Canary94GT

I went through a bit of an adventure with my 65 200 i6 when it had no oil pressure after a recent oil change, and fixed the problem somehow by priming the oil pump with a drill. It was also noted that I rotated the pump in the wrong direction for priming, and that may have unclogged the the oil pickup or something.

Now when I start the engine when its cold, I hear a ticking sound from it until it warms up. It's not very loud, but sometimes I can hear it slightly from inside the car. I took the valve cover off to see if anything looked/sounded abnormal. I used an old hose and held it against my ear and hovered it over each of the valve springs and push rods and couldn't hear where that exact sound came from. One of the rockers was making some noise, but it sounded different than the main noise I am talking about - more frequent and quieter. I couldn't locate the exact source of the louder noise.

None of the rockers seemed to have excessive lash when I rotated the engine and checked them, but I wasn't being very accurate, just feeling the tightness of the pushrods. They were adjusted <1000 miles ago and I don't recall this noise since before the recent oil change.

I also could not get any movement by pushing down on the push rods, but I'm not sure how much force would be required to see if a lifter is collapsed, or if anything would be apparent at all.

The engine is getting good oil pressure, from 35-40 psi, and the needle on my electric gauge moves immediately when the engine is started, but takes a good 5-15 seconds to reach full pressure. It *seems* like it's taking progressively longer for it to reach full pressure, but I may just be imagining things or it could depend on how cold the engine is.

Oil is filled to right before the "don't add" mark on the dip stick. I'm using 10w-30 conventional oil. And it might be worth reiterating from my previous thread that I accidentally put part synthetic 10w-30 oil in the car when I changed the oil, ran it and saw no oil pressure. That was drained before even moving the car and the current oil was put in. Don't know if that matters, but I like to provide more than adequate information.

What do you guys think is going on? Is a lifter not functioning properly? Is the oil pump weak or getting clogged? Is the noise an inherent property of running a thicker oil such as 10w-30 (that's what I had in before this oil change)? Is it something totally different since I wasn't hearing the source of the sound through the hose? Or maybe I shouldn't worry about it as long as I let the engine warm up before heading out.

Any help appreciated.

1slow67

My 200 that I had in the 67 made a ticking noise.

MustangFTW

i think my 67 with a 289 also made this sound, also went away after warming up.

now that my engine is apart, my lifters look normal, so does everything else, expect i possibly had a broken piston ring, could this be the source of the ticking?

the oil pumps on these cars do get worn out, its a good idea to replace it if it hasnt been done before.

JMD

IMO ticking when warm/hot is a bigger concern. I don't know how much you have run the car since your oil pressure issue, but if not much, you might just have some air in a lifter or something similar.

If it was me, I would just be careful and run the car some and see what develops. If things don't get worse, I would just try and ignore the tick. I have chased a tick to the point of rebuilding my Lincoln motor only to find nothing wrong and rebuilt to the point where it STILL ticks. Some engines just tick... Not scientific, but factual. (valve train on LYBs are notorious for ticks)

But, the tick combined with the previous oil pressure thing would make me watch the issue a little closer than I would ordinarily.

Canary94GT

Thank you guys.

I meant to mention I've only driven it ~6 miles since the oil pressure issue, but have had it idle on and off in the driveway for a good amount of time.

I also notice that my car seems to start at a low idle speed and if I tap the gas pedal, the idle speed increases. This also happens sometimes at stop lights (something sticky about the carb probably - but not a concern to me) When it's at the lower idle speed, I can hear the ticking but when it's at a higher idle speed I can't hear it as well, if at all - either it lessens or the engine noise phases it out. The PCV valve also makes a ticking noise that is more rapid so it can be hard to tell which is which sometimes.

It appears to go away after warm, but I will keep a closer eye on it since I cannot confirm for sure that it goes away when warm due to the above occurrence.

HGC

I grew up with these cars in the sixties and a ticking noise was not uncommon. Believe it or not it can be an exhaust noise. When the exhaust manifold would warm up it could expand and seal up or expand and cause a ticking noise. It could go either way. Dumb, but true.

Canary94GT

Interesting HGC. It did used to have an exhaust leak and although the head was rebuilt and machined, I'm not 100% confident the machinist fixed the leak. Next time I get it going I will use the hose technique again and see if the sound appears to be coming from over there.

Still, I think it might be more of an oil-related thing since it appears to have started after that oil change incident.

sikcbra

my car is also ticking when its coled but once it warms up it goes away i guess its normal..

Canary94GT

It seems like it's taking an extraordinarily long time for it to build oil pressure. I start the car and it immediately jumps up to the "L" line on the gauge, then takes 30-60 seconds or more for it to slowly move to about 1/3-1/2 of the way from the "L" line to the "H" line on the gauge, where it usually sits when I am driving. I do not remember it taking anywhere near this long.

Anyone have any ideas (related to my experience) for what would cause it to take so long to build pressure?

Canary94GT

Hmm, I hooked up my mechanical gauge and started it up and it immediately climbed to 30psi and stayed there.

Different story from what I was experiencing with my electrical gauge, but I will let her cool off then try it again since it may have just done that because it was warm from the drive.

30 psi is lower than the 35-40 psi I was getting after I primed the pump through the distributor on the last thread.

I wish these cars came stock with mechanical gauges -_-

Edit: Tried it again an hour later and it immediately shot up to 35 psi again. So I must have a shot sending unit (with only like 1000 miles on it ) or something to do with the gauge.