Tick i believe to be lash adjusters

[BIGCHRISS197]

So heres the skinny, ive had this tick for a little while ive thought to have been an exhaust leak. Its a little more pronounced now and ive located it in the passenger side of the motor just under the intake. I believe this to be an hydraulic lash adjuster. I pulled the valve cover off and everything looks immaculate, no abnormal wear or discoloration on the cam or followers, and the car runs smooth and pulls fine minus said tick. Ive searched multiple forums but havent found any procedures. whats the process of removing the followers and in turn the lash adjusters for the entire passenger side? What would be the signs of a failed lash adjuster once i have them out? Also do i have to remove the cam, id like to avoid this so its less of a headache reinstalling everything? Any tips/tricks and support would be appreciated.

 

[toorbeenee]

Are you sure its not the cam phaser?

Removing the cam is better but you can also loosen the cam caps and take all the followers out and replace the adjusters.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Are you sure its not the cam phaser?

Removing the cam is better but you can also loosen the cam caps and take all the followers out and replace the adjusters.

Im fairly certain its not, it appears to be coming from the center of the head not the front.

 

[Wild White Pony]

IIRC after doing springs and cams last year you would need take the cam caps off and tip the cam up to get the lash adjusters out.
Just make sure you wedge the chain.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Ah, damn. Well if it must be done then so be it lol thank you sir

 

[TheKurgan]

Just throwing this out there but I refreshed my heads with all new lash adjusters and my tick never went away. I quit worry about it like 5 years ago. Just saying I would be sure where it's coming from first. This is a very common issue.

 

[one eyed willy]

Replace the followers while you are in there

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Replace the followers while you are in there

Ive only found them sold as a set so this would be the plan.

 

[AnotherS197GT]

I replaced my lash adjusters, followers, cam phasers, put in a GT500 oil pump, and threw a set of hot rods in while I was at it because I had a ticking sound as well. Mine would start out kinda noisy on cold starts, then would go away after a minute or two, coming back from time to time while hot. Since I replaced everything, it seems to be a lot quieter. I hear some clattering, but not the same noise I was hearing before. I do think the Hot Rods are smacking everything around a bit, so the lash adjusters/followers are a bit noisier than they would be with stock cams.

All in all, I'm glad I do everything apart and checked it out. I had some scoring on my followers, but I think as long as everything looks clean you should be fine. If you still want to replace them for peace of mind, then you'll have to remove the cams. Its going to make your life about 100x easier for the followers, and pretty much a must for the lash adjusters. I know my stuff probably was fine, but I sure feel a lot better revving my car out with all the new parts in it.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Yea i cant even describe how immaculate everything looked. Beautiful polish on the cam lobes and followers, no abnormal play in any the followers that weren't under tension. All the valve springs look fine. But theres is a very defined tick, you cant feel it, but can definitely hear it over the diesel-esque injectors.

 

[05gtowner]

I have the exact same issue big chris. In almost the same spot as you are describing. With these motors the sounds echo around a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a worn or guide causing the chain to tap the front cover and echoing the sound around. I think I am just going to have to have mine completely gone through. Because unlike your mine was terribly varnished and looked like old hot chocolate was under the valve covers. Ford thought it was low oil pressure due to failure of the previous owner of my car to do proper maintenance.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Im fairly meticulous with maintenance. Although the oil was a bit low after 2500 miles, it was reading at the bottom of the stick so i added a quart, but i believe this may be due to loose valve cover bolts allowing oil to leak out, when removing the valve cover some of the bolts werent even finger tight and the two rear lower bolts had a generous coating of oil. I took a video of the tick after a drive to work, its much louder than it appears in video, held the rpms around 2300ish.
http://youtu.be/4u01MClLmJk

 

[eighty6gt]

Can't really hear anything on the video.

My car has ticked since new. There's no way I'd start tracking that down! Too minor. It's just part and parcel of running a pile of parts produced by the lowest bidder.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Its more noticeable in the beginning of the video, but my phone was threatening to vibrate off the fuse box so i had to move it and it was drowned out by everything else lol

 

[408Stang]

I would think that an exhaust leak is more likely the tick sound than a lash adjuster. But also what oil are you using. It needs to be at least 500 but a lot of people run 5w30 or 10w30. The GT500 takes 5w50.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Ive religiously used mobil1 5w20 full synthetic with a Bosch oil filter. I switched about 5 oil changes ago to the extended performance oil gold cap, i still change it between 3500-4000 miles though. It is a tick noise, not even quite a tap and nothing close to a knock.

 

[408Stang]

I'm sticking with an exhaust leak... Do you have aftermarket headers? I bought a set once that even had a one-piece laser cut flange and it was badly warped. Took me like 4 hours on a friend's mill to get them flat.

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

No stock manifolds that have never been removed. Someone on modded mustangs suggesting checking the spark plugs to make sure one hadnt backed out which i guess is totally plausible. Ill report back

 

[BIGCHRISS197]

Ok......this is embarrassing....using a mini wooden baseball bat i was able to pinpoint the noise coming directly from under the #2 cylinder coil. Upon pulling the coil i found a decent carbon build up on the spark plug hole wall. I found the spark plug to barely even finger tight. Threads looked fine, tightened her down and the tick went away......lol oh how im relieved lol i appreciate everyone's assistance and apologize for not investigating further before creating a thread.

 

[one eyed willy]

Sweet, easy Peasy!