connecting rod knocking!?

[williamsracing]

connecting rod knocking!? or lifter/finger clicking!!!!!

all of a sudden today i start hearing this loud click, almost like a bolt rattling. at firts i assumed it was clicking cause i need oil, but its not. i cant tell whether its a rod knocking or a bad exhaust leak at the header/xpipe connection.
if it was a rod, how long would the 4.6 drive before any problems beside the noise. i drove it 50 miles home so far and it runs perfectly normal, just a lound clikin or knocking sound. but when i let off the gas it stops or gets very quite, the i hit the gas again and it does it.

any ideas or info???

 

[stangman]

my best guess by what you said, is you have spun a rod bearing. the 4.6's have a tendancy of doing that if they are low on oil trust me i know

 

[williamsracing]

yeah it was low on oil. can i drop the oil pan and change it from underneath? or do i need to take out the whole freakin motor?! how long you think i can drive it for??

 

[stang9gt]

Won't be cheap, may need to clean the crank, the mounting surface for the bearing, and all those bolts there are TTY (they HAVE to be replaced)...There are two bolts in the top of each cap and two that go into the sides of each cap....

 

[williamsracing]

ok, took it to my mechanic guy today to tighten up the x pipe, he says its not a rod bearing, it would be much louder, he says its a lifter (finger?) clicking, probly damaged from low oil. he told me to change the oil and put in a quart of lucas oil stabilazer to see if it cleans it up. so far i did that, drove 50miles and it still the same cliking, so if its a lifter or finger whatever its called on the 4.6, how do i find out which one it is?? he said i can change it by removing the valve cover gasket and maybe the cam, but it should be kinda easy, just need to find out which one it is i guess. anyone have any input no this subject?!

 

[cobra killer]

Spun bearing on a 4.6 sounds just like a lifter tick....If it was low on oil,you probably nailed a bearing.We see alot of this witht eh 4.6's.

tim

 

[williamsracing]

well how the heack do i figure out which one it is????
the mechanic told me if it was a rod bearing i would be mcuh louder and not so much a tic.

 

[UTHKSO2]

Eric,

Your PM box was full over at Midwest Fords some I responded here.

Hey Eric,

Your mechanic is right. A rod bearing would sound more like a knock than a tic. My guess is a lifter. All you need to do is determine which side of the engine its coming from, and pull that valve cover and replace the lifter.

I'm not 100% percent positive, but I would say the cam will have to be removed. You probably can get the cam out without having to remove the front engine cover and all the timing chains. But I would check into that.

Heck while your at it, consider changing your springs and cams to a set of Stage 2's. I have seen some nice HP gains from those.

By the way, when you gonna get that thing over to me so we can shine it up.

 

[williamsracing]

we can shine it up as soon as it dont sound like a typwriter anymore! lol

 

[williamsracing]

well, with the help from my dad we used a mechanics stethiscope today and we are pretty sure its on in the passengerside valvetrain back by the fire wall, so ill take the cover off tommorow and check the lifters on that cylinder.

anyone if ill have to take out the cam to get the parts out?

 

[ALTE797]

Im curious about your findings ... My son has a 4.6 T-Bird with a similar sounding knock ...