I'm about ready to take a grenade launcher to my truck

[oilpan49]

Ok I'm getting alittle sick and tired of choosing what my Ranger likes for oil and it's filter.

My Ranger ticks and rattles like a sick rattle snake. Let me make 1 thing clear, I won't buy anything off the net and you won't persuade me too. I'm at the point where I'm saying back to good ol Valvoline 10w30 and a bosch filter and say that's final.

Now to make things easier for you guys. I never run my Ranger hard nothing over 60 and RPM's are 95% of the time below 4000. The Ranger just turned 64K miles last week. I only put Sunoco 87 in and nothing different, even in the winter time. There's no CE light, no loose or clogged anything. Recently I installed a Motorcraft fuel filter. I only use factory parts nothing less. I've had bad luk with Autozone, NAPA etc... places like that as far reliable solid parts.

I've tried various oil viscosities, anywhere between 0w30 which what it's running now to 10w30, all synthetic. I;ve ran Amsoil and Mobil. Right now it's on Mobil. I've been running synthetic for over a year and the Ranger is smooth on the road and whisper at idle until now. The truck has always had a slight rattle but nothing abnormal to effect performance and gas mileage. This time the rattling is getting out of hand and it's really starting **** me off becuase I've tried so much crap in the past to silence it. I know I'm not gonna get rid of it completely, just the nature of the beast.

So do any of you have any suggestions or advice, anything that is helpful is welcomed. Thanks,,,,,AR

 

[Pablo]

Forget about oil for a second.

Go buy an inexpensive automobile stethascope.

Find out where the ticks are coming from.

Get back with us.

 

[outrun]

If you decide to hit your truck with an M203 round or something please catch it on tape.

It would make for a really kewl internet download video

Food for thought

 

[rpn453]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pablo:
Forget about oil for a second.

Go buy an inexpensive automobile stethascope.

Find out where the ticks are coming from.

Get back with us.

---

Good call.

 

[TallPaul]

I like Pablo's idea. Actually you could take a dowel and place it on various areas of the engine. Hold the other end tightly in your hand with your thumb firmly in your ear and you will hear the insides. I did it with a 3 foot long dowel. Just don't get it hit with the fan blade (one reason not to have the end right in your ear

)

 

[dropitby]

If its not the exhaust butterfly and it sounds more like the lifters or injectors on my truck believe it or not when I put some cheap 5/30 supertech oil and one bottle of Auto RX about a week later the lifter noise got a lot quieter.Just a thought

 

[DSteven]

That is not many miles. Figure out where the rattles and ticks are coming from and repair the matter. The AutoRX treatment is a great idea. My friend had a rattle coming from the timing chain of his truck. He said MaxLife Synthetic made the noises essentially go away. Good Luck.

 

[ChrisW]

Many things i would suspect some are:

PCV valve
valve lifter clearences, may need valve adjustments.
fuel injectors like someone said, they can produce a ticking sound.

I wouldn't call the oil to blame right away.

 

[oilpan49]

Hey guys,

My truck has had an Auto-Rx treatment but that was last year and I've put about 13K or so on it since then so it probably couldn't hurt to do 1 more.

Then again Pablo and the others your right it could be something mechanical. MY truck is a 98 Ford Ranger with a 2.5L dual plug 4 banger auto.

Dropitby,

The rattle is not loud enough to be an exhaust donut if you will. Believe me I've heard some messed up donuts before, this comes from driving U haul and parts running trucks for companies, lol

The stethascope sounds like a good idea, I'll give it a shot! Then again, it would be kinda cool shooting a vid with me blowing up my truck with a M79 grenade launcher

Thanks,,,,,,AR

 

[DSteven]

I think that is a pretty good engne, and 64M isn't that many for present day vehicles. You seem to have kept good maintenence on it. Umm, does it have a timing belt?..could have jumped a tooth. How about severe engine pinging? Does the power seem doogy or anything? How are the motor mounts? Exhaust mounts ok? It's not that old, and not that many miles...diagnose the issue, or take it in, and get a lot more life from it.

 

[chas3]

64k? time for the alternator idler and tensioner bearings to start dying. at idle they can make a variety of odd ticks and clicks. just remove the belt and spin these things by hand -- they should turn smoothly w/o any noise. why do these die? their diameters are fairly small and 'sealed lifetime' bearings only last _their_ lifetime not the engine's. if you have one that is wonky enough it can make the engine vibrate some as well.

