My ticking Marauder...

  • Thread starter Thread starter TripleTransAm
  • Start date Start date
Hmmm . . .

Thanks, Triple-T for your well-researched posts.

Facts:

1. I hear ticking.
2. I hear it loudest on the driver's side, near the wheel well.
3. It is audible from 20' away.
4. I have the same build date as Triple-T.
5. I have NO blue smoke on start-up (only some white vapor smoke).
6. Opened hood, listened over passenger-side valve covers--no ticking.
7. Opened hood, listened over driver-side valve covers--TICKING.
8. Ticking NOT audible from inside car.

NOW, what do I do?
 
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NBC Shooter said:
Hmmm . . .

7. Opened hood, listened over driver-side valve covers--TICKING.

NOW, what do I do?
Click to expand...

Normally, I'd say take it to your dealer, but I've noticed your (ummmm experiences?) with dealers in the past. :) Perhaps Steve can give you documentation as to his problems that your dealer can work from? Knowing Steve, he might have even recorded the sound that he experienced, which may be helpful to you...

I wonder if we can narrow this problem down to a few specific days of production? If your car and TTA's car were built on the same day with the same head problem...perhaps it was a delivery that day of faulty heads? Just in time delivery can have it's benefits!

Note, my car was built a month before both of yours, and does not have this problem...yet! :)
 
NBC Shooter,

My problem seems much more subtle than yours. Either I am on the leading edge of this thing and it'll worsen or it's just my imagination.

Like I said, I can hear mine best from inside the car. Also, it is more pronounced from idle until about 1500RPM. After about 1500RPM, regular engine noises overtake the tick/clatter noise.

The tech had me hold it at 1500RPM while he went under the hood. He started on the passenger side and quickly went over to the driver side and stayed there for a good minute or so.

While he wouldn't say much, they apparently told the service advisor it was worth a closer check.
 
M79, and old mechanics trick involves a long screwdriver.

Touch the screwdriver to an area where you think the sound is coming from. Put your ear to the other (not pointy!) end of the driver. Listen. Move it around, until you are real close to the source of the noise.

This should let you find out whether the sound is coming from the valves, from the exhaust or from an injector.

This also works with a stethoscope, but who has one of those around?
 
Dr Caleb said:
This also works with a stethoscope, but who has one of those around?
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I got one at Canadian Tire. Not too expensive either... regular stethoscope (2 ear pieces with tubes) with a long metal rod on the other end.

No, unfortunately I didn't think to record the sound... I should have, though. However, those at Hershey should recall the look on my face when I heard another MM with the same noise... definitely stays with you for a great deal of time. Maybe that person can videotape a quick walk around the car for us?

If the noise is only evident from inside the car, it could be the same problem that plagued another member of the board, that had an exhaust leak from one of the cat converters.
 
TTA,

Yes. I have had people suggest an exhaust leak and noisy injector. Either of these would be preferable to a bad valve guide.

The neighbs already look at me funny when I leaf blow the car to dry it so they shouldn't think much of my going at it with a stethoscope. Heh.
 
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I finally was able to convince momentum to look into my engine ticking sound . the car went in last night . will post results
 
Well thanks everyone for your help . . .

I'm gonna try the "screwdriver trick," at least until I get my stethescope. But how do I convince the service technician to do anything about it? I think my new strategy for resolving this problem is to drive the s**t out of the car until everything breaks, and then get every damn defective part replaced and repaired under warranty. I've had so many "little" problems with my car, my service guy now has to take pictures of every little problem and have it "approved" by Ford. I'm sure the reply to the ticking problem will be, "Oh, that's normal!"
 
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NBC Shooter said:
But how do I convince the service technician to do anything about it?
Click to expand...

You could just let one of your model friends go in and do her "magic" on one of the service writers. That would work for me!
 
If they're not available, I'll send you some of my mascots... Marty can confirm their "OK, I'll fix that right away" factor.
 
<whew> No terminal ticking problem, per frdwrnch. Most likely some noise transmitting into the cabin because of something loose or improperly routed. Will chase it down later.

Thanks everyone! Thanks frdwrnch!
 
I stopped in and spoke with my trusty technician today. He's got a heavily modded Lightning and does all it's "warranty" work at the dealer himself. He is very sympathetic to my cause. I explained the Cobra / Marauder head situation to him. He agreed that it'd be best to keep everything low-key for now and see if Ford will include the MM in the service bulletin. I'm going to check my headers for any possible leaks (maybe the 2500 rpm to 4000 rpm noise is an exhaust leak?). If I can take care of that, we'll see about taking care of the idle "tick". If the header gasket is leaking, I'm going to replace both with copper gaskets. I'm also upgrading the gaskets at the rest of the joints in the system. I'll post further when progress is made.
 
OK... The 2500 - 4000 rpm noise is the pass. side header gasket. I ordered a new one and will have it installed next week. My tech called me an hour ago and let me know somethings that we already covered here: heads and valve guides are the same on 03 Cobra and Marauder. The parts manager and my tech are secretly working on trying to get my "tick" included in the recall as well. SOOO... if Steve comes through up there in Canadia, the rest of you should be seeing some kind of recall for our cars soon.
 
Hmmmm . . . maybe I'm okay?

Facts Part II:

1. No ticking heard through either tailpipe (had ear about a foot away while car was idling).
2. Ticking virtually inaudible at driver's wheel well after engine was driven 20 miles, and reached operating temprature.

Whaddya think, Triple-T? Does the lack of audible ticking at the tailpipe lead to a benign conclusion? Thanks for your help. By the way, good work, Constable, keep us posted!
 
Didn't ever hear any valvetrain noise through the exhaust... would be scared if I did, though, there are a LOT of obstacles to that kind of high frequency noise in the exhaust path! ;)

However, by the time I got the work done on my car, the ticking was there at all times, audible from around the car, more audible from the driver's wheel well. I can't recall if it started as a cold-only tick and eventually grew to all temperatures, but my tech did notice it was *slightly* louder when stone cold (I never noticed it, but I trust him).

I supposed the best thing then is to look for the source of the tick, and then watch it to see if it gets worse. It might just be a loose exhaust joint that seals better when hot, it might be the valve guide, it might be excessive tolerance in some rocker arm, etc... best to keep an open mind and study how it progresses.

In the meantime, be happy that it goes away when hot! :up:
 
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