pacmanfan
New Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2018
- Messages
- 2
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- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2002 Explorer XLT
My '02 with 4.6L has a tick coming from the passenger valve cover area. It's not present at cold startup, goes in and out as the engine speed steps down, then ticks consistently as soon as the engine settles into its low warm idle. It sounds just like a lifter tick to me. It's loudest through the valve cover and idler pulley bolt. At first I considered an idler pulley bearing, but it really sounds internal. I was thinking maybe something with the timing chain, but it goes away once you bump the engine speed up by much more than 100rpm above idle. There's no clatter under acceleration. I don't think it's lifter tick either, due to it not happening while cold. Any other ideas, or should I look harder at something I've already mentioned?