 

[jorton]

Do you think you have valve train noise or spark knock, or both?

 

[427Z06]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Airborne Ranger:
ticks and rattles

---

You may have more than one thing going on here. The ticks may be normal for this engine, the rattles obviously aren't.

I once was trouble shooting a small block chevy that would make a sound like a bell was ringing whenever it was mildly lugged. With a stethascope, I was able to determine it was the sparkplug heat shields rattling. They weren't loose or anything, especially when checking them with the engine off, but I had someone similate the lugged condition by applying the brakes and running the engine, slipping clutch, when the engine was at fast idle. The harmonics were such that the heat shields amplitude of vibration would increase until they were contacting the exhaust manifolds. I just bent the heat shields further away from the exhaust manifolds. Problem solved.

The owner was so elated he offered to pay me a couple of hundred of dollars for the service as he said he went to numerous mechanics, even the dealer, and no one could find the problem that made his car sound like a piece of crap.

I told him to drop off a 6-pack of my favorite beer next time he was in the neighborhood.

 

[haley10]

I only run Sunoco 87 in it......

Bingo. Ding. Ding. Ding.

Seriously, your Ranger may not like this fuel. Some Rangers choke up on the Shell gasoline additives.

You might try some Techron and switch brands of gasoline. Regardless of brand, some gas stations don't maintain their tanks well and are contaminated.

 

[Gene K]

Assuming it is a knock, ping, rattle under load:

Sounds like my 5.9L Dodge. Regular for 1000 mi, Plus for 1000 mi, Premium for 1000 mi. Add two bottles of Gumout Regane Injector Cleaner (30 gal Tank) and back to regular. I assume it was building up Carbon deposits in the chamber. May have had the infamous intake belly-pan oil leak as well.

Edit: Cant Spell.

Gene

 

[metroplex]

My 2000 Crown Vic (4.6L SOHC V8) makes a nasty ticking sound all the time... I've quasi-narrowed it to injectors. It doesn't necessarily increase in freq with an increase in RPM, it's just there and the engine/exhaust drowns it out at higher RPMs.

I've drag raced this car and took it to 6000+ RPM.
I've used Sunoco 89, 93, and 94 in this vehicle.

FWIW Sunoco is oxygenated using Ethanol. I read an article on fuels and it says gasoline that uses Ethanol is overpriced because you're just paying for truck shipment of Ethanol. Go with a regular gas like Mobil. I doubt it'll solve your problem, but just some food for thought. Apply for an Exxon Mobil credit card while you're at it.

 

[OILNEWBY]

I own a '00 explorer with the 4.0 SOHC with 115k miles on the clock. I am on my third belt tensioner and the current one is starting to tick once again. Good thing is the tensioner is only about $35, so it is not an expensive fix.

I completely understand the frustration with the noise. It is almost embarrasing to pull into to parking lots with this loud ticking that sounds like a rod is about to go south.

Good luck...

 

[Mike_dup1]

You guys are just too "nit-picky". If you every find the problem and eliminate it, something else will show up to occupy your time.

Just drive it and stop worrying about every noise you here. You will enjoy life more.

 

[crashz]

Its a Ford. Thats just what they do. I've never driven or ridden in a Ford that was very smooth running. But they seem to run forever.

Mine ticks and rattles too. It drove me crazy for a long time. But performance never changed and there are no signs of engine failure/damage, so I've reluctantly learned to live with the noise.

My fathers powerstoke sounds like somebody dumped a bag of marbles down the intake. But it pulls that dump truck around like it was a sports car!

 

[oilpan49]

quote:

---

Originally posted by zoomzoom:
It might not be a bad idea to put platinum or iridium spark plugs in it...try hotter plug too... it will get to operating tempareature faster.

---

Hey zoomzoom,

The Ranger still has the stock plugs and wires in it. I wasn't thinking about replacing them until the truck was closer to 100K miles. On top of that my Ranger is a dual plug setup, oh yea, that's gonna be real fun(sarcasm) that is if I plan on keeping it that long. Mind me asking but what difference would spark plugs make? I've seen other people use denso iridium plugs and I've seen them advertised on TV before. I suppose my next time I replace them couldn't hurt to go to iridium plugs. Thanks guys,,,,AR