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Sudden onset of extreme lifter tick

9K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  cabledog 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Out of the blue, my 300 is suddenly have a massive dose of lifter tick.
It's a very loud, rackety, tinny, *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* from the top end.

As said, it just came out of the blue. It wasn't gradual at all, just one morning, there it was. It's so bad, I can hear it in the exhaust.

I've removed the valve cover and everything looks nice and tight, oiling well, and as it should be. Oil pressure (stock gauge) while driving is healthy and easily within the NORMAL range.

The other strange thing is that it'll sometimes just disappear completely. I'll be driving along and it'll suddenly be whisper quiet again. A couple stop lights later, and it's back and full on noisy. Like the lifters occasionally just lose their prime, and then get it back.

A little lifter tick I could handle, but this turns heads as I drive down the street. Not only that, but the sudden onset has me concerned.

Any ideas? I'm not sure where to start, and the idea of just replacing the lifters and trying to mate them with the cam makes me nervous.

Thanks.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks for the response. I was thinking it may be something like that.

Only reason I thought it might be something else is because the last oil change, I used 1 quart of Marvels Mystery Oil in place of a quart of regular oil. Though that should have cleaned it out really well.
 
#4 ·
could there be something in the bottom of the pan that is obstructing the pick up screen?
 
#7 ·
Put a pressure gauge on it just to verify the sender is working correctly. It could be just a run of the mill gauge temporarily piped in. But it really sounds like something after the oil pump. is your oil level adequate? My 5.8 had a incorrect dipstick length and was only carrying 2qts of oil when full but it always had good oil pressure but started ticking so bad I had a couple folks asked me if it was a diesel.
 
#8 ·
When I dropped the pan on my 351w The plan was to install a high volume pump.....well there were3 oil-pump drive rodz laying in the muck in the bottom of the pan....The top-end of the engine looked to be in decent shape......all lies!! Judging from the mess in the pan. I wouldnt have guessed the engine to be 100,00 but!!! So rather than continur we installed a good 351...and man does it run good.
 
#10 ·
Sure just sounds like one bad lifter to me. Luckily with your 300, valve cover, rocker arm shaft then side cover gets you to it. No luck figuring which one it is? Attempting to slip a feeler gauge between the rocker and valve stem while running should smoke it out. A fat gauge won't slip in unless you are at the bad one and the noise would also change once it's in. Only the V8s had clogged pickup screen issues. The 6s used a different type valve seal that didn't fall apart and find it's way to the pan where the pieces clogged screens and fried oil pumps. Broncobill's oil pump driveshafts were because of that. Since they were in his pan, obviously no one bothered to wipe the pan out (probably didn't even clean the screen) and just set up the next fried oil pump. Cheap bastard I am I'd just replace the noisy lifter. Too many 300s go the the junkyard with 300K+ with a full set of quiet lifters to make me think a bad one was anything but a fluke.
 
#12 ·
That sounds like a great way to determine which lifter it is. I'll give that a try! Another thing I forgot to check for when I had the cover off is a cracked rocker arm nut. The older style (non-pedestal) had issues with those fatiguing, and then they wouldn't hold torque on the rockers.

300s only really have issues with clogged screens if they have a fiber timing gear that's going out. They'll start to shred and then can plug it. However, usually they just go all at once, leaving the engine dead. New set of timing gears, and cleaning out the pan and you're good to go. Either way, I had the pan off two years ago for a new gasket and checked the screen then and it was nice and clean.

And yeah, lifters are super easy to get to on the 300. :thumbup

96EB5.8 said:
Are you sure it is a lifter? you could have a piece of carbon loose in a cylinder making the noise.
Pretty sure it's something mechanical. It sounds very metallic and quite like most top end noise I've heard in other engines before that had issues like it.
 
#14 ·
I'm certainly open for suggestions! It just sounded very much like other lifter ticks I've heard, so I assumed.
How would one get such a piece of carbon out? Or see if a cylinder has some in it?
 
