Unconstant tapping... ANNOYING!

FuriousFord

Registered User
I was driving home from work the other day when I pulled into the gas station, waiting in line for the pump. While I was sitting in PARK, just idling, I heard a very faint ticking noise, so I turned the radio down to hear better. No longer than a minute went by when I noticed the tapping was getting LOUDER and LOUDER, so I just her down.(I got my oil changed that morning, and they said they used 5W30, but the mechanic slipped and said 5W20 once) The car in front of me pulled away, so I fired the car back up, and the ticking noise was still there and just as loud. I put it into gear(D) and started to drive home, but as soon as I pulled out of the gas station parking lot, the sound was gone and I could hear it going away!

The noise only seems to occur when the car is warmed up and then sits idling for a few minutes. I put about half a bottle of this stuff called PMT, which is this AWESOME additive that's a super lubricant, and the noise hasn't come back.

I was talking to a friend of mine, who is a mechanic, he thought maybe a lifter was getting stuck or going bad. I intially thought it was a valve tap, but that would be constant.


I know you guys are probably going to ask if the CHECK GAUGES light was on, or if I have good oil pressure. So, I am just going to answer you now, my oil pressure sending unit has been faulty for the last few months, so I get a signal somtimes and somtimes don't.

Do you guys have any suggestion? Have any of you experienced this before?

Thanks,
Dave

Sorry for the lengthyness of this post.
 
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Come on guys, I know the post is long, but I wanted to give you as much information as I could. You've looked at it 45 times and no one responce, please help me out.

As it turns out, I think the problem is getting worse. Yesterday afternoon, I was coming home from school, and I got on it a bit to get past some traffic. I look at my review mirror and there was a cloud of greyish blue smoke trailing behind me. I tried to get over to the next lane, so I could pull over, but I looked in my mirrors again and the smoke was gone. I decided just to take her home.

When I pulled into the parking space, i noticed an awful buring smell, so I go out to see what it may be. I looked under the car and oil splashed the entire way back to the resonator, and was still burning off (smoking). I also noticed that it was dripping from the passenger side K-member. I pressed the puddles and it was clean motor oil...

I can tell that I dont have a HG leak, because I am not burning any oil from the tail pipe. I think it's just the oil pan gasket (permatex)

IMPORTANT!!--- the tapping happens more and more often, but only while im sitting in one spot. Going up hills (underload) I can feel a wierd vibration in the peddle, and the motor makes an odd sound that is kind of hard to explain. It's hard to hear over the exhaust, but it isn't a nice consistant flow of power. See if this helps...

Consistant flow of "power" (normal) = vvvvvvvvvvv:shift:vvvvvvvvvv
Odd inconsistant flow of "power" (what I heard) = vvvvvdddvvvvvdddvvvvv

But there doesn't seem to be any lose in performance..

Please help me out guys, and like I said before I apologise for the really long posts. Its very hard to summarize what has be happening. Please take the time to read the posts(if you'd like) and give me some kind of advice.

I was out looking at new cars today... I cant believe I'm thinking about givin' up my baby.

Dave
 
5-20 like water.probley not enought oil pressure on one lifter as tour mechanic sticking lifter at shop we aleays used 10w40 nomatter how old or new a car was 5w anythingis to thin.
 
5-20 like water.probley not enought oil pressure on one lifter as tour mechanic sticking lifter at shop we aleays used 10w40 nomatter how old or new a car was 5w anythingis to thin.


WHAT???????? This response makes no sense at all. :confused:

A collapsing lifter would not cause the intermittent blue smoke and, if anything, it would get worse under load. Your shaking in the accelerator pedal may be bad motor mounts, causeing your engine to shake and vibrate as you accelerate.
As for the external oil leak, I wouldn't drive the car any further unless it was to a garage to get it up on the lift to see where it might be coming from. Maybe the oil filter isn't tight enough, or the gasket from the old filter was still on the engine when you screwed the new filter on. That will cause a nasty oil leak right there.
Either way, it sounds like you might have some serious issues coming your way. Check the oil and see what it looks like. You can't always tell if the head gaskets are bad simply by not seeing white smoke coming out the exhaust. It also wouldn't hurt to do a compression check on all 6 cylinders to see if maybe one is worse than the others. Check your plugs as well to see if any of them are fouled or caked in oil.
There are alot of things you can do to troubleshoot a problem with your car without having to spend a fortune on a mechanic. It takes some time, patience, and a few scraped knuckles, but it's worth it in the end if you can save some money for the actual cost of the repair. ;)
 
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if i were to guess about the oil leak i would say it's coming from the valve cover gasket that seal so great lol
 
Check your oil level. You should have done that first.

Ticking noise at idle that goes away with throttle implies a low oil pressure situation.

Oil all over the bottom of the car comes from somewhere. Find it. Possibly the oil filter wasn't placed on the car properly.

If you're not sure what oil was used, go somewhere else and get it changed again the right way. Better yet, do it yourself.

If you have the right oil in there, and have proper oil level, filter on tight, and ticking remains, you should isolate where the noise is actually coming from. make sure it isn't the blower, or a pulley and is certainly coming from the inside of the engine. If you feel confident it is coming from inside the engine, then it's likely you will need to have the engine rebuilt soon.
 
ny90redsc, was under the impression he said he had a lifter tapping,may not have read entire post but no since in being a you know what about it.
 
You're problem is not due specifically to the oil weight. The Ford-specified oil for my Lincoln LS is 5W-20 (8 cyl.), and Jaguar specifies 5W-30 for my S-Type (6 cyl.). Follow the recommendations above, and you'll find the problem.

JD
 
Alright guys, I just want to thank you ALL for being so attentive to my problem. I'll take a look at it some time this week, and try to figure everything out.

I cant thank you guys enough and I will keep you posted

Dave
 
ny90redsc, was under the impression he said he had a lifter tapping,may not have read entire post but no since in being a you know what about it.

If your pressure or volume is low enough that your hydraulic lifter is tapping... well then assuming the lifter didn't simply fail, you have some big problems a head.

Standard Hydraulic lifters shouldn't be tapping.
 
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