WTH is this ticking/banging noise!?

[1955moose]

What you can do on top of td corbett said, is you can actually use a micrometer or vernier caliper to measure cam lobes. You can compare your readings to the specs Ford gives. As far as the lifters, each one should be able to rotate smoothly. If you have one or more that is stuck in their bores, then you may have to pull the head. When you find the bad rocker arm, also be sure theirs no blockage of oil to it. Let us know what you find.


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[agford4x4]

I ended up taking this to the dealer, NOT becuase I can't do it, but because I needed the car done since its my wife's, and I happened to be taking courses about 1 mile from teh dealership.

I (and yall) were right. It's the #7 Intake lifter. I did speak to the technician directly, which I like to do because I can use words like "lifter" and "follower". He said the lifter failed. Either way, the follower was dark from heat, and the camshaft lobe is completely trashed.

Here's a pic. https://photos.app.goo.gl/rhNHTn6Bl186AAHF2

I can't figure out WHY it failed. The car is not abused and gets oil changes with FL820S filter and 5w20 MOTORCRAFT when the dash tells me its time. I do ALL of the maintenance and have since brand new. ZERO reason this should have failed in 100k miles and I'm pretty pissed considering my 202 5.4L (different animal) has 300k miles without so much as a whimper.

EDIT: LOL, it's cylinder 8. He told me 7 and it got stuck in my head.

Super helpful post Corbett!! Thats handy if I have that kind of damage and can get away with it. If I had the tool, I could do it without doing what you did, plus, if its not on the rearward cylinder...then what?

What I could really use is info on how to use the spring compressor tool without dropping the valve into the cylinder. If I need to replace a cam, then that's fine, I don't need to use a compressor, but if my cam is OK and I need to replace a follower or lifter on cylinder 1 or 5, then the tool would be handy, BUT IM TERRIFIED OF DOING IT WRONG AND DROPPING THE VALVE. Anyone know how to make it work?

 

[juan214]

At least it was figured out.

 

[1955moose]

Glad you figured out the ticking noise. I don't know why the newer models have that problem and the first gens don't. It could be that newer expeditions have an oiling issue in the area of those lifters. Cylinders that are furthest back, always get exposed to the most heat, and the most issues.

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[agford4x4]

Well, it was a 1300 dollar repair. One that I will tackle next time, assuming I have the luxury of time to work on it and not needing it that week. :/

 

[TDCorbett]

I agree with Moose, it seems to be an oil issue to me.

I've never used the spring compressor so I can't help there, but I actually replaced all 12 rocker arms on the passenger side of the engine by just unbolting the cam and lifting it up, it obviously gets tighter the farther forward you go but it works.

I pulled my valve cover off again last weekend and found my latest issue. One lobe on cylinder 3 has a pretty nice groove as well as the rocker arm on that valve. I had spare rocker arms so I replaced that before putting it back just for the heck of it, but I'm gonna need a new cam. Anyone replace their cams on this before? Any recommendations for which cam to use or how to replace it? I don't want to spend too much but if I can find a cheap options that's a little more aggressive I'll get both cams, if not I may just replace the one with a stock cam.

 

[Firekatt]

I'm sorry for posting this here but I'm having the same kind of problem with my 97 Expedition with the 5.4L. It's coming from the passenger side though. However, my question here is about the lifters. These engines have overhead cams so I thought that did away with the whole lifter/push rod set up? I've worked on engines for the past 25 year but I'm still mainly a shade-tree mechanic. I guess I'm more wondering why there would be lifters with an overhead cam? This is new to me so I'm asking for more information before I pull the valve cover and start poking around in there.

Thanks