Kenny_Z

I just got back from a week long business trip. As soon as I woke up this morning I wanted to go for a drive in my Mustang. I missed her, I had to drive a Mazda 6 all week :P

I got in and started the engine, I heard a loud ticking from the driver side of the engine. I pulled off the valve cover and sure enough the second to last rocker was the source. I went through and adjusted all of the rockers to be safe. Now I'm curious as to what could of caused this in the first place? I had noticed a very soft ticking the day I flew out (there went my one last drive before the trip). I made note to figure that out when I got back. No one touched her the entire week so I know the engine wasn't running. I live alone and the keys were locked in the house. I'd actually forgotten about the soft ticking I heard when I cranked her up but was quickly reminded when I heard a much louder version of it.

Could a weather change of caused this issue? I'm not sure how a rocker could loosen that much in a week of not running.

mstngsule68

cold engine, no oil up top, are some casus, you know how the golden rule is, never rev a cold engine because it doesnt have oil up top for valve train. or worse case senario you have a valve train problem.....

mstngsule68

or collapsed lifter. how much did u have to tighten it down?

Oxnard Montalvo

As said, one of the lifters might not be pumping up. How long has it been since an oil change?

cprstreetmachines

Stock rocker or after market ?

Kenny_Z

Stock rockers on a stock head. I only had to tighten it about a quarter of a turn to stop the ticking completely.

Hmm...I'm guessing it's been about 5000 miles since the last change. The oil doesn't appear bad, not milky or gumming up. I may change it just to change it. I watched the flow on the rockers while I had the cover off and it's flowing well.

It's possible there was no oil up top when I cranked it. It had been sitting a week before I cranked it the day I flew out (bad weather all week) and then it sat another week while I was out of town. Normally she doesn't get that much rest. I don't rev her in the driveway, don't want to anger the neighbors

Gary H

Try checking them after the engine is warmed up. Lifter might have bled down some while it sat. How many miles on the engine?

mstngsule68

i bet a collapsed lifter, i can let my car sit, and have let it sit for about 4months, and i have the barely to none chatter for a minute or less when i started it up

Kenny_Z

Thanks guys, I'll take a look at that lifter this weekend.

Unfortunately I don't know how many miles are on the engine. The guy I bought the car from did a fresh rebuild and his son drove it back and forth to school and work for about a year before he wrecked it. I don't know the distance to each. I've put somewhere around 5k on it myself.