my parent's 03 mach 1 has a tick in the engine...
it happens around 2000 rpms.
we haven't been driving it very much because were afraid we will damage the engine somehow...
has this happened to anyone else? and does anyone know what it could be?
It has to do with the last two cylinders on the driver's side not getting enough oil or something. The valve guides. Something like that. The TSB on that has been out since probably '03. Alot of the tick heads people reported were replaced under warranty. This problem came up on both Mach's and the '03-'04 Cobra's. A friend of mine had his head replaced on his Mach. My Mach has no head tick, or at least that I can hear. Out of warranty I probably doubt they will replace it. It's not detrimental to the engine or anything from what I've read on car sites. It's just something you live with if you never got the head replaced. Someone else I'm sure will explain it better than my half assed attempt.
My car has done it since I did the PI swap with '03 heads. Hasn't caused any problems and the car still runs fine. I'm not worried about it because I'll be dropping a 5.4 under the hood in the next year or so anyway...
It's not "normal" and you shouldn't have to deal with it.
Come on, this car isnt more than 5 years old and its a KNOWN problem from the factory?
It's not something that MAY happen if you run the motor too hard... people with DD Cobra's and Mach's experience this problem and they don't even beat their cars. This is a straight-from-the-factory error on Ford's part.
No one should have to "deal with it". Contact the dealer and explain the symptoms. Let them know that you are aware of the TSB (technical service bulitten) that is out for the issue. See if you can get it fixed.
Thats almost as bad as the 99 Cobra's that were cut short power wise because of the heads. Ford gave the affected models the "fix" and thats exactly what they should do in this case.
My Mach has the same head tick & I do have to live with it since I dont have the factory "FORD" warranty, plus my car is too modded to ever be able to bring it in for warranty work.... It still runs like a raped ape & thats all that matters....
I don't understand the logic in that, unless their intent was to let it sit for 25 years in the SLIGHT possibility it might be worth more than what you paid. If I blew my engine up tomorrow I'd be buying a new engine for it next week.
I don't understand the logic in that, unless their intent was to let it sit for 25 years in the SLIGHT possibility it might be worth more than what you paid. If I blew my engine up tomorrow I'd be buying a new engine for it next week.
the logic was to let it sit until we had the money for someone to look at it.
my dad was scared that if they drove it and the engine blew we would be ****ed over because the car is out of warranty.
Very common. It's the wear on the exhaust valve guides on the last two cylnders that causes the tick. It is annoying but I've heard of people having heads replaced, and the tick comes back it no time. It just one of those magical mustang noises. Drive the car, put a louder exhaust on, ignore the tick.