'07 Sport Trac 4.6l 3v lifter pump up | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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'07 Sport Trac 4.6l 3v lifter pump up

ZX14GUY

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Joined
April 29, 2010
Messages
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City, State
Michigan
Year, Model & Trim Level
`07 Explorer Sport Trac
This engine has 127,000 mi. on it and on a cold start the driver side lifter(s) started tapping for first minute or so then they quieted down . This 4.6l 3valve has VCT on it. Did oil changes regularly (But used 10w40 - I worked as a Test Engineer 37 yrs in Dearborn Engine Testing lab and us engineers agreed that spec oil 5w20 was too thin, might just as well put in penetrating oil ,5w20 was used to improve CAFE numbers). Changed out all lifters (proper name is "Valve Lash Adjusters") and 5w20 oil/FL-820 filter. Now "brand new" on drivers side are still noisy during first minute or so on cold start up (sound like valve train was going to come out of valve cover). Right side valve train is dead quiet! I didn't work on this crummy engine program at Lab! My guess is there is a restriction of oil flow to lifters. Is VCT solenoid hampering oil flow? Does anyone have "Oil system circuit" blow up?? Thanks! Jim
 



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Are you certain it's not a slight exhaust manifold leak instead of valve lash? It's fairly common on the V8...
 






Are you certain it's not a slight exhaust manifold leak instead of valve lash? It's fairly common on the V8...
First thing I did was verify ticking/clacking was coming from the Valve cover with couple feet of heater hose held next to my ear. Also tried changing viscosity of oils (5w30, 10w40, 10w40 w/motor honey) Thinnest oil/5w30 caused the lifters to bleed down faster and clacked the most. 10w40 took longer to bleed down and clacked quieter. Funny thing is this "Phenomena" is only on initial start up (70 Amb) for 1-1 1/2 min's BUT not after the engine has ran a couple miles and oil is hot. This "phenomena" is isolated to only the drivers side head! Passenger side is dead quiet! And those lifters (RH) do not bleed down! This engine feed oil to left head first if anything the RH side should be giving me troubles. My thoughts are that the VCT solenoid is at fault. A) allowing oil press to be bleed off lifters over-nite and B) Leaking oil press back to the return port of VCT on cold start thus causing a delay in "pump up" and C) my `07 does not have the revised VCT solenoid with "Check valve" on supply side of valve (Updated valve P/N starts with an "8" which indicates a "2008" part). I will try contacting my buddies at Ford Dyno,(PS: Been retired from there for 8 years) and get name and number of 3 valve Engine Engineer and/or VCT Engineer tomorrow. Or just replace LH VCT solenoid. I'll keep you posted on the out come. Thanks for you input!!
 






First thing I did was verify ticking/clacking was coming from the Valve cover with couple feet of heater hose held next to my ear. Also tried changing viscosity of oils (5w30, 10w40, 10w40 w/motor honey) Thinnest oil/5w30 caused the lifters to bleed down faster and clacked the most. 10w40 took longer to bleed down and clacked quieter. Funny thing is this "Phenomena" is only on initial start up (70 Amb) for 1-1 1/2 min's BUT not after the engine has ran a couple miles and oil is hot. This "phenomena" is isolated to only the drivers side head! Passenger side is dead quiet! And those lifters (RH) do not bleed down! This engine feed oil to left head first if anything the RH side should be giving me troubles. My thoughts are that the VCT solenoid is at fault. A) allowing oil press to be bleed off lifters over-nite and B) Leaking oil press back to the return port of VCT on cold start thus causing a delay in "pump up" and C) my `07 does not have the revised VCT solenoid with "Check valve" on supply side of valve (Updated valve P/N starts with an "8" which indicates a "2008" part). I will try contacting my buddies at Ford Dyno,(PS: Been retired from there for 8 years) and get name and number of 3 valve Engine Engineer and/or VCT Engineer tomorrow. Or just replace LH VCT solenoid. I'll keep you posted on the out come. Thanks for you input!!

Have same lifter noise on my 07. Goes away after about a minute. Don't think there is a concern. I use 1 qt. Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer with 5 qts 5w/20 full synthetic. Hope to have this thing running for a long time. Bought it used with about 70,000 mi on it Had to replace the driveshaft awhile back. I like the truck and will just keep fixin' it. Ken
 






First thing I did was verify ticking/clacking was coming from the Valve cover with couple feet of heater hose held next to my ear. Also tried changing viscosity of oils (5w30, 10w40, 10w40 w/motor honey) Thinnest oil/5w30 caused the lifters to bleed down faster and clacked the most. 10w40 took longer to bleed down and clacked quieter. Funny thing is this "Phenomena" is only on initial start up (70 Amb) for 1-1 1/2 min's BUT not after the engine has ran a couple miles and oil is hot. This "phenomena" is isolated to only the drivers side head! Passenger side is dead quiet! And those lifters (RH) do not bleed down! This engine feed oil to left head first if anything the RH side should be giving me troubles. My thoughts are that the VCT solenoid is at fault. A) allowing oil press to be bleed off lifters over-nite and B) Leaking oil press back to the return port of VCT on cold start thus causing a delay in "pump up" and C) my `07 does not have the revised VCT solenoid with "Check valve" on supply side of valve (Updated valve P/N starts with an "8" which indicates a "2008" part). I will try contacting my buddies at Ford Dyno,(PS: Been retired from there for 8 years) and get name and number of 3 valve Engine Engineer and/or VCT Engineer tomorrow. Or just replace LH VCT solenoid. I'll keep you posted on the out come. Thanks for you input!!
Hey man, did the vct solenoid fix the problem?
 






That noise sounds like a bad exhaust manifold. They do the same thing when cold. Tapping sound like a valvetrain noise until the metal heats up after a minute or so. One of my techs has an 08 F150 5.4L. Same issue. It sounds like a bad lifter for a minute or two.
 






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