HELP!!!! engine clicking after mobbing a deep puddle

[eXcali]

i drained my oil and cleaned it fully but the clicking is still there! me and my dad have a feeling that i might of bent a valve or something along that nature. ahhhh. anyone have an ideas on my new problem now?

A bent rod wouldn't really sound like clicking. I'd run some engine honey or Lucas Oil additive but only after you are 100% certain the oil is clean. something you can try is attempt to locate the sound with the engine up, then when the engine is cool place your hand in the area of the noise if you feel a banging then it could be a rod.

If your lifters got water on them it could take a month or so before they quiet down.

 

[Jeffe 11]

one of my dads friends came over to look at it with us and we located the source of the banging. the other thing is he was saying hes not sure that my explorer has lifters which we werent able to confirm. when it runs its more of a clanking noise rather then a light ticking. the clanking gets louder as i accerlate and as it idels its a light clank.

 

[Jeffe 11]

but if for some reason the lifter did get water in them how could we confirm that? cuz we dont want to drive it period until we figure out the problem (seeing as we are worried driving it might lead to futher damange and possible piston damage)

 

[cjones101812]

there are 3 ways to get water in the oil.
1. coolant leak (ie headgasket, cracked head/block, etc)
2. through the oil fill cap or PCV hose. i'll assume your oil fill cap is on and the PCV hoses are connected.
3. through intake system. i would figure this path because you said your air filter was soaked.

how does water get from air filter to crankcase. through the intake, into the cylinders, past the pistons and rings.

you say you hear a ticking noise and think it's from the serp belt...with the engine cool, remove the belt and start the engine. if the noise goes away then it's caused by the belt or an accessory. if the noise stays then it's internal.

how long did it take to be able to restart the engine??

corkey;
at the time, i did not know if it started before he removed the plugs.

BTW run the compression test. it will rule out a number of caues.

 

[Jeffe 11]

there are 3 ways to get water in the oil.
1. coolant leak (ie headgasket, cracked head/block, etc)
2. through the oil fill cap or PCV hose. i'll assume your oil fill cap is on and the PCV hoses are connected.
3. through intake system. i would figure this path because you said your air filter was soaked.

how does water get from air filter to crankcase. through the intake, into the cylinders, past the pistons and rings.

you say you hear a ticking noise and think it's from the serp belt...with the engine cool, remove the belt and start the engine. if the noise goes away then it's caused by the belt or an accessory. if the noise stays then it's internal.

how long did it take to be able to restart the engine??

corkey;
at the time, i did not know if it started before he removed the plugs.

BTW run the compression test. it will rule out a number of caues.

yea it came through the intake system. after it shut off it took roughly 30-45 minuets to start up again. its not the fan belt that was confirmed. we located the sound and it was coming from the area of the headers in the front driver side corner towards the bottom of the engine. i didnt remove the spark plugs at all. my dad said that if the car started without me removing the spark plugs then thats not the issue of hydrolocking and not to waste the time in taking them off just to put them back on. idk should we go back and try that? (i know it didnt hydrolock seeing as it started but would that help at all to remove them?) were going to take it to our friends auto shop tonight but thats last option since manual labor on the engine will blow a deep hole in my pocket.

 

[eXcali]

Yes, do a compression test, it's about the only way to tell if there is a bent rod short of taking motor apart.

Lifters are a normal part of the combustion engine, unless there has been some major breakthru in the last 5 years that has been hidden to me, I would verify any advice from your dad's friend.

 

[eXcali]

yea it came through the intake system. after it shut off it took roughly 30-45 minuets to start up again. its not the fan belt that was confirmed. we located the sound and it was coming from the area of the headers in the front driver side corner towards the bottom of the engine. i didnt remove the spark plugs at all. my dad said that if the car started without me removing the spark plugs then thats not the issue of hydrolocking and not to waste the time in taking them off just to put them back on. idk should we go back and try that? (i know it didnt hydrolock seeing as it started but would that help at all to remove them?) were going to take it to our friends auto shop tonight but thats last option since manual labor on the engine will blow a deep hole in my pocket.

Your lifters would be right below your intake manifold, if it's the lower portion of your engine block I'd go straight to a compression check.

 

[cjones101812]

the engine is not currently hydrolocked but may have been which could be why the engine stalled.

the lifters are called 'lash adjusters' now and are in the cylinder heads.



excali, he has an 05 which are OHC engines, no push rods.

 

[Jeffe 11]

Your lifters would be right below your intake manifold, if it's the lower portion of your engine block I'd go straight to a compression check.

ok im definatly going to do a compression test then. lets say that there is water in the lifters, what damage am i looking at? (assuming water there isnt good) and how would i go about to fix that? or would it just have to sift out on its own?

 

[eXcali]

ok im definatly going to do a compression test then. lets say that there is water in the lifters, what damage am i looking at? (assuming water there isnt good) and how would i go about to fix that? or would it just have to sift out on its own?

