So I finally found the noise my '98 Ranger was making. Turns out, it's a lifter knock. I'm gonna do sea foam and see if that solves it, but If not, I have a feeling it will get expensive.

any one have a rough idea on how much it is to fix a lifter (for the vavles)?

 

go out and buy 2 gallons of ford ATF fluid and
2 crappy and 1 very good oil filter.

drain your engine oil ( let it sit for about half an hour )
remove the used filter and install 1 crappy filter
pour all 8 gallons of ATF fluid into engine
( keep the oil fill cap off )
run the engine for 2 minutes ( assuming it was still hot )
stop engine put the oil fill cap back on and let it sit over night
remove the oil fill cap
run the engine until it warms up
( sit in the cab and keep a close eye on the dash lights ,, oil and temp gauges )
if there is a-lot of crud in there , the oil pressure failure light should will come on
basically you run the engine to normal operating temperature.
shut down engine and put another crappy oil filter on
run the engine for 20 minutes or until the coolant temperature gauge just starts creeping into the red zone.
the lifter noise should have stopped by now .
congratulations you now have thoroughly cleaned out your engine of a-lot sludge and deposits.

drain out all of the ATF fluid , remove the crappy oil filter and install a good oil filter and some good quality ( detergent ) engine oil.

basically ATF fluid to an engine is like sunlight ( lemon ) dish soap is to greasy dishes
it cleans right down to the solid surface ( that being metal )

basically the ATF fluid when it sits over night ,, is that is dissolves any crud, sludge or particles that it encounters ( especially in hydraulic lifters , stuck piston rings etc )

you will probably notice a little more pep from the engine now.

 

HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND?????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????

DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS PERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What are you talking about? Ask any mechanic, and they will tell you that if you are trying to clean the gunk out of your engine, this is the method. DO NOT drive with the ATF in it, though. I've heard people say run it for about 500-1000 miles, but you WILL ruin the engine if you do that.

HOWEVER! I also had a lifter tick in my 92, and RESTORE Engine restore fixed the problem. All you do is add it to your engine oil, run it for 500 miles, then change your oil.

The problem with using any sort of solvent though, is that when you release the crud, you may not dissolve it. Of course you won't know until later on down the road, and if that's the case, the crud is going to be floating around, and most likely will eventually get stuck in something. In my case, I had a HUGE piece of carbon get stuck in one of my valves, causing it to bend. Hence why my Ranger is still broken down.

 

Putting in one quart of ATF is just fine if you do it right before an oil change.. Only warm the engine up, then drain oil.. Basically the same effect as doing a Seafoam treatment..

From what I know I'd say that if you've got lifter knock then it's gonna get worse when you get it cleaner...?


GB :)

 

Any old fashioned dinosaur oil that has a high detergent level will do the exact same thing...

GB :)

 

UN-FRICKING BELIEVABLE AND IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH EVEN!! LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

ATF really? Never heard of that

 

Obviously you aren't reading all of the posts in this thread. If you use the ATF as the directions were given in post #2, you should be fine. If you run it with your oil for 500-1000 miles, then change the oil, you'll probably be sorry. When you're DRIVING, you're putting your engine through a lot more stress then if you were to just let it idle. The RPM's shouldn't change drastically enough during idle to do any damage. I know people who have done this with no effect so far and with better running engines then before.

I would try sea foam for your lifter knock before doing ATF. If it doesn't work, then go for the ATF.

 

i had a 1990 bmw 318i when i was in germany it knocked like crazy i cleaned it with atf it got alot of gunk out but it started knocking worst i then filled it with military grade 15w40 it shut the knock up

TIP: ive also heard from some diesel mechanics that atf also make good injector cleaner for diesels
but i never hade the ***** to try it when i was turning wrenches and i defintly would not try it on any off these new style motors requiring ultralow sulfer diesel
this my only b4 a high commpression diesel engin idk like i said never tryed it

 

i've heard to put diesel in instead of atf.

i had a buddy run his dub w/o oil and i mentioned it to my uncle and he said diesel can lubricate and clean out gunk as well.

of course, i've never tried it to confirm.

 

oops! i fudged 1 part and forgot another.

i meant to say was, shut the engine down when the needle starts creeping past where the needle usually stays at normal engine operating temperature.
2nd! i forgot to say,, do not rev the engine- just let it idle while the ATF fluid does it work cleaning the internals of your engine and lifter oil feed port.

i did this process to my old black jeep cj7 the 6cyl made very little heat and liitle engine power

i did exactly what i just described and it worked like a dream.
i could not believe the sludge it dislodged ( piston rings,lifters )

( when you start pouring the atf fluid in, you can see it start dislodging the gunk that is stuck to the cylinder head , under the valve cover )

i ended up using 5 crappy oil filters to do it
never put the engine under any load while you are doing this process ( do not drive anywhere, you must shut the engine down when/if the engine oil light comes on )

not only did my jeep pump a-lot of heat through the heater core now , the engine power was way up

and yes i started running diesel engine oil through it after that