2001 4.0 SOHC

When I start up the truck, especially when its cold, I get alot of clacking for a few sec, then it goes away. I can hear alot of just rattling when i'm idling especially if I'm next to a wall, or if another car pulls along side me.

I'll try and get a video of it in the next few days.
Any ideas?

 

check your oil lately? or try adding the lucas oil additive thats how it was on my old dodge dakota. check plugs to?

 

need to change the oil this week, but i dont think its low or anything, maybe i'll throw some of that lucas oil in there... might as well

Spark plugs wouldnt cause the clacking at startup though would they? I've got 75k on stock plugs, as soon as school gets out they're getting changed

 

Mines done that for 5 years. My moms brand new explorer has a tick...Run it

 

I have been.

Its always had the ticking/rattle at idle, along with the timing chain crap around 2500rpm, but the clacking at startup is whats worrying me

 

mine does it too... but sure its not just the timing chain making noise? It does it when its cold out... and then at like 2500 rpms... Wish there was somethin i could do to fix it...

Rocky

 

It's one of two things. Either piston slap and/or the oil is not staying primed (valve in filter)

Now.. since you can hear it once it's warmed up.. I'd suggest that it's piston slap.

Step the oil up to a full synthetic 10w-30 and within 100 miles I'd bet the noise will be mostly gone.

Rich

 

your truck is an 01, i would say its the timing chain.

theres a TSB out for a few of the early year 4.0 sohc rangers and explorers.


rich could be right, but you said it does it even after it runs for a few minutes, so that doesn't sound right.


http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/31...tle-noise.html

 

Ouch, doesn't that cause gouges in the cylinder wall?

 

I'll put $ on the timing chainS!

 

Not really. That is unless its REAL BAD. But at that stage your about to loose the engine anyway.

Piston slap in most modern engines is actually more a "perception" of the car than anything else. Now before you gear heads shoot me.... hear me out.

Pistons "slap" against the cylinder wall happens 100% of the time. The real problem point is when does it become objectionable to the owner? People want to draw a line in the sand and say it's when you hear it. Well.. you've always heard it. Especially you guys who have owned cars made in the 70s and earlier. The rest of the car was so noisy, and the oil used was thicker, such that you just never noticed it before.

The modern car is so quiet that now more subtle noises are becoming more and more noticable.

Just go with a slightly thicker oil and *if it's piston slap* your hearing? It'll mostly go away. Or technicaly speaking.. the noise frequency will go out of the range of your hearing.

Rich

 

yeah, theres 3 of them if i remember correctly.

 

Piston Slap?




www.pistonslap.com

 

Like I said.. your about to loose the engine anyway if it's that bad.

Hearing "piston slap" is a completely relative noise. The noise is there all the time. As is injectors, valves, tappets, lifters, rod bearings, ect...

True piston slap is not a scuffing or scratching of the cylinder wall. If it's that bad your way beyond typically observed "piston slap".

The point that most people start hearing it is when you have about 0.004 clearance and the surfaces that are touching start a wear pattern. As the metal wears those patterns get bigger and bigger increasing the gap with every "slap". If the touching surfaces are very badly worn then you start to break the lip of the ring which then drags and scratches both parts.

btw, I found out about this whole relative noise issue on the protype design phase of the 96 taraus 3.0L duratech. Our water pumps were making all kinds of squeeks and squaks. We had a hard time figuring out what it was? Turned out that is was perfectly normal noise! We just had never had a production engine quiet enough to hear it before.



Going with a full synthetic and thicker oil will pretty much stop 95% of the wear because it creates a thicker and slicker film between the two parts. (piston and wall)

Rich

 

so its a really bad video and it didnt make the noise too much this morning but here it is. I'll try and take another one tonight after the truck has been sitting and its cold outside. Two nights ago it was about 44 and the truck sat for a while, sounded like the engine was about to fall out of the truck.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zyH3xYQmTgU

 

i still think its the timing chains.

read the ford TSB on it.

 

It was too random for piston slap. If it were you'd hear it 100% of the time. And as the motor warmed up it would get quieter or even go away.

That to me sounded more like a random knock. Very well could be a timing chain.

Rich

 

also, this morning i started it 3 or 4 times and kept hearing it

when I got back in after class I didnt hear it at all. Its usually only when cold that it makes the clacking noise, but it always rattles.

I've had the truck to ford for the timing chain and they never heard anything of course, and i'm out of warranty now. If i've already brought the truck into them for it would they still fix it from warranty?

 

my ex g/f's moms expo did the same thing when you started it, started at about 80k.

ford had a problem with the chain tensioner, your not the first person to have this problem.

you have to pull the entire motor out to get to the rear chain, its a real pita.

 

I know about the tensioner problem, I've had the problem since i got the truck 40+k miles ago. The rattling at idle I can deal with and the rattle while shifting, but its the clacking that worries me.

 

2 front one back i think?

 

i think so, it might be the other way around.
i don't remember off hand.

 

heres another video

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=6xzu61e&s=1

 

mine is the timing chain rattle for sure. To prevent dry starts and stuff i put 1qt of Lucas Engine Treatment in my truck. Some people say it helps others say it dont. I do it for a piece of mind really, seems like the truck starts easier, no noise in the morning

 

My old 01 did that from time to time. I think it was the timing chain as well, but Ford wouldn't do anything about it.