Hi all

Just ran to the local Mexican resturant and back. Truck ran good. I pulled into my parking spot at the hotel and revved the truck. Seemed real sluggish, only hit 2K. I revved it again with more vigor. What should have been a 3,500 rpm hit was 2K, again. Concerned now I popped the hood and eye balled my motor, looking for anything that seemed odd (oil, unplugged sensors, just anything). I revved the motor up from the throttle body. Felt good, felt strong, didn't hear any ticking or anything. Jumped back in the cab. I really gave it the go pedal this time. She revved to 3,400 and started rapping and tapping. Oh snap. I did it again. Same thing.Did it again. 3,400 and talking back to me and not in the good way.

My truck used to bounce off of 4,000 with no issues, and smoothly with no motor noises. What is the tapping / clacking, and why isn't my truck revving to 4K like normal?

Is this something I need to be concerned with?? The truck ran good going to the resturant, no issues. Is Ole' Betsy just trying to drive me crazy? With all these little bugs???

Thanks guys, I know I'm probably driving you all nuts but this one has me a little bugged. That clacking tapping noise really concerns me more than the lack of revving power like normal.

 

How is the oil pressure?

 

Stuck in a hotel and new to the area, so my resources are very limited. I just have the dumby guage, and it reads normal. Why do you ask? Are these the symptoms of low oil pressure? Why would low oil pressure prevent my motor from revving up?

 

The sounds you've described suggest low oil pressure.
The engine not willing to rev, I dunno, sounds like it's starving for fuel.

I think it's REALLY time you have it plugged in and have the codes checked.
Let us know what happens,

Murph.

 

Yup.

I'll ask the folks at the local advanced if they'll scan my truck and get back to yall.

 

Advanced wouldn't pull my codes. I got the number to a local garage I'm going to check out. I'll let you all know what the deal is once I get the codes pulled. Truck ran fine today but I didn't dare rev it. Whatever that sound was I heard wasn't good!

 

Nuts to Advance, then. They probably only have OBD-II scanners now anyways.

With the EEC-IV in your '94, you can pull your codes yourself. Ford Fuel Injection How To Run a Self-Test

Sounds like funny sensors to me, if it went away (mostly) for the one rev last night, and ran fine today. Either that, or a chunk of something blocked your oil pump inlet screen briefly. But with 212,000 miles over 15 years, I'd suspect sensors going bad & were causing a lean condition or really, really bad timing.

 

A few years back we had a kid in town who was a real ******* overall.
One day he bought an 89 f150 with a 4.9. I told him he had the best engine ford had just dont rev it over 3200. He liked wrapping it up to 5k and trany dumping the old WT till one day he had a problom.

He took it into the local shop and had drained and damaged every lifter and had "softened" the springs. He got it out of the shop and sold it to a guy I know. Truck still runs fine. Spends its days hauling firewood.

Point is dont wrap on a stock 300. the valve train is rated to about 3200. I put stiffer springs in with my cam so I could touch 4k. You want to spin hot you need lifters and springs to match.

 

I'm not some annoying kid. I wasn't revving my truck to show off. Maybe you didn't mean it that way but I'm just making it clear I don't abuse my truck. I don't do burnouts (intentionally) or anything like that.

My truck has never had a problem revving to 4,000 before. Making those noises at 3,400 really had me worried. Like I said it ran good today so I guess I didn't hurt anything.

 

Thanks BigBlue, I appreiciate the time.

Hey, at this point the main thing is the truck RUNS. I'll worry about the details later. I figured for sure I broke something last night.

Thanks guys. Like I said, I'll keep yall updated.

 

Didint mean that you were whiping on her like a 16 year old. The point is that the 300 is a low rever. 4K is a hot spin for the stock valve train. Thats all The only time my 96 ever saw 4k was in third on a downgrade with a load on.

Keep it slow and the 300 will go. I am sorry if I offended you. I told the story and kinda skipped the point. My bad.

 

Hey Flip, how is your 300 set up? My 300 hits 4,000 regularly if I nail it from a dead stop. I try to keep it from going past 3,500 tho. Is your 300 carb'd?


No, you didn't offend me. I've been around here long enough to know you are not one of the guys who likes to start things for kicks and grins. If I sounded defensive, it wasn't in an aggresive way; I was just saying, I may be young, but I treat my truck with respect. I am grateful to have a truck!

Alright well I'll keep yall updated. I'm still wondering what that noise was. I know it wasn't good. My truck has never minded revving to 4, at all. I'll just keep my foot out of it from now on. Was it the valves tapping?

 

could have been the valves tapping, loose rocker arm, bad lifter, or some kind of oil flow problem most of those are fairly cheap fixes, just a very involved job. it might be time to throw in a tad bit thicker oil if you start consistently getting clatter like that. at 212k miles she aint a little kid no more. time for that 460 swap, lol.

 

Well, she ain't making those noises driving. She did it when I actually parked her and revved it up. Never did it before. Like I said, I'll just keep my foot out of it and keep an eye on everything I know to.

That 460 is sure getting tempting. With that said, have you noticed how the price of fuel is rising again? Jeez..

I use 10W30 Castrol. What is the next thickest weight oil? I know the W stands for Winter, so the next thickest oil would be 20W30, correct? Or am I totally off?

Edit: If it is an oil delivery issue, wouldn't a lighter weight oil be easier on the oil pump and valves?

Hmmm. I used to use Lucas HD oil stabilizer in place of 1 QT of oil. I wonder if I should start using that stuff again.

 

I got a comp 252 cam with the comp recomended lifters, and valve springs; on a stock intake exhaust setup. Got a points style dizzy tweaked with a pertronix ignitor and a premium coil sparking autolite 45s gapped .038.

It is setup for pulling with the knowledge that I can see -40f temps and need my truck to run at that temp.

This summer I intend to machine off a extra stock intake and machine a 2 bbl adapter to fit on it. Im going to go with an autolite 2100 with the 1.08 venturis. This carb worked exccelent on a 292 and hope a 300 will take it to advantage. Im getting married in september but I intend to put a set of EFI exhaust manifolds on after that. Trying to improve efficency while maintaing drivability.

The main reason I went to the comp cam setup with the springs and such was the inability of the stock setup to breathe above 3000 rpm. Ive had both carbed and EFI 300 engines and had that problom in both of them. When towing the 300 would not get up high enough to give good acceleration. I am pleased with the cam and would suggest anyone needing a bit more omph in a carbed setup to use it. Starts at -40 and pulls a GCVW of 12k great.

Lucas can help somtimes. Ive had it cure lifter tics and cause them. Great in trannys though.