I’ve been working in evenings getting my 68 cougar running again. It ran fine when I parked it, but it hasn’t been driven for a few years now. The carb needs a bit of work, I might have to rebuild it but I’m not sure yet. The question I have, is the engine has a ticking noise coming from the passenger side head area. I was wondering if it might be a sticky lifter, as you accelerate the noise speeds up, but doesn’t get any louder. If it is a a lifter, what causes it and what is the best way to fix it? I don’t know if it makes a difference but my cars has the stock 289 2V in it. I know there are different oil additives you can add to your crankcase to fix this problem, are any of them better than others. Or is there a better fix.
It could be a lifter, it could also be an exhaust leak on that side… How long did you let ti run? Have you removed the valve cover on that side to see/hear if it is a lifter (louder with the cover off).
I let the car warm up to normal operating temperature. I haven’t tried removing the valve cover on that side since the choke stove pipes are in the way to remove that valve cover.
If the car had not run for several years chances are all the oil drained into the pan. I’d change it and put in 10-40w and drive her for a while and see (listen) what happens. Mine only sat for 2 months this winter while I worked on the interior. When I started her back up I heard the same thing for about 10 minutes and then the ticking stopped.
The funny thing was when I first fired up the car it ran fine. It sat for a week or so. When I started it last night it started ticking.
The oil preasure comes up, or at least the light goes out for it.
How old is the oil? When a car sits you can get condensation and moisture issues. That’s why regardless of how many miles
you may have driven I always change the oil in the spring.
When I first got my car it had a lifter ticking pretty good on the passenger side. Did that when I looked at it and when I drove it home it ticked all the way. Once home I put fresh gas in the car and let it run for about fifteen twenty minutes. Car really smoothed out and after it got up to temperature the lifter quieted down. Sounds to me like you have a lazy lifter that doesn’t stay pumped up. Fresh oil and letting it run might cure your problem short term. It could also be a tappet that is out of specs? I would suspect the lifter first though.
The suspect lifter(s) had oil in the low pressure chamber and that is why it didn’t make noise upon first start up. That oil got used when the engine was started and the oil went from the low pressure chamber to the high pressure chamber, and the oil in the low pressure chamber needed to be replaced. This is where your problem started. After sitting the oil drained out of the oil supply gallery, so once the engine started it pushed the air in the oil gallery into the lifters. Most of that air will work it’s way out, but some of it has gotten trap and you have an air bubble in the high pressure chamber. Now you have a thicking noise because you can compress air and not oil.
What you can do to get the air out: Run it and get the oil hot. Can take up to 30 minutes or longer. If that doesn’t work. With it warm pull the valve cover and roll the engine over by hand. Let each valve position stay parked on full lift and bleed down (about five minute each). Start it up and run it some more and that should get the air out. If this doesn’t do it report back…
I have this same issue and appreciate the walk-through on how to resolve it. One question though, and it’s a noob one. To roll the engine over by hand? That requires a breaker bar and socket that fits the big bolt that attaches the fan onto the crankshaft, right? Or is there another way?
I look forward to doing this! I’m already going to be replacing my valve covers so it seems a perfect time to do it.
Tighted up the exhaust manifold bolts and see if it goes away. I still have to tighten my headers from time to time theyre constantly beeing heated up and cooled off and it’s easy for the bolts to come loose and start making ticks. Tighten them up first and see if it goes away before you start messing with rocker arms.
Here is another thought. Put the car in a dark location, at night, lift the hood, start the engine and turn off the lights. Look for spark arcs from the plug wires. Old wires will breakdown and arc between other wires and/or grounded components and when they do, you will hear the arc as a ticking noise.
Plug wires shouldn’t be the issue in my case, as they’re about 6 months old with only a couple-few hundred miles on them.
In my case, the ticking started the first time I opened her up good on the highway to see what 70+ mph was like. Since then it happens as described in the original post, doesn’t tick when cold but ticks when warmed up.
