This is a 99 TL (still original owner!) If i'm thinking right, cyl 6 is the rear one furthest to the passenger side. Well, that cyl has a ticking coming it. I first heard it about 300miles ago through the firewall (126k) and inspected it yesterday. Its definetly a valve tick.

I am very mechanically inclined (hell i swapped engines in my 88 bmw to a 98 M3 engine, did wiring etc etc etc) and would like to take a crack at this. Problem is i don't really understand the valve tick. Possible causes in my head could be:

Valve adjustment (idk how they are on this car)
Crap deposits
Bent Valve/Rocker
your suggestion??

I'd like to get some ideas and figure out some things before i take that valve cover off. Just for reference, my car had a vlave adjustment at the time of the Timing Belt/Water Pump etc etc service at 102k. I have personally done all other maintenance since then. Cleaned the Intake manifold and EGR ports at 105k as well. Nothing else has been done engine wise.

Vafc is tuned properly, the A/F curve is beautiful producing 194whp and i don't see A/C affecting it much, maybe the carbon deposits on valve idk. you tell me.

Thanks for any suggestions guys..and gals

-etxx

 

forgot to add. The ticking gets louder with the load...as if the more gas i give it in a gear (tiptropic) the louder it gets. i can also hear up top but ever so slightly partly because of wind and engine noise. so its not just limited to a brief RPM band.

 

A member here Phee has a good writeup and good pics for valve adjustments. Search for his thread.

 

strange that it would need adjustment again- but sometimes- as rob-2 found out, even the dealer can do a suck job,,, and they start making noise soon after

The key is to work on it dead cold, any engine temp will affect the final adjustment.
Mechanics have to start and drive the car into the shop- then get it on the lift and finally shut back off-
not the best thing when you want to get it all done by 3 so the customer can pick it up~
The adjustment itself is simple, its getting to the valve covers that take time

Hows the oil look?- a can of seafoam in the oil (with a new filter) and drive it 100 miles or so, then change oil and filter. If there was grunge- its in the filter now~
Some fuel cleaner and intake cleaning wont hurt it, but not likely the source

Also note there is a smog device, iirc its driver side near firewall and makes a ticking like a valve noise- fsttyms1 will know for sure on location and price, inspection procedure of that part.
There is also the AC belt tensioner pulley- those lke to wear out and make a sound like valve ticking
Use a mechanics stethascope $5, to find out the exact location of the noise before you tear into the engine.

 

he did a good job.

Pm me if you need help after lookng at the diy

 

I'd be really surprised if you hear one valve ticking... I'd look around where you think the tick is coming from for something else.

Tom is onto something, might be a host of other things.

 

thanks guys. i'll be looking at the valve adjustment DIY. It has to be a valve tick. I check like i do on my bimmers, i put a screw driver on the valve cover and my ear on the other end. move cyl by cyl and sure enough cyl 6 was loud. I tried looking for an emissions device as mentioned above. no go. I'll post here if i run into any issues or the problem not resolved....and maybe some pics, well see. Thanks fellas!

 

well, turns out it was an exhaust leak at the rear flange of the header.... car's running fine so says 203whp from a dyno mustang this morning. pic on its way ; /

 

did you have to replace the exhaust gasket at the manifold?
What did you do?

You used a screwdriver where some would use a mechanics stethascope
I should have said to also check using vac tubing for other noises~

 

If those are recent headers, you should recheck the bolt torque after a few drives, then again after 500 miles.
Failure to do so MAY result in blown gasket (done it)
Those exhaust bolts like to loosen and the metals do their thing, then you can put a final tighten/retorque and they stay there. I would do the same for intake manifolds too.

 

Sounds like a good place to use anti-seize too.

 

Headers are about three-four years old but yeah, i didnt use anti-seize... i was a car newb then.
yup that's what i did. works very well.
vac should be all okay, checked that when i did my egr cleaning