#16 ·
Use a mechanics stethoscope to listen closely to isolate the noise if it is a lifter it should be loudest at the lifter cover or the valve cover. Carbon sitting on top of the piston will be loud at the head usually. this could also help you isolate which cyl/lifter it is.
 
#17 ·
and your sure the exhaust manifold isnt cracked.

I always used a broom stick as a stethascope, works pretty good and is generally easy to find one of those.
 
#19 ·
I'm dealing with a few other issues at the moment, so I haven't gotten back to it, but I'll check to see if it's a cracked manifold. I don't think so considering how it sounds, but you never know. Once I get back to this, I'll update on what I find.
 
#21 ·
Have you changed the oil yet since putting the mystery oil in it? Maybe that stuff is thin enough to make it sound as if you are a quart low! I was just reading in the manual about the torque sequence for checking my intake bolts and just happened to read the section about 'bleeding down" the cylinders on the 6 cylinders but Gary's way with the thicker gauge sounds easier especially if you don't have the tool to bleed it down correctly. I used to keep a valve cover with the middle cut out so I could run the motor and not cover the manifolds/headers with oil and smoke out the garage. A cracked manifold would be there all the time and get louder till you went so fast it would escape so quick it would kind of smooth out. Can you get it up on some stands, with some help, and run it through the gears and listen with a piece of hose at the cover? Just block the front wheels with someone inside to hit the brakes just in case. Not super safe but without a lift sometimes you have to improvise! I just found out my headers were loose on the driver side causing a leak back on #8 blowing some black soot on the side of the block and I put a H.P. Melling oil pump in and realized it was almost a quart low and added a quart plus 3/4 more to make up for the high volume pump keeping more oil up top than normal. I had the exhaust noise and a very loud tick that I thought was a lifter and seems it must have been the pump or maybe not enough oil in the pan when it was first started and cold and the oil would take longer to flow down! :thumbup -Kevin-
 
#22 ·
In the decades I've been a mechanic, the only thing that made loud clicking and could come and go was always a failing lifter. That happens so rarely replacing them all for one noisy one isn't very cost effective. The cut out valve cover is a great idea if you have one type engine you tinker with a lot.
 
#23 · (Edited)
lifters in a six

seems (as you said there were multiple noises) that your discription is a partial cloggin of a gallery, get a map of the internal galleries and see what is accessible to you ( once I used coat hangers, copper wire or anything that would not break off or get stuck to run down galleries) perhaps the first would be where your filter is..big hole :) I don't know where your sender is so... you may be lucky and hit it right away..but from what you describe - I'd guess it was on the main run to all lifters - as far as a I reeeeecall the diagrams for the galleries have little arrows..all that won't cost.. easiest crudd first..a friend used to take a gallon of varsol and run it in his engine for a bit then let it sit, then drain and repeat..but that is a risk as you could loosen up a poop load of stuff..as you know varsol will disolve a lot too..good luck..my 351 suffers from 1 lifter tick - on the highway it lasts for 20 minutes then it starts (but only one = bad lifter) k

There are some things you mentioned as well, running along and then sitting at a light twice then ticking...seems if you were to run on the highway for a while, they should tick after some time due to loss of supply, not necessarily pump up..hmmm change the filter (you may even have the wrong one ?) it's the next easiest thing..etc..etc.. etc.. every once in a while the filters have internal valve problems (if they're cheeep) cyuh
 
#25 ·
Thanks for all the ideas. I found out what it was.
My 300 had the wrong oil pan on it, which puts the dipstick at the front. No vehicles ever came with this pan, so I can only assume it's from an industrial motor (such as a wood chipper or something). The dipstick doesn't touch oil, so I have no idea how much oil is ever in the truck.
Because of this, I'm VERY consistent with oil changes so that I always know it's topped off and in the few years I've owned it, it's never been an issue.

In the last month or so, it looks like it's developed a leak, so I was loosing oil and didn't know it. I put a few quarts in and the sound went away immediately...

I need to source a new oil pan for it with the proper dipstick, and fix the leak, and it should be good to go. The oil pressure never dropped, so hopefully no damage was done to it. Just a bunch of noise.
 
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