I think my 91 E-250 has a bad lifter. It's only got 37K miles on it so it hasn't been driven very much over the years. My question is there anyway to get a lifter unstuck and working again without removing the intake manifold?

 

Well, I have had limited success running tranny fluid through, I have had better success with MMO to stop ticking.

 

Here is what I did when I had a stuck lifter on a 1978 460 in a E250.

1) Dump a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil into the engine.

2) Drive around for 45 minutes to an hour.

3) Drain the oil and refill with oil formulated for diesel engines. It
has higher detergent properties than regular motor oil.

4) Run for 3K miles. Hopefully by now it is working again.

5) Drain and refill with your regular motor oil.

I did that to mine in 2003 and up until I lunched the engine
this summer I never heard aother ticka-ticka-ticka from that lifter.

YMMV

bob

 

Do a search for auto Rx, it's a cleaner that works with the oil, not thinning it, I run it every once and a while, it cleans and conditions seals.

 

What did you do, and did it work?

bob

 

hey,

I have a 1978 E-100 V8 Van- i got it for free non-op - been working on it in my yard - and just got it running and had a key made etc.

it drives good- but on the highway at certain points it starts to knock or tick like crazy- its rapid fire Tick-Tick-Tick and gets louder and louder- I can make it stop by either backing off on the Gas pedal- or flooring it and accelerating very quicklly-? this is all while going 50-70mph- 4th gear?

could this be a stuck lifter as you mentioned?

 

I changed the oil to some GTX. When i drained the oil it looked like it had been in there for around 10K miles instead of just 200 miles. When i went to change the oil filter most of the oil (there wasn't more than 2 or 3 oz of oil in it) was gone. I think there was so much sludge in the motor that when I put the napa syn. oil in there it all came loose and plugged everything up. I'm thinking about trying some of the AutoRX and see if it will break the lifter loose. Damn I hope it works, I have a 95 BMW 530i and it's started to run like s--t and the check engine lights on so it's probably an emissions problem so now I'm down to 1, 4 wheel vehicle my trusty Ranger.

 

Well, syn oil is not suggested for older engines that were designed for conventional, infact that came directly from I believe to Castrol site, so unlike dealers pushing it for all engines, they say do not unless it calls for it. Now the AutoRx site suggest running their product before changing over to the syn oil due to it cleaning out the engine and saving you from problems, like you are experiencing I believe.
I run Motorcraft synthetic blend in my 99, it's a mix of syn and conventional, being Motorcraft it is obviously designed for Ford engines, 5W-30 in the winter for me, 10W-30 summer, yours should be the same.

 

Well I tried the AutoRx and it didn't help. My son seems to think I have a bad rocker arm. He said Fords are notorious for rocker arm bearings failing is he right?

 

I've heard people doing an oil change, fill 50% Diesel fuel, 50% oil, run engine for 30 minutes, drain and put fresh oil back in... Any experts done\heard of this?

 

Auto RX will take a little time on the road to finish it's work, even after out, you want to give it 3500 more miles. Never heard of bad rockers on Fords, I have friends with some well over 100,000 miles and daily driving, 6,000 mile oil changes, and 100,000 on the spark plugs, running like clock work.