Eliminating the "tick, tick, tick"

[cruiser54]

I have not been into the guts of an HO yet. Only read bits and pieces here about differences. I am under the impression the cam is different (as well as the head), but that is probably not relevant to the topic.

Not sure I can picture the 3 ring valve lock, pictures? LOL

I have re-assembled the Renix head, so I recall what it looks like.

Had both apart side by side. Both cams had the same part number and I measured the lobes just for fun. Samo-samo.

Renix and 92 HO.

 

[Ecomike]

I don't think it's relative to oil pressure or volume as I've had the tick in engines that had great oil pressure, even one with the high volume oil pump.

Mine had the tick at 10 psi (hot idle pressure) using 10W40 and still at 65 psi (cold idle pressure) after upgrading the pump to a high flow, and switching to 20W50 with Lucas oil. Even synthetic oil did not get rid of the tick.

It was quieter with the pressure at 65 psi (cold), 30 psi hot (using 20W50 dyno with Lucas additive). It had 224,000 miles on the ODO when I bought it, now at 278,000.

MMO did a lot of good over time, and Lucas oil additive helped reduce the noise, but the 3500 rpm was the only thing that fixed it for good. And it only took 30 seconds for about 3 days in row to make a huge difference.

I tried synthetic once, and my Renix puked it out like toilet paper, at a 1 quart/200 mile rate!

 

[Ecomike]

Had both apart side by side. Both cams had the same part number and I measured the lobes just for fun. Samo-samo.

Renix and 92 HO.

I think I recall you saying that before. Perhaps the cam change was later in 96 or 97, for OBD-II emissions maybe? Somebody was real sure the cam changed in their post I read here. But I do not know for sure.

Could one of them have been modified, as in no longer stock?

 

[ericfx1984]

I tried synthetic once, and my Renix puked it out like toilet paper, at a 1 quart/200 mile rate!

yikes... guess I got away with it cause I have all new gaskets?

 

[Talyn]

I have not been into the guts of an HO yet. Only read bits and pieces here about differences. I am under the impression the cam is different (as well as the head), but that is probably not relevant to the topic.

The cam has different lift/duration specs over the years, as well as the cam retention in the block changed, but neither has and bearing on lifter/valve noise.

Not sure I can picture the 3 ring valve lock, pictures? LOL

I have re-assembled the Renix head, so I recall what it looks like.

The renix has the single groove lock, there the later 4.0Ls (98+?) has the 3 bead style lock. Similar setup here:

 

[cruiser54]

My 92 HO had the single groove lock also, and it was stock Mike.

Mike, I enjoyed reading your Living Will.

 

[Ecomike]

My 92 HO had the single groove lock also, and it was stock Mike.

Mike, I enjoyed reading your Living Will.

LOL, My sister told me I would also need to stop whining (LOL) on the internet!!!!

Someone needs to post it in the off topic in a thread!!!

 

[cruiser54]

It's pretty funny and went to almost my entire address book.

 

[Glenn B]

try Rotela Full synthetic... did the trick for me

I run the Rotella T6, and push my engine quite hard. Very nice and quiet idle. Probably the best I have had out of 7 XJ's.

I also see fairly high revs regularly, so that helps keep everything inline.

 

[Chuckanut]

Hope I'm not hijacking if so sorry. I've been having the same issue. I put Seafoam in mine. Nothing yet. So today after work I drove it at 3,5-3,7k rpm's. While at those rpm's the ticking went away, as soon as I drive normal tick is back. Whats up with that? Manifold or something else?

 

[cruiser54]

It may take a few tries. Also, see how it is the following day after this "treatment". It's not always immediate.

 

[Ecomike]

Hope I'm not hijacking if so sorry. I've been having the same issue. I put Seafoam in mine. Nothing yet. So today after work I drove it at 3,5-3,7k rpm's. While at those rpm's the ticking went away, as soon as I drive normal tick is back. Whats up with that? Manifold or something else?

Try it several days in a row, and add some MMO to the oil. Give it more time. Mine took weeks to completely go away, but it was about 80% quieter after about the 3rd day of running it up there about 3800 rpm on mine.

