Engine tick from under the intake?

My car had a failed timing chain tensioner which caused slack in the passenger side timing chain which resulted in a slapping of that chain behind the timing cover. This is what it sounded like:

Engine Noise - YouTube

Here is why it made that noise:

Chain Slop? - YouTube


I don't think that your case is as severe as mine was "yet" but I am personally leaning towards the fact that you have a bad tensioner which is causing slop in the timing chain. What I think you are hearing is the chain fluttering around behind the timing cover. Put a stethoscope along the front timing cover where the path of the chains take and I'll bet you will hear this noise loud and clear. Remember too that sound travels through aluminum quite easily so you may hear the sound in one spot even though it is originating in another. When my tensioner failed I was hearing noises all over the place on my engine but it was only that tensioner. Also, the chain takes a long path all the way down to the crank and if it is slapping the whole way down you are probably going to hear the noise all the way across the entire front timing cover which is also aluminum. That's my guess and I'm sticking to it. It sounds just like a timing chain slapping against the guides behind the cover. Yours sounds exactly like my car did other than mine being louder.
 
Of course either of you guys are free to come take a look after I get the valve cover off. If I don't see anything there, I'll just proceed to remove the intake. There's a chance I might miss something because I am kind of a rookie mechanic. It's too bad I'm not just a little closer to either one of you.
 
IMO, there isn't really anything under the intake that could cause a noise.
 
I've driven it a fair amount. I drove it back and forth to work, 50 miles round trip, and several other times on the highway. At least 300 miles.

What am I looking for with the tappets?
 
Let's start at the beginning
Did you, when running the car pull power to one injector at a time to see if the sound goes away?
If that makes no difference than inspect under the valve cover
First visual than if you want to try the screw driver trick (I haven't done that) to get the rocker off the lifters than take them out one at a time and inspect for any damage make sure they move freely too
They must go back in the same spot .
 
Forgot to say run the engine with the valve cover off too.
Make sure everything is in working order like oil from each lash adjuster
 
slowmkviii said:
Let's start at the beginning
Did you, when running the car pull power to one injector at a time to see if the sound goes away?
If that makes no difference than inspect under the valve cover
First visual than if you want to try the screw driver trick (I haven't done that) to get the rocker off the lifters than take them out one at a time and inspect for any damage make sure they move freely too
They must go back in the same spot .
Click to expand...

The car has all new rebuilt injectors. The tick existed before and after the injectors were changed. I have seen the thread with the screwdriver trick but maybe someone can post a link to it. Does running the car with the valve cover off make a big mess?

Reading that other thread now has me worried about how much force I was using to try to remove it. I didn't pull crazy hard but there was some contact between the valve cover and the stuff under it. Hopefully I didn't hurt anything...or hopefully I did. A replacement engine might be the best thing that could happen to this car. I'm not going to freak either way. It's just a hobby. It can sit around until I feel like working on it.
 
Turning off the injectors one at a time has nothing to do with the injectors
Its to help diagnose the sounds location but turning off and injector on a cylinder you take away combustion and if the sound goes away you have a bad rod bearing or wrist pin.
Also listen to each exhaust port with the stethoscope put it on the manifold right by the head.
 
slowmkviii said:
Turning off the injectors one at a time has nothing to do with the injectors
Its to help diagnose the sounds location but turning off and injector on a cylinder you take away combustion and if the sound goes away you have a bad rod bearing or wrist pin.
Also listen to each exhaust port with the stethoscope put it on the manifold right by the head.
Click to expand...


Thanks, that will be the next step now. I'm pretty sure it's not from any of the lash adjusters or the timing chains. I'm not going to go to the trouble of removing anything under the valve cover. I couldn't place the tick ay any point under the valve cover. I'm reasonably sure it's not coming from there.
 
I guess I can live with the tick. It seems to run quite well at highway speeds. A more annoying problem is the occasional hard start.

I think it is very rich on start-up and floods out. It takes it a minute to clear the excess fuel. Sometimes it stumbles pretty bad for 30 seconds or so. Sometimes it just doesn't want to start and can take 10 or more attempts to finally get it to keep running. After the fuel clears, all is well.

I stomped on it after I got it running today, not right away, but when I got it to the freeway. It belched a lot of black smoke out the exhaust but then never did it again when I kicked it down. I think it was from the flooded start.

Most of the time it will catch and start right away, but you can still tell it is rich. On the best starts, there's a slight stumble, the the RPMs go up and stay there for about 30 seconds, like it's clearing excess fuel.
 
is this the car that you put the hadgasket fix in? if so find a used motor I'm sure more then one member has already expressed this...a tick is not uncommon especially on a engine with a bad h-g...I feel you wasting time beating a dead horse pulling valve covers off and stuff for a engine that won't even idle right
 
It doesn't idle that bad once it's been running for a minute or two, but I'm starting to agree that I should just get another engine. It cost me nothing but time to look under the valve cover. I already had the gasket set from doing just the driver's side on my other car.

Today, it started quickly enough but stumbled badly and had a misfire. It cleared up after about a minute, but I still didn't drive it to work. The tick I can live with, but I have to know it will always start otherwise I'm afraid to drive it anywhere. Getting a few months out of this engine pays for my efforts to get it to run decent, but the starting issue is going to be the deal breaker if I can't solve it very fast.

This engine does run well on the highway, has decent power, and gets good gas mileage. It's not like it's just a stumbling piece of crap.
 
Was out with a friend Saturday we got to talking about cars
Then your da he said he remembers watching the car at cedar falls drags
And it always had a tic and he recalled it sounded like lash adjusters.
Fwiw
 
There's a thread on LOD where a guy had a very similar sounding problem. I don't know how or if he resolved it. At first he thought lash adjusters, then thought it had something to do with end play on an IMRC. His symptoms weren't exactly the same though, because his didn't make the noise at idle. I'm going to try to get together with Eric sometime this week and have him give it another listen.
 
If you can do Friday afternoon at Eric's I could probably be there around 17:00
As long as tonights snow storm doesn't short me on hours.
 
87TTOPGT420 said:
is this the car that you put the hadgasket fix in? if so find a used motor I'm sure more then one member has already expressed this...a tick is not uncommon especially on a engine with a bad h-g...I feel you wasting time beating a dead horse pulling valve covers off and stuff for a engine that won't even idle right
Click to expand...

2003
Engine
Lincoln Aviator 100K, RUNS GOOD 100,118 A 00009103 $1750 Metro Auto Salvage, Inc. USA-MN(Lakeville) Request_Quote 1-800-252-5831 Request_Insurance_Quote

:)
 
ford nut said:
2003
Engine
Lincoln Aviator 100K, RUNS GOOD 100,118 A 00009103 $1750 Metro Auto Salvage, Inc. USA-MN(Lakeville) Request_Quote 1-800-252-5831 Request_Insurance_Quote

:)
Click to expand...

$1750! You could buy a whole wrecked running mark for less than that and grab the engine along with anything else you may need off it and scrap/sell the rest and make money off it.
 
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