Rattling when accelerating

[22william]

this morning my truck made this rattle noise when I accelerate. It does it when i'm in park and I rev it to a certain point as well. I tried to do some research on it. And I saw something about switching gas. I originally always used the normal 87. Then someone told me to use 89. They said it was better. I'm guessing it came from this. But i'm not sure because the first couple of days it didn't rattle now it's doing it. Meaning it could be something else. I have no warning lights. If it is the gas. Can I just go almost on E then switch back to 87?

 

[Tech By Trade]

What engine?

 

[22william]

2003 sport trac xlt. 4.0 v6 sohc

 

[Tech By Trade]

Do a search for death rattle.

 

[22william]

Do a search for death rattle.

I'm not seeing anything on it. You're scaring me tho

 

[22william]

somebody came over and said it could be the fly wheel

 

[nathan mayden]

Oh noes could it be the dreaded timing chain rattle? You should try to find exactly where the noise is coming from.

 

[22william]

he said if it was the timing chain it would rattle, it would stop the car running

 

[nathan mayden]

It will run that way for a while but not long, most users report the rattle at idle and high rpm and the severity of the rattle depends on the current state of the timing components.

 

[nathan mayden]

But before you lose your mind you should get a stethoscope and see if you can pinpoint the noise you're hearing.

 

[22william]

Alright. Well someone is going to come check it out Friday. And I don't hear it at idle. Just when I rev it in park real high. Or as i'm accelerating

 

[nathan mayden]

Right on, could be no big deal. In the mean time I'd scour the forums and see what others have come up with. I think there is more info on this forum than you'll ever find in a book.

 

[22william]

Never mind it is. Wow smh. Right when i'm getting ready to move. I see that repairs cost over a grand. Imma hurry up and put it up for sale hope I can get over a grand for it

 

[Tech By Trade]

Pop the oil pan. Odds are there are chunks of guide floating around in there. Other option is to pull the valve covers and witness the missing chunks of cassette in person. What a wonderful design eh?

 

[nathan mayden]

We're all on a clock with this engine. I'm debating putting a vortec in mine and being done with it

 

[All out]

Did my oil pan gasket found a piece of plastic guessing that bad

 

[koda2000]

Did my oil pan gasket found a piece of plastic guessing that bad

Yes, that's bad. It's even worse when the pieces of plastic block your oil pickup. The plastic is from your broken timing chain cassettes. There's no telling how long our engine will keep running before it jumps time and bends your valves. Our first SOHC was rattling like crazy when my daughter bought it and it ran for another 2 years and 45-50K+ before it died (and I have no idea how long it had been rattling before she bought it). Your choices are to fix it, replace the engine or sell it and replace it with something else. All expensive options. In good conscience I couldn't see it to someone else without letting them know what's wrong with it, but some people have no conscience.

My '01 $1000 Sport Trac started rattling recently and in my case it appears to be a broken jack-shaft chain guide, judging by what I found in my oil pan. I could fix it, but I don't want to put any more time, or money, into this vehicle at this time. I live with it for now and only use the truck around town. Who knows, it may last for years, or die tomorrow. If/when it dies I may put a reman engine in it. I'd really like to convert it to a V8, but that's a huge project.

 

[All out]

Fun stuff guess it's time to make plans to build something better to put in there.

 

[Tech By Trade]

The days of putting something better died with the integration of computers. It is possible if you have deep enough pockets and knowledge but the days of average joe blow dropping in a big block are long gone.

 

[All out]

Any thoughts on where I can get a long block better then stock