Engine 92 5.0/HO with a tick

[randyr]

Long time follower, first time poster... I have a 92 5.0/AOD that is mostly stock except for the Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, 70mm MAF, JBA shorty headers with somewhere around 120K miles. I got it with approximately 62K so I've driven some 50-60K trouble free miles. It sounds good, runs good, doesn't smoke but has always needed to add a quart of oil every 1000 miles like clockwork.

So, here's my issue...it's developed a ticking noise under load on the passenger side. It doesn't do it at idle. From inside the vehicle it sounds much like an exhaust leak at the header but when I rev it with the hood up, the racket seems to be coming from under the passenger valve cover. It's a tick accompanied with some whirring sounds as the rpms increase.
Obviously, I need to pull the valve cover to check it out! I'm hoping it's a simple as a loose rocker arm or something but I thought I'd ask you guys if there's anything else that I should try to check while I'm in there.
I appreciate you input! Thanks!

 

[General karthief]

I'm up for the exhaust leak.

 

[randyr]

Haha....Yeah, I would be too. That's not it, though.

 

[Wayne Waldrep]

Haha....Yeah, I would be too. That's not it, though.

You fixed it? Do tell.

 

[randyr]

You fixed it? Do tell.

Nope, not yet. I haven't had a chance to pull the valve cover yet.

 

[Wayne Waldrep]

Oh. But you know for a fact it's not exhaust?

 

[randyr]

Oh. But you know for a fact it's not exhaust?

Yes, when I stick my head under the hood and rev the throttle cable, it's clearly under the valve cover and not the exhaust.

 

[randyr]

Thanks for the responses. I'll do some more research tomorrow and hopefully offer up more details.

 

[General karthief]

Thanks for the responses. I'll do some more research tomorrow and hopefully offer up more details.

inquiring minds and all that.

 

[randyr]

inquiring minds and all that.

Yep, I have one, too....

 

[General karthief]

Yep, I have one, too....

and here I thought I got the last one!

 

[randyr]

Well, gents, I finally return to this thread with a report...a couple of days after my original post, I finally got a chance to delve more deeply into my ticking issue...I was almost certain it couldn't be an exhaust leak because I've had plenty of those and felt this tick sounded distinctly different...I even had a buddy stick his head under the hood with me and he agreed that it sounded like something ticking under the valve cover...(but he's a Chevy guy, so he may have been listening with a prejudice...lol). Another reason I was confident that it wasn't an exhaust leak was I had installed those fancy fasteners on the header bolts that are supposed to keep them from loosening. Well, before I went to the trouble of removing the throttle body so I could pull the valve cover, I decided to check the header bolts....OMG! they were all loose!!! Every single one of them required additional tightening! So much for those fancy gizmos that are supposed to keep them tight! Ha! Anyway, I show up here with a red face and averted eyes to confess that my pervasive ticking noise was completely fixed by tightening the header bolts! It's bitter-sweet. So glad it was a simple fix but still a little embarrassing that I didn't figure it out before posting. Such is life. Thanks for the help and remember to check your header bolts before thinking you need an engine rebuild....

 

[fredfifty]

i had a similar situation. i thought i had a bad piston ring on my motor, so i figured i might as well swap the motor lol which i did. only to find out it was a bad ecm. i learned alot tho haha

 

[General karthief]

Even with those fancy fasteners, depending on what gaskets you use, they need snugging up after a few heat cycles. I use copper type and some even use just the high temp copper gasket maker with good results.
Don't feel too bad about not checking out the 'simple things', I chased a vacuum leak whistle for two years, removed and reinstalled and even swapped different intakes too many times to remember just to realize it was my bbk throttle body!

 

[2000xp8]

I had a similar issue wayyyy back that I couldn't solve.
Turned out to the crappy mac headers I had.
I replaced them with equals and when I took the mac headers off and held them up to the sunlight, where all the pipes met at the collector you could see through them.
Better to be wrong be an exhaust leak than to be a head or lifter problem.

 

[Potomus Pete]

Thats the cool thing about our cars. Most problems can be fixed fairly easily. I just was bored over the weekend and was tinkering around . I found several loose bolts. Small vacuum issues . Its nice to you were able to fix it. Always a good feeling especially when no money was involved

 

[randyr]

Yes, I'm very cool with low-buck or no-buck repairs!!! LOL!