Hi
We are still trying to figure out this noise. The other night we checked the vacuum and it was around 14 inches. From what we understand could be bad rings or a sticking valve. So we picked up a compression gauge yesterday and tested that today. All the cylinders tested out between 130 and 145 psi except #3 which tested around 30psi. Following the shop manual instructions it said to put a small amount of oil in the cylinder and check it again. This made no difference, so we figured it was a sticking valve. The next thing we did was pull off the tappet cover for that bank. The below picture shows what we found. Can a hydraulic lifter get stuck in the compressed down. The two rocker arms are really loose and when the valve is closed you can move the rocker arm quite easilly.
Any ideas? Our next plan is to pull the intake and check the lifters and push rods closer. We have been able to move the intake valves with the crooked rocker arms.
Yes, your lifters are probably sticking. I would replace a quart of oil with a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil. It does a great job of freeing sticking lifters. If your rings are sticking, it will help free them up too.
Listen to everything that Brian Carpenter tells you since he’s a valvetrain engineer.
Check the rocker arm hold down hardware to make sure they weren’t just loosened. Try to set them properly.
Pull the pushrods and make sure they’re still true by placing them on a piece of glass, or other truly flat surface and rolling them while watching for exhibition of untrueness. (what?) See if they wiggle. Straight ones will be flat and true, no wiggle. Frequently, they will bend when these engines age due to the valvesprings getting weak and allowing contact between the valve and piston. Instead of the valve disassembling, the pushrod takes the brunt of the force and it bends slightly.
Could be bigger problems like the studs pulling out of the head, but just take it one step at a time.
Ok, judging from the picture you got to much lash. Now you need to figure out why.
As noted above make sure the rocker arm stud hasn’t been pulled up out of the head (usually a chevy problem). Really don’t think this is the case , but check anyways. Take a straight edge (ruler) and lay across the top of the rocker arm studs to check if they are all very close to the same height.
As noted above check the push tubes for straightness to make sure they aren’t bent.
if the above checkout OK, then it’s either sticky valves or stuck lifters causing that issue. Neither is easy to determine , but checking the lifters is a good start. With all the push tubes out shine a light down to the lifter and see if the socket is next to the retaining clip. If all of them are up next to the clip then your lifters aren’t stuck. If a socket is down away from the retaining clip then it is stuck and not returning allowing excessive valve lash. My guess would be that this is most likely what has happened. The two positions that have the rocker arms off the valve tip were most likely on full lift when the car was park. The lifters leaked down to an area they normally don’t travel in, which had varnish build up and got stuck in that position.
If the lifters checkout Ok then it could be the valves sticking. This is harder to determine as most valve sticking doesn’t occur until heat (thermal expansion) of the valve occurs taking up the clearance in the valve guide. Looking at the picture it’s the intake positions. If the intake valve is sticking open the engine will run ruff at idle and start popping (back fire) in the carb as burnt fuel will be push back into the carb on the power stroke. It will also blow fuel out of the carb.
The rocker arm off the tip of the valve is most likely binding up holding the intake valve off the seat enough to cause your low compression reading.
If you determine it’s the lifters. Pull them out and ID/bag which position they are in (Intake cyl #1, exhaust cyl#8 etc…). You can send them to me and I will clean and inspect them for wear and return them in working order, or advise you if they need replaced. I’ll do that for free to help you out. If they need replaced you’ll have to replace the camshaft as well.
Hi
Brian thank you for the information, and your quick reply, it has been very helpful. We checked the rocker arm studs which was your first suggestion. All the studs for the loose rocker arms are pushed at least an 1/8" or more out of the head. Can these be driven back into the head, and if so will they hold? We are presume a stuck valve is what caused the studs to push out.
When we first started the car it ran fine. Several days latter when we tried to start the car it was really hard to start, and when it did finally start that is when the noise began. We wonder if the valves could have stuck after the intial start up, and that is what has caused the studs to push out?
I am posting two pictures as well showing how much the studs have moved by the straight edge placed across two adjacent studs.
