Well, I posted a few months ago about a strange ticking sound my car made at idle which went on and off. Wasn't a consistant tick sound. The sound got worse but not in the sense of being louder or more often just that that ticking sound became a tapping sound which could be heard in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and most recently 4th and 5th gears. The sound which was just loud enough for me to notice wasn't loud enough to hear is someone else was in the car. When it was in motion, once in idle anyone could hear it.

Anyways, trips back and forth to Ford seemed wasted. The dealer had there hands tied because their mechanic couldn't see a problem and didn't understand. So the case was given to the Ford company to see what they'd do. There response was put the car back together(mechanic took apart the engine to do a cylinder scope) and wait till the car doesn't run anymore. Needless to say this didn't sit well with me...

Long story short, after a trip again yesterday and expression serious frustration among other things. My service manager "pressured" Ford reps into okaying the repairs of my lifters. So the cars in the shop till Friday to hopefully and finally be done with this pestering problem. Maybe now I can look into some performance parts which I shyed away from untill this problem was resolved.

In their defense, they said although it sounded like a lifter problem it showed no signs of being damaged. Although anyone who heard the car said it sounded like one. Anyone else have an idea what a light tapping sound may be when under normal driving conditions? The higher the RPMS got the louder and faster that tapping sound got. Just curious.

 

Ummmmm... Lifters? They don't have lifters on overhead cam engines they have cam followers.

 

Really? Hmm... Do you mine explaining how/what cam followers do? Im pretty new to this mechanical stuff. What ever I know is from what I've been reading these past few months.

So it makes me think if he said lifters caue it was a word I used with him or what. Now Im alittle confused. Someone explain? Thanks

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_lifters

Also called tappets, lifters are the little cylinders that ride along the camshaft inside a pushrod engine: Camshaft pushes the lifter, the lifter pushes the pushrod, the pushrod pushes the.. rocker, the rocker pushes down on the valve, the valve opens.

IN an OHC car, the lifters become followers. Same idea, different orientation. They are above the valve, and the cam pushes them down. Less parts, more efficient, but same idea.

Why does an OHC motor need them? You can't push the valve directly from the camshaft, you'll score the cam and bend the valve. The tappet as a go between corrects any weird geometry and allows correct force to be imparted on the valve.

In both cases they're hydraulic, which maintains proper lash. If you've heard of solid lifters/tappets, you probably have heard about having to constantly adjust the lash with them. The hydraulic tappet alleviates one of that issue.

But if the hydraulic tappet fails, the lash goes way off, and you hear a tapping. In a V8 it's not so noticable, except for the ticking. V6s you'll notice, and 4s? Bad mojo.

End the end, whether you use lifter, follower, or tappet, it's all the same kind of part. Old schoolers like me will use 'lifter' 'cause we were brought up like that.

 

Thanks Houtex thats the clarrification I needed. Thanks again

 

I guess you could call them lifters as they "lift" the valve off it's seat. I understand how a hydraulic lifter works in a pushrod engine... But I can't find any information on how they work on cam followers. I always assumed that they were mechanical but several sites refer to them as hydraulic.

 

Sometimes noise attibuted to the valve train is often not actually the valve train (cams, springs, tappets, etc) but rather the fuel injectors. Just food for thought.

Kevin

 

My fuel injectors tick ever so slightly in my car. Also, I think I had a very minor "lifter" tick when I first bought the car but is had quieted after I broke in the engine. The injectors do still make a slight ticking on my car. The car runs great though and loves to rev up through the RPM band.

 

Although the tapping sound driving through the gears is annoying its not what drives me crazy. At idle it would make what sounded like a metal on metal clicking sound for about 20-30seconds then die off then start up again. So at stop lights or anywhere i left the car sitting it would do that.

Thats my biggest annoyance.

 

I had the cam phazers (thats how Ford spells it) and and followers replaced for the same symptom and it is now nice and quiet! Good luck!

 

An exhaust leak at the manifold/head surface (loose bolts, bad exhaust manifold gasket) will also make a ticking sound as well.

It would be more noticeable at load or when the engine is cold.

Something else to consider...

 

Sure you can. Motorcycles have been doing it for YEARS. My 1979 Yamaha XS1100 was (is) a four valve, dual overhead cam engine. The cam lobs DIRECTLY operated the valves.

Why don't car manufacturer's use it? Because you can't use hydrolic lash adjustments if you do. Instead, you are pretty well stuck with a system called "shim in bucket" where a thin steel shim sits in a "bucket" formed by the top of the valve retainer. The problem is that to adjust valve lash, you have to measure the lash, compress the valve with a special too, remove the exiting shim, measure it, calculate the new shim thickness required to get you where you need to be, install the new shim, remove the valve compressor and then recheck lash. Then repeat for all the valves in the engine! And yes, I have done the valve lash adjustment dance on this bike a couple of times over the years...

There is no way in HECK that the average automobile customer is going to be willing to pay $500+ every 30k miles to have the valves adjusted! It would also cost more to have the valves properly lashed at the factory verses bolting on the parts and going on down the line like they do now.

 

Well got my car back today from Ford and the sound is gone. Im so happy to finally be rid of that annoying noise.

And I'm not sure I'm imaging things but the car does run better. It feels like theres hardly any lag now or anything. She responds GREAT.

Only took them 3 months to fix the problem. I also put it in for that infamous a-pillar dash rattle that happens when the car is cold but my service rep wanted me to talk to this other guy and first thing that guy says is "looks like your car is lowered(in a questionable tone)". Im like its riding on 20"s and has a 3/4" drop all around. You could say its lower. Long story short, he didn't seem all to trilled or even willing to help because, and I qoute, "this isn't no Lexus". Im like no, its a $30,000 sports car which really should have had better dash construction.

Anyways turns out from what my service guy says is that he was a "big corperate rep" who visits the dealer often. My service guy just said come over another time when hes not gone and I'll fix the noise whenever.

Anyways, over all. Good day

 

Great to hear that it is fixed!

 

The Ford Modular V8s have hydraulic lash adjusters (similar to lifters in OHV engines) and roller followers (similar to rocker arms in OHV engines).

 

Welllllll, what was it!?!?!?!?!

 

My tech continued to call them lifters but explained to me what they replaced were something like, bearings in the/around the cam followers. I didn't get too much into detail mainly because he himself forgot what they were called. I think it was really the mechanic who ordered my parts with the Ford Rep

 

They either replaced the roller followers, the hydraulic lash adjusters, or the cylinder heads because the bearing surfaces for the camshafts are part of the heads.