Hello, mustang owners. I am new to this Mustang Forum. I have a 89 Mustang with a one year old 351W motor and a 5-speed trans., it was custom build for me in 2006 using all new parts no rebuild, and I did not have any problems with the motor until now. When I start the car there is a little ticking noise coming form the left side of the engine right were the valve cover is (driver side). The ticking noise is a little louder when the engine is cold. Does anyone know what might cause this? At first I was thinking thatit was anexhaust leak, I look very closely at the headers for any cracks or carbon marks, but didn’t find anything, everything looks OK. Is it possible that the valves need to be adjusted? If so, any tricks in adjusting the valves? I am afraid to drive my mustang, don’t want to cause more damage. Please, anyone out there.

 

If you're 100% sure its not an exhaust leak .............

it sounds like a roller rocker might be loose or out of adjustment
when they get loose they start flopping around make a real loud clicking/clacking noise.

I would still double check all the exhaust stuff.
sometimes the header gaskets will blow out on the bottom side of header
and you cant see the leak until you take the header off and see the busted gasket

 

I think the exhaust is ok, not 100% sure. I am going to take the headers off this week and see, it's a pain in the neck to try and get to those header bolts. I also noticed that ticking/clicking sound when I turn the engine over, right before it starts. If it is the roller rocker how do I know for sure? and how do I adjust it, any tricks? or should I take it to a mechanic?Ibet it's going to be very expensive to get them adjusted.

 

god ........ you're not kidding on getting to those back header bolts ........ uggggg

If you can hear it before start-up, my money is on a loose rocker arm,
good place to start anyway.

take valve covers off and take a look
give each rocker a little tug and see if its just barely sitting on there
and if its lock down nut has backed off.
It should have some play in the rocker seat, but if you grab its
lock down nut it should be on there nice and tight.

Happened to me one time and it sure did make a racket
sounded like one of the rockers was hitting the valve cover.
took cover off and one of them had come loose and was just sitting
loosely on its stud.

its super easy to adjust them, just takes some time and patience.

I would recommend having a performance shop do it for you
you can f*ck some shyt up if you set them too tight.

If you really want to do it yourself I can walk you thru it, but
to do it perfect you really need to take your lower intake off too
so you can see the lifters.

When adjusting rockers you are setting a pre-load on the lifter
A lot of people do it by "feel" and leave the lower intake on, but
I find it easier to know you did it right if you take the lower intake off.

 

Yeah, I can hear it when the motor turns over right before it starts, like click, click, click and then it starts and that clicking sound continues.

I would really want to try and adjust them myself just in case this happens again if I can’t do I will take it to the shop.

Is there a torque spec. to how tight the log nuts should be? I would really appreciate if you can tell me how to adjust them step by step.

 

http://s bftech.com/index.php/topic,317.0.html

take the space out from the "s" and "b", this site blocks links
to them for some stupid reason.

 

i would take barns advice and maybe let someone do it for you the first time and walk you through it..because hes right, you can mess it up, especially if you have a flat tappet camshaft.
i do it the redneck way.. zero lash, then 1/2 round, sometime depending on what rocker arms you have it might take 1/4 1/2 or 3/4 round, to make them work right,
and make sure the lifters are pumped up...have oil pressure too them
solid lift cams are another story which im sure you dont have

 

hope i didnt give any bad advice?

 

Thank you for the info. some nice web site with good pics. I will try and adjust them this weekend and see how far I will get. I can always town the car to the mechanic if I mess up.

 

Hey guys, I fanally fix the problem. It was an exhaust leak the header gasket was leaking on cylinder # 7 and 8 I could see the black marks. I want out and bought a new set of header gaskets, I also recoated the headers they were all rusted, might as well right. I also checked the rocker arms, they are nice and tight no problem there. Now the ticking soundis gone. Thanks for help.