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Last weekend I developed what I thought was a lifter tick. For the past two months it was only making a slight tick when I would cold start it. when it would warm up, it was fine and made no noises. I just pushed it off as an exhaust leak knowing that my header is cracked. Well last weekend, it came in full force, while the engine was at operating temp. I was wheeling at the time. I drove it home from CT and it felt as if the engine was running just fine. no lack of power, no sputtering of backfiring, nothing. It felt just dandy. Soooo I decided to do some tests when I got home.
Test 1: Pulled off an injector at a time seeing if the tick went away. From what I know and was told, this would cause it to be a dead cylinder and prevent any pressure being applied to the piston. Thus ruling out a bottom end noise/knock.
Test two: exhaust gasket blew out. false, pulled it off, everything looked fine. It sounded as if the tick was in the back, on the header side of the engine. at least it was louder on that side.
Test 3: Compression test. all cylinders were between 149 and 152. I did this because I figure if there is a bad lifter, it would most likely cause a misfire due to the valve not opening and closing properly. Since my numbers were in spec, it seems it may not be a lifter tick. However, it could still be?
So now while i have some down time because I dont have the correct socket to pull the head studs out, I figured I would ask if anyone has some experience with this. Once I get the head off I will be able to see any collapsed lifters and I can inspect them. If nothing is wrong there, Im pulling the pan and seeing if any piston skirts are broken. my next idea is piston slap.
how is my aim? if I cant figure this out I think im going to get an engine and swap it in. and if anything is wrong with the pistons Im swapping one in too. I dont want to put 300+ bucks into the engine and find out I didnt fix the problem. Not if I can get a good engine with possibly less miles for 150-200 bucks.
Test 1: Pulled off an injector at a time seeing if the tick went away. From what I know and was told, this would cause it to be a dead cylinder and prevent any pressure being applied to the piston. Thus ruling out a bottom end noise/knock.
Test two: exhaust gasket blew out. false, pulled it off, everything looked fine. It sounded as if the tick was in the back, on the header side of the engine. at least it was louder on that side.
Test 3: Compression test. all cylinders were between 149 and 152. I did this because I figure if there is a bad lifter, it would most likely cause a misfire due to the valve not opening and closing properly. Since my numbers were in spec, it seems it may not be a lifter tick. However, it could still be?
So now while i have some down time because I dont have the correct socket to pull the head studs out, I figured I would ask if anyone has some experience with this. Once I get the head off I will be able to see any collapsed lifters and I can inspect them. If nothing is wrong there, Im pulling the pan and seeing if any piston skirts are broken. my next idea is piston slap.
how is my aim? if I cant figure this out I think im going to get an engine and swap it in. and if anything is wrong with the pistons Im swapping one in too. I dont want to put 300+ bucks into the engine and find out I didnt fix the problem. Not if I can get a good engine with possibly less miles for 150-200 bucks.
How many miles and what weight oil were you running? Seems I've been seeing more 4.0's with broken piston skirts lately. Most are 96+ motors. Didn't they switch to aluminum pistons in '96?
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