Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Play it again Sam,

The first thing was to blow off the engine and
compartment with compressed air.

Sometimes you just have to do the work.

The engine in my F150 has developed a "lifter tick" on cold start up. This has become noticeable after the odometer rolled over 180,000 miles.

I searched the online forums and they indicated that the noise was probably due to wear in the rocker arm assemblies. The videos that I watched illustrated the procedure, and the satisfactory results after the parts were replaced.

I found that the lifter tick would quiet down within two to three minutes after a cold start. That allowed to keep on driving the truck for a while. I'd ordered the needed parts from Rock Auto and after they arrived I didn't really have any excuse for putting the job off. 

Then the Fourth of July rolled around and I figured that it would be best to wait until after the holiday weekend. 

Yesterday I moved the Mustang out of the driveway and put the truck in that spot. Then I fired up my air compressor and used an air gun to blow off the engine and the engine compartment. 

Today I re-watched the videos that I found detailing the rocker replacement. After lunch I set to work. I figured that I'm not in any hurry, and didn't have any real deadline. I have the Mustang to drive, but I didn't see the point in procrastinating, those rocker arms aren't going to change themselves! 

The thing is, is that I need the truck to be up and running. I use it for all my home improvement projects to fetch lumber and other stuff. Unlike most of my other vehicles, it isn't a hobby car. I can't just ignore it and let it sit for an extended period of time. I also need to know if there are more serious problems with the engine. If so, I'll have to address the situation. I'd either have to spend the necessary money to fix it properly, replace the engine, or even replace the truck with a newer model. I don't really want to do that, but I have to be prepared for whatever needs to be done.

I'd like to keep my truck for the duration, 

I started moving all the parts that would get in the way, like the power steering reservoir, as detailed in the videos. Of course I found a few things not covered in them. The passenger side valve cover has a crankcase vent line that was hidden by the ignition coil. There is also some kind of electrical connection on the head below the cover bottom edge. From what I could see, it won't need to be removed.

By the end of the day, which was only about three hours of work, I'd removed everything that could get in the way. Tomorrow I'll remove one valve cover at a time, then replace the rockers and reassemble. 

The square board with there connector plugs needed to be unbolted. By removing the battery cover, I could shift the computer board to the right to gain some additional clearance, I didn't realize that until I'd already removed the valve cover. It did make reassembly a bit easier.

The driver's side was easier to access, and I could actually see what I was doing.

I didn't take many photos. When I'm in the middle of an exasperating operation I don't want to stop or be distracted by the need to document the details of my progress. If you're interested, you can find the repair videos that I watched on YouTube.

I thought that I'd also replace the coil, wires, and plugs a while I was in there.

Coils are consumables, especially after almost twenty years.

I got the opportunity to buy a couple of new tools. The small clicker torque wrench didn't read high enough to be used. It only registered to 200 in. lbs. The required 25 ft. lb. reading would translate to 300 in. lbs. The easy math was to multiply the foot/lbs. number by twelve, which didn't occur to me in the store. No matter, it's a cute little wrench that only set me back 14 bucks. The digital torque adapter was much more useful. A big advantage is that you can use it with different length ratchets, which makes it very handy. My old beam torque wrench couldn't fit in the space.

Giving more money to Harbor Freight.

I replaced all twelve rockers and pushrods. I couldn't see any galling or discernible wear to any of the surfaces. I could't even catch a fingernail on the edge of the worn areas.The parts installed easily until I reached the two front valves on the driver's side. The fulcrum mount had a little burr that prevented the fulcrum from seating. I had to massage the mount by installing the block by itself and tightening it down a couple of times before these last two assemblies would bolt down properly.

Thankfully, all the others had been installed "blind' and they all went in easily. I was concerned about the valve cover gaskets seating properly since I couldn't see the mating surface, but the bolts held the gasket in place securely. I did manage to catch the wire to the sensor bolted to the top of the passenger side head, under the valve cover. I hadn't completely snugged down the bolts so I had to loosen all of them so I could lift the cover and free the wire, which got a bit scuffed. I wrapped some electrical tape on the damaged insulation.

The ignition coil mounts on the passenger side valve cover and that was installed after replacing the valve cover itself. I thought about replacing the wires and plugs, but the truck had been running fine and I was kind of tired, and thought it best to put that job off for another day.

I did clean the MAF sensor since I had removed the air filter housing. This was only the first or second time that I'd done that.

After everything was buttoned up, and I had checked the engine compartment for any forgotten tools and stray rags, the moment of truth arrived. I've repaired quite a few engines, but I'm no professional wrench. There is always that little bit of worry in the back of my mind before I turn the key. 

I fired the engine up and it started immediately with just a bit of ticking, which stopped after a couple of minutes. I let the engine run for about fifteen minutes while I straightened up the driveway and cleaned off my tools. I turned off the engine then restarted it and it was quiet. 

I took the truck for a test drive and ten miles later I shut it down in the driveway then restarted it. There was no noise at all. 

I was a bit skeptical about how effective this repair would be, but it seems to have worked. The engine has 183,000 miles currently on it, and it runs fine. If this repair lasts for another 30-40 thousand miles I would be pretty satisfied. If the engine eventually needs new lifters and a camshaft, I might consider just replacing the engine with a rebuilt unit. 

Currently I only put an average of 300 miles a month on the truck. Fudging the numbers a bit that's only about four thousand miles a year.

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Well, the noise hasn't gone completely away after almost 100 miles. Now it only clatters a bit and that disappears after about a minute. It doesn't happen on later warm starts.

Lifter tick occurs because there is too much clearance between the tip of the rocker arm and the end of the valve stem. The excess clearance can only come from three places. First, the rockers. I replaced all the rocker assemblies and pushrods and that helped quite a bit. The next step would be to replace the hydraulic lifters. To do that I'll have to pull the intake manifold. I watched a couple of videos, and while I don't really want to do it, I will if I have to. These are roller lifters and hopefully the camshaft is still in OK condition. The third area would worn cam lobes, which would result in the lifters having to extend too far to close up the clearance. In other words, they are "stretched to their limits.

Another unlikely scenario occurs as the valve heads recess into the seats due to wear and long usage. That is probably not the reason as that usually tightens up the valve clearances. That will eventually lead to burnt valves. This results in rough running but not in noise.

Or maybe the lifters could just be dirty, and the internal passages could be blocked a bit. This was a common complaint back in the 1950's and '60's. Self service and DIY articles advised adding a can of lifter lube with every oil change.

I decided to try a can of the "good stuff," after all it's made in Germany, and costs 13.00. 

Hope springs eternal. Maybe the oil is now too thin? It's only got 5,000 miles on it, I don't change it any sooner than this. I suppose that I could try some of the oil thickening products and see if it makes a difference.

My only consolation is that the noise does stop. I wait until it's gone before I drive off. Damage could be occurring while the valves are clattering.

I'll probably give the oil treatment a chance before I take it in for an oil change. I have to admit that I'm pretty disappointed, 183,000 miles doesn't seem like that many miles. I was hoping that it would exceed 200,000 miles before the engine required repair, but I have to deal with the reality of the situation.