Need Help With A 4.6 Ford Engine

[KP]

Sorry But I Need Help With A 4.6 Ford Engine

My son has a real nice 1996 Mustang that was his High School senior project. He is very proud of it but needs some technique help. It is stroked out to a 303cid with a Ford Motor Sport Roots Type Supercharger and has 420 hp at the rear wheels.

The engine has roughly 1000 miles on it and it started tapping on what appears to be the left rear bank area. There is no lose of power and it is not smoking out of the exhaust and has no blow-by. It sounds like an old-school lifter tap to me but these engines are a lot different then our Mopar engines.

I have but many hours of time on the phone during the last few days with different Ford places and what up-sets me is my son and I are laid off and all they what is for us to bring the car to their shops at $65 to $85 an hour.

What I have learned so far is it could be a timing chain guide, a Roller Followers" (Rocker) or a Hydraulic Lash Adjusters" (Lifter). I was told there is a tool out there that lets you remove the Roller Followers and then take out the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters to inspect them with out having the remove the cam and cam cage creating other issues “but no” one seems to have one or tell me where I can purchase one.

We would be thankful for any help to diagnose this problem.

Thanks, KP

 

[chryslerfat]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with a 3 items it could be. If the noise is for sure from the rear that rules out the timing chain tensioner so what you have left is the tappet or follower making the noise.

 

[sst3193]

The 4.6 is still an engine, and a pretty smooth one, at that. The cams runs over the center of the cylinder heads, on a 2 valve, and there's a tappet lightly pressed into the head. That tappet is a hydraulic stand that IS the pivot for the rocker arms. The rockers have a roller bearing running down their center and it rolls on the camshafts.
I've heard it said that most automotive machine shops don't have the equipment neccessary to do a valve job on these heads and get the rocker geometry correct afterwards. Causing dropped valves and spit rockers.
Should be very easy and no cost, since the gaskets are reusable, to remove the cover and have a look. Take a ratchet to the end of the crank, turn the engine around and look everyting over, carefully.
Good Luck,
Hopefully there's nothing wrong of any consequence.

 

[Gryzynx]

Probably does not apply to the 4.6, but we run a lot of 5.4's in 1 ton trucks where I work and they have a nasty habit of blowing spark plugs out of the heads. Ford dealer helicoils them and away we go. Trucks run 400K km+.

 

[GTGrinly]

Probably does not apply to the 4.6, but we run a lot of 5.4's in 1 ton trucks where I work and they have a nasty habit of blowing spark plugs out of the heads. Ford dealer helicoils them and away we go. Trucks run 400K km+.

Had the same thing on my F150, 4.6 the right rear plug blew out..started with a tapping noise, almost like an exhaust leak. I had mine heilcoiled by a local guy, I think he charged me $ 45. where the Ford boys wanted $65 an hour and estimated about 5 hours. Ran the truck to 250,000. I also had a head gasket leak for which I used a can of sealer at 150,000.

 

[chryslerfat]

Probably does not apply to the 4.6, but we run a lot of 5.4's in 1 ton trucks where I work and they have a nasty habit of blowing spark plugs out of the heads. Ford dealer helicoils them and away we go. Trucks run 400K km+.

Snap-on sells a kit to heli-coil these.

 

[KP]

Can anyone tell me where I can get the tool I was told is available that allows you to remove the Roller Followers and then take out the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters to inspect them with out having the remove the cam and cam cage?

This sure would be a big help!

 

[chryslerfat]

I do not know of one but I would think if you used a valve spring compressor to sink the valve a little it would allow you to pull the follower. Something from page 452 of Snap-On catalog1000. Maybee a YA9140 or YA3271 you could look those up on Snap-On website.

 

[KP]

I do not know of one but I would think if you used a valve spring compressor to sink the valve a little it would allow you to pull the follower. Something from page 452 of Snap-On catalog1000. Maybee a YA9140 or YA3271 you could look those up on Snap-On website.

Thanks for the suggestion chryslerfat.

The biggest issue is the cam cage gets in the way...

KP

 

[KP]

Any Others?

 

[64'5$peed]

Check the spark plugs and make sure they are tight. I maintain a fleet of police cars that all have 4.6's and I've seen alot of spark plug blowouts. epspecially on early motors. I can only imagine what extra boost would do.

I've also had exhaust manifolds on those motors make noises that sound like an internal engine problem more then an exhaust leak.

 

[KP]

Check the spark plugs and make sure they are tight. I maintain a fleet of police cars that all have 4.6's and I've seen alot of spark plug blowouts. epspecially on early motors. I can only imagine what extra boost would do.

I've also had exhaust manifolds on those motors make noises that sound like an internal engine problem more then an exhaust leak.

Thanks 64'5$peed;627953,

I think my son has checked both of those items but I will recheck them as well.

I would still like to find that tool...

KP

 

[KP]

Still Looking For Some Help/Suggestions...

 

[KP]

Bump For Myself...

 

[KP]

Still Looking For Help!

I Know Many Mopar People Also Have Mustangs and/or Fords...

 

[KP]

Bump

 

[KP]

???

 

[KP]

Help Please!

 

[74 DART']

Ticking noisies on the 4.6 and 5.4 are very common, ive delt alot with this at Ford. All that everyone has said is true, they are prone to blowing out spark plugs mainly on the 3-valve engines. Check very closely the exhaust maniflod gasket areas for leaks, they make strange noises. U can remove the valve cover and inspect the camshaft for grooves or abnormal waer marks, will tell you if its starving for oil in that area, ive had bad lash adjusters and frozen rocker arms to where they are not turning just rubbing across camshaft(they are roller rockers). This will make the noise. Also pay close att. to initial startup, excessive rattle noise means excessive chain tensioner bleed down, aftermarket oil filters brake down and pieces of filter lodge up oil passages they have small oil passages at this point. Also the tensioners have a small o-ring on the back that blows out and causes pressure loss. If i recall proper the left cyl head gets oil from the front of block to cylinder head so u may be running out of pressure at the back of head due to restriction. As far as the tool goes Ford does have one but i never used it, i did use a wedge tool witch slides down between the chain and keeps pressure on the tensioner so u dont lose timing. Then u can loosen or remove camshaft with no problem, im sure u can come up with something at home to simulate this, just make crayon or whatever marks on chain and phaser so u know if chain slips(jumps timimg). Its not as bad as it sounds. Ive also just loosened camshaft, remove back two or three cam caps and slightly lift cam up and you can remove rockers or adjusters. The front caps hold cam fom jumping timing. I dont know what cam cage u have but if its stock its no problem to work with. If you decide to remove timing cover and cjeck tensioners let me know its not hard to time these engines and you only have to remove the chain on that side. My wife asked what i was doing i said answering ford ques, she said why are people asking ford ques on Mopar site.lol Jope this helps, dont worry about that special tool u can get by without.