Knock Knock My 3.8... Shiny Heads?

[custom01to07bod]

So bought this 01 thinking it was going to be an easy cracked exhaust manifold fix... The thing was broke in half onthe passenger side. Well it was hiding a knocking sound as well... Start the car up cold, I get a knocking at 2200ish rpms, at idle nothing. Rev it past 2k-2200 it does get louder. Once it's warmed up it's more noticeable at idle the kkocking.
The dip stick tub was broken and found out I have a yellow round handle stick... Quiet frankly my 99 cougar has the same dip stick, I know mustangs have the black T handle dip stick.... Sure enough get one from the wrecking yard and the readings are totally off, "cougar" stick reads 1/2inch lower reading meaning "full" is really low area. So who knows how long the previous owner was running this stick and not sure full 5.5qt of oil in her.

So I started to tear it down pulling the valve covers, passenger side is freaking shiny and brand new looking... The driver side looks as it's been ran with oil and carbon everywhere, everything looks normal with no loose rockers. Not sure if this could be my problem hopefully in the heads and not a rob bearing or main bearings. Any thoughts?

 

[custom01to07bod]

120k roughly on the motor as well, auto. Sorry not the best pictures attached, can tell the difference though. Not sure if this is normal.
Also I noticed all my lower intake runners are coated in oil/carbon except the last runner on the driver side is clean, weird.

 

[ronstang94]

Wow! No responses and this was posted over a month ago. Have you figured it out yet?

Could just be a new head that was installed by the previous owner, but that doesn't explain the knocking.

Now, I am a 5.0 guy, so I am not as familiar with the 3.8, but i know the engines are very closely related. The 5.0's oil pump is driven by hex shaped shaft on the end of the distributor. Now, I know you don't have a distributor, but I believe your motor should have a "cam shaft position sensor" or "cam synchronizer." Do a little research and find out if your oil pump is driven by a shaft at the bottom of this sensor. If it is, you can simply follow the correct procedure for removing this sensor and shaft, and then use a hex bit on the end of a drill to safely power the oil pump with the valve covers off to check for oil being supplied where it should be.

Be careful, making sure you are turning the oil pump in the correct rotation, and also make sure to use electrical tape to hold the hex bit to the extension and to the drill. If you drop the hex bit inside the motor you will most likely need to pull the pan to retrieve it.


Good luck