If it's water in your lifters it will just take time, unless you remove your intake manifold which isn't to hard. Worst case, you let the engine heat up and it turns the water to steam and it works its way back into your intake and eventually out your exhaust. Lifter noise is more annoying than damaging. If you do take off your intake manifold to service these, just dry off the area around them with a lint free towel, then pour a little engine honey right onto them.

As long as there isn't a fish aquarium worth of water in there you will be good. If your compression checks come out ok I'd write it off as lifter or valve noise and nothing a little engine honey wouldn't fix.

 

[eXcali]

the engine is not currently hydrolocked but may have been which could be why the engine stalled.

the lifters are called 'lash adjusters' now and are in the cylinder heads.



excali, he has an 05 which are OHC engines, no push rods.

hmm 05, I don't know why I was thinking this was a 99 with a 5.0...... Well I'll have to do some digging to check what I've said.

 

[cjones101812]

ok im definatly going to do a compression test then. lets say that there is water in the lifters, what damage am i looking at? (assuming water there isnt good) and how would i go about to fix that? or would it just have to sift out on its own?

normally a bad lash adjuster(lifter) won't cause much damage. if the adjuster isn't working properly then the cam follower won't contact the cam as well and the valve won't open as much. the adjusters are hydrolic so they are self-adjusting. about the only damage that may occur is the time (maybe a couple seconds after starting the engine with fresh oil) that water is acting like a lubricant instead of the oil, should be negligible.

 

[eXcali]

I agree, lash adjuster/lifter noise is more of an annoyance than anything. Any water in there will wind up turning to steam and going out your tail pipe in the end.

 

[Jeffe 11]

If it's water in your lifters it will just take time, unless you remove your intake manifold which isn't to hard. Worst case, you let the engine heat up and it turns the water to steam and it works its way back into your intake and eventually out your exhaust. Lifter noise is more annoying than damaging. If you do take off your intake manifold to service these, just dry off the area around them with a lint free towel, then pour a little engine honey right onto them.

As long as there isn't a fish aquarium worth of water in there you will be good. If your compression checks come out ok I'd write it off as lifter or valve noise and nothing a little engine honey wouldn't fix.

well lets hope thats the case cuz i really really really dont want to have some mechanic fiddle around in there to just find a minor problem seeing as engine manual labor is going to run quite high

 

[Jeffe 11]

normally a bad lash adjuster(lifter) won't cause much damage. if the adjuster isn't working properly then the cam follower won't contact the cam as well and the valve won't open as much. the adjusters are hydrolic so they are self-adjusting. about the only damage that may occur is the time (maybe a couple seconds after starting the engine with fresh oil) that water is acting like a lubricant instead of the oil, should be negligible.

sorry to keep poking around with these questions but its my first means of transportation and im not too familiar with all the parts and what not. but so what im understanding is that if it is a lifter/lash adjuster problem then my solution is to just let it be and give it engine honey and itll run fine with time? cuz this panging noise definatly sounds not good (quite annoying and unsettling all at the same time).

 

[cjones101812]

sorry to keep poking around with these questions but its my first means of transportation and im not too familiar with all the parts and what not. but so what im understanding is that if it is a lifter/lash adjuster problem then my solution is to just let it be and give it engine honey and itll run fine with time? cuz this panging noise definatly sounds not good (quite annoying and unsettling all at the same time).

basically correct. if it is the adjuster and the noise doesn't stop after driving it for a couple days, you may need to replace the adjuster. it's not hard just remove the valve cover, rotate the cam (by rotating the crankshaft) so it's at the base of the circle for the follower being removed and use a special tool to remove the follower, then pop out the adjuster.

 

[Jeffe 11]

basically correct. if it is the adjuster and the noise doesn't stop after driving it for a couple days, you may need to replace the adjuster. it's not hard just remove the valve cover, rotate the cam (by rotating the crankshaft) so it's at the base of the circle for the follower being removed and use a special tool to remove the follower, then pop out the adjuster.

What should the compression level be in the cylinders and how much variation between cylinders is normal for 50k miles?

 

[eXcali]

What should the compression level be in the cylinders and how much variation between cylinders is normal for 50k miles?

Healthy is normally 17-22 in. As long as the other cylinders are in that range you should be good. Er wait thats vacum gauge.....

I'll look up cylinder compression.

 

[HahnsB2]

Different engine but I hydrolocked my old 2.9, because I didn't have tools with me I bumped the starter to force the water out getting a bunch into the crankcase, drove it into town without an air filter, lifters started tick, I added an extra quart of oil and that shut them up. I stopped at NAPA and got an air filter and drove it 30 miles home, changed the oil, drove it 100 miles and changed the oil again, put another 25K on that engine abusing it like no other with no problems. I learned my lesson about water, I have a lot of respect for it now.

 

[eXcali]

Ok only reference I can find from Ford is Compression over 100 psi on all cylinders with the difference between max and min cylinder being no more than 20 psi difference. In the past I've always used a 10 psi difference as a rule of thumb, but Ford says 20 psi is within tolerance.