Ticking once warmed up (not header gasket)

[GT_Rich]

Ticking once warmed up (SOLVED!!)

My HCI issues are sorted out to the point where I can drive the car. Until the car reaches 180 degrees, I have no issues whatsoever. After that temperature, I get a ticking sound from the passenger side of the engine, but only when under load. I can sit and rev it in my garage and get nothing. The ticking increases with RPM. The best way to describe it is an exagerated header gasket leak (had that before).

My best guess is an adjustable rocker adjusted too tight somewhere - as it warms up it's hanging a valve open. Does this sound reasonable

 

[795.0pacecar]

If you are using the stock lifters I would say the sound you're hearing is possibly a lifter going bad. You could try a thicker oil to see if it goes away or gets quieter. If the rocker was adjusted too tight you would most likely hear the sound all the time.

 

[GT_Rich]

Lifters are BRAND NEW (Ford Racing)

For the record, I adjusted the roller rockers wrong the first time around and it sounded perfect at idle, but under load it would hardly run - I only had 2 in-hg at idle. After re-adjusting them, I have 12 in-hg at idle, but like I said, I think one might still be hanging open once it warms up.

 

[795.0pacecar]

Get a piece of vacuum hose and use it like a stethoscope on the valve covers until you find which cylinder the ticking seems to be coming from. How did you adjust the rockers? How I normally do mine is I put about 30 or 35 thousandths preload on them on the base circle of the cam then spin the engine over a few times and check to make sure the pushrods are tight but will still spin, then I lock them down.

 

[GT_Rich]

I used the Crane Cam instructions that say to tighten the adjusting nut until the you start to feel resistance in the pushrod, and then put another 1/2-5/8 of a turn on each nut. However, you of them (intake, cyl #1) didn't feel like it had the same amount of resistance as I made the 1/2 turn past zero lash. I ended up going just over a full turn on that rocker...I'm thinking this is the noise.

Do these feel different because of the different amounts of oil left in each lifter when the engine is shut down?

 

[BK_CAULEY]

i agree with pace car. sounds like a lifter. there hydrolic so they are using oil and when the oil heats up it thins out and the lifter or lifters go down. do like mentioned above and run a heavier weight oil. that should keep them pumped up. just a thought.

 

[FastFord58]

Without hearing the noise, it is hard to tell.

However, a lot of people will mistake a ticking noise as a lifter when it is actually a noisy fuel injector. Just something else you can check out.

 

[JimBowy]

probably a lifter, i agree - try heavier weight oil and see if the noise goes away

 

[GT_Rich]

Why would brand new lifters require heavier oil then the ones I had with 130k miles? That makes no sense to me.

 

[JimBowy]

Why would brand new lifters require heavier oil then the ones I had with 130k miles? That makes no sense to me.

The lifters dont "require" heavier oil. Putting heavier weight oil in helps us narrow down the problems you are having.

 

[BK_CAULEY]

you didnt say you had new lifters in the last 7 post's.

 

[GT_Rich]

BK_CAULEY - see my first reply to 795.0pacecar - new lifters were stated then in capital letters.

 

[GT_Rich]

PROBLEM SOLVED! The ticking I kept hearing was actually the solenoid valve for the charcoal canister. I had relocated it under the passenger side fender during my engine bay clean-up. It was opening/closing rapidly while under load and transfering the sound up through the frame rail and to the interior. It ended up taking me two weeks to find it...lol.

Quick question...can I leave the line from the tank attached to the canister, and then leave the canister venting to atmosphere? Or do I need to remove the canister too?