I believe I could best describe the sound coming from my engine as the sound normally coming from a sports car tail pipe, however it comes from under the hood on my pickup. It may not even be noticeable to anyone who owns a Ford F-150 with a 4.2L V6 if he bought it new. The thing is, I bought mine with 7000 miles on ot so I don't know what it sounded like new. If it is normal, I could live with it, as I love everything else about the truck. I just want to know if it is normal or not. I could take it to my local Ford dealer, but I have found them to be totally liars and completely untrustworthy. I have all my servicing done at a local service station.

 

Thanks to all who responded, but I found a definitive answer in this post

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...sy-engine.html

 

That's good news. Now you can drive without worry and enjoy your truck.

 

Glad to hear you have it figured out!

 

I would agree with the noisy injector theory.
My 2000 F150 4.2L & my 2005 Mustang GT 4.6L
have the same noise.

 

There is another soucre of noise that drives many nuts. On startup the drivers engine hoist bracket resonates, sounds like a tinny rattle. Remove the bracket and noise is gone for good. I removed mine after reading a post from someone else about this.

Good luck.