I have a 1992 Ranger with a 3.0 and it has a pretty loud ticking noise. I had the motor rebuilt recently by a Ford dealership and they replaced all of the lifters, water pump, and the timing chain. They checked all of the clearances. All the rods and all the other bearings and everything were in spec. They put it back together thinking that they fixed it to only fire it up and hear it ticking still. They ended up tearing it down again to try and find anything out of spec but they couldn't find anything so here we are with a ticking ranger. It runs great and the ticking goes away at higher rpm but I am at a total loss now. Anything that I think it could be, is not a problem. I used a metal bar to try to hear the sound and it gets the loudest when I put the bar directly onto the block and is quieter on the intake manifold, heads, and anything else I put it on. Any ideas will help.

 

A rebuild is when they actually replace the rod and main bearings, among many other things. On a high mileage vehicle, sometimes just replacing the lifters is not enough and it will require new lift rods and rockers as well. I also have a hard time believing they would actually take the time to just "inspect" the bearings on a high mileage engine with the amount of work involved to do so. A knock coming more prominently from the block signals a rod or main bearing, a piston can wear to make noise as well. A diagnosis is only educated speculation. Trust in that diagnosis is a whole different thing. There is only one way to actually know, and that's to pull the engine and tear it down, and if you're going to do that, you may as well rebuild. They know this. I hope they aren't charging you much. They call them "Stealerships" for a reason.

 

Yeah I forgot to mention before that it had brand new rockers and pushrods put in and it was a nice small town dealership in Montana (still certified Ford techs) that discounted it as much as they could when they found that the tick was still there after tearing it apart. I have family that knows the owner of that shop and they say that they are trustworthy people. They told my uncle (who lives out there and is who actually paid to have it torn down and checked when I was in WA) what the measurements were on all of the bearings but I never heard what they were, he just said they were all in spec.Also the truck has been in my family and only has 93k miles on it. It was my great grandfathters, then my grandfather's (they both didn't drive it much) and is now mine. I never heard of when that ticking started but all that I know is that it is there and it drives me crazy and I want it to be gone if at all possible. The guys said that there was almost no wear on the cylinder walls so "piston slap" is out of the question. I would rebuild the thing myself but I just don't have the time to do something like that.