2003 V6 4.0 Tick, sounds better after warm up

[phillip723]

I have a 2003 XLT 4.0 SOHC V6 with 210,386 miles on it. The engine starts up great but makes a loud ticking sound. I'm assuming it's the hydraulic lifters and that they are gunked up. The sound usually gets quieter when the engine is warmed up, leading me to believe that it is quieting down because of the better oil flow at operating temperature. My dad was a ford service tech about 15 years ago until about 10 years ago and told me that they often had to run 5W-20 in these engines in order to get oil to the lifters quickly and so they could be better lubricated and ungunked. This sounds like a good option to me as I'd like to try and quiet it down rather than take the engine apart and replace the lifters, at least for the time being, until I can have them replaced. Does anyone else think running 5W-20 would quiet them down? I've read on here that others have done this in older Explorers, what do you think?

 

[07gtman]

thats what i run in mine,

 

[extra-medium]

I don't think running 5w-20 would hurt. Just know it's a ticking time bomb that can go at any point. I always keep a quart or 2 of oil with me and check it regularly since my timing chains were replaced. That's a $3500 repair I don't wanna do again.

 

[phillip723]

Yeah, I'm gonna run 5w-20 and baby it until I can get them replaced. I'm just gonna keep it around town and keep the RPMs low, that should prolong the life for at least a little.

 

[phillip723]

Hey, ya know that ticking time bomb thing? The timing chains just broke. The local tow truck company (who towed it back to their yard) also works on cars, so they're gonna install a junk yard engine with ~ 120k miles. Estimated cost ~ $3000, and about a month. Oh well, I've already got money into it. I was going to have a new engine put in eventually, just didn't think it would happen this quick.