'98 V6 knocking, gas smell

brayden.mowery · May 30, 2018

I have a 1998 3.8l mustang and it recently had a rocker arm fall off the spring. Which was weird...i torqued it back down and it was good to go... Until a few days ago, it started this decently loud ticking noise and has the smell of gasoline inside the car...also a significant loss of power. I have an obdii scanner so I plugged it in... The only code as of now is "cylinder one misfire" I already checked the coil packs, spark plugs, gaps, wires...... I need some help on what it could be..

I also checked to make sure the rocker arms were still on there and they are okay as well...

Thanks!

brayden.mowery · May 30, 2018

I also noticed that it has been getting really bad gas mileage lately if that helps

wmburns · Jun 1, 2018

Just wondering. What are the results of a compression test? How about a cylinder leak down test?

It seems to me that you should be focusing on a base motor problem. The rocker arm fell off for a reason.

brayden.mowery · Jun 1, 2018

wmburns said:
Just wondering. What are the results of a compression test? How about a cylinder leak down test?

It seems to me that you should be focusing on a base motor problem. The rocker arm fell off for a reason.

I haven't done either of those yet

brayden.mowery · Jun 1, 2018

wmburns said:
Just wondering. What are the results of a compression test? How about a cylinder leak down test?

It seems to me that you should be focusing on a base motor problem. The rocker arm fell off for a reason.

Okay so I just realized.... A while back after the whole rocker arm situation, my dad was tightening the valve cover bolt down, the one in the middle of the top row. And it broke. He said it would be fine since it was the middle one..... I did notice that the clicking/ticking noise is coming from about where that bolt would be. Could a new bolt solve any compression issues and get rid of the noise?

wmburns · Jun 1, 2018

I honestly don't see HOW a valve cover bolt could CAUSE a valve rocker to fall off short of if the broken bolt fell inside the motor.

Just wondering. When the rocker arm bolt was tightened was a torque wrench used? If so, how much torque?

If asking for a WAG, my vote is the person doing the work over tightened it and pulled the threads.

brayden.mowery · Jun 1, 2018

wmburns said:
I honestly don't see HOW a valve cover bolt could CAUSE a valve rocker to fall off short of if the broken bolt fell inside the motor.

Just wondering. When the rocker arm bolt was tightened was a torque wrench used? If so, how much torque?

If asking for a WAG, my vote is the person doing the work over tightened it and pulled the threads.

A torque wrench was not used.... The broken bolt happened when putting the valve cover back on after the whole rocker situation. Would that missing bolt cause a leak in the gasket and make the clicking noise I'm hearing?

wmburns · Jun 10, 2018

brayden.mowery said:
Would that missing bolt cause a leak

I would say that a missing valve cover bolt would most likely cause a leak.

brayden.mowery said:
A torque wrench was not used....

IMO the fact that a torque wrench was not used and the person doing the work pulled a valve cover bolt. This shows that the mechanic likes to make things "good and tight". So if done for the valve covers, then what about the far more important rocker arm bolts?

brayden.mowery · Jun 10, 2018

The rocker arm bolts we were a lot more cautious with, however a torque wrench wasn't used either. It's been about a month or so and they haven't had any noticeable issues yet

'98 V6 knocking, gas smell

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