Just depends on how much crap is in the engine and oil.

 

[cruiser54]

This isn't a "point and click" solution. It's a "hold the throttle and tick,tick, tick" solution.

 

[5-90]

Yep, 5-90 said there is something about the >3000 rpm area that gets the lifters to start rotating again, thus unsticking them.

I had a bad TCU side TPS that had it up shifting at 1200 rpm for years, before I figured out the TCU side of the TPS was bad, and the ground had 8 ohms on that side of the TPS as well, which had the TCU up shifting at 1200 rpm even at WOT:shiver:. So at 65 mph, it topped out at 2400 rpm on the engine.

I told you that? When? It sounds like it might work (I try to "bump" off of the redline once or twice a year, just to make sure I still can without any trouble,) but my engines live around 2400-2800rpm. I don't do that for any other reason - just to make sure everything is working, and I have top-end horsepower if I need it (my driving style is more concerned with low-speed torque than high-speed horsepower.) How do I keep tappet crud down?

- Drain the oil while hot. I mean I pull in the driveway after a drive, let it sit just long enough for me to gather my tools, and pull the plug. The hotter the oil is when it comes out, the more crud comes out with it.
- Run some variety of useful detergent every third or fourth oil change (I prefer Marvel Mystery Oil - replace one quart of engine oil with one quart of MMO. When I get ready to change that, I pull out my tools before I go for a drive, then drain the oil within about thirty seconds of pulling back in.
- Regular oil changes. Dino oil gets 3000-5000 mile intervals, the synthetic in my wife's car gets 15,000 miles or so (I could go 15,000-18,000, but 15,000 is easier to remember. Seven-quart sump in that thing! I come out ahead using synthetic, tho...)

Those are probably the three biggest factors WRT oiling - beyond that, make sure to use a quality filter (Baldwin if you can find it, Wix if you can't. If you can't get either of those, a full-flow through a roll of toilet paper with the core pulled is better than pretty much anything else out there.)

Did I say that? Maybe I did - I don't recall, and I'm not sure. I may bump off the redline for more reasons than I telly myself I do - but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

 

[cruiser54]

I bumped off of redline alot and it didn't help like the holding at 3,750 RPM for 3 minutes.

 

[Chuckanut]

Try it several days in a row, and add some MMO to the oil. Give it more time. Mine took weeks to completely go away, but it was about 80% quieter after about the 3rd day of running it up there about 3800 rpm on mine.

Just depends on how much crap is in the engine and oil.

So does that rule out cracked manifold? (my issue)

 

[Ecomike]

So does that rule out cracked manifold? (my issue)

Nothing rules out a cracked manifold, sorry to say!

5-90,

It was a thread about three years ago, that several of us got deep into and late in the thread you commented that if the lifters (or now I am wondering if it was the valves you were talking about, and not the lifters), were getting stuck, and thus causing the ticking sound, that they were also not rotating, or something to that effect, and that pushing the engine RPM up to about 3500 rpm and holding it there for a while (minutes) could get them rotating, and working properly again, and thus stop the tic-tic-tic sounds!!! It worked for me! 87 Renix, and recently on the 89 Renix.

It was the only thing in 5 years that worked on my 87, in part because it had a defective TPS that never let the AW4 get into low gear for power, which would have pushed the engine over 2400 rpm. Mine was upshifting at 1200 rpm, and peaked at 2400 rpm at 65 mph for five years, and the tic on cold mornings was getting really bad, in spite of heavy snake oil use for 5 years!!!!

 

[ericfx1984]

you might also try doing a couple 50/50 oil, trans fluid flushes to the engine

 

[Talyn]

you might also try doing a couple 50/50 oil, trans fluid flushes to the engine

50/50 would be a bad idea. I wouldn't go past 1.5 qts of trany fluid.

 

[ericfx1984]

50/50 would be a bad idea. I wouldn't go past 1.5 qts of trany fluid.

I have done it on many cars to clean them out...

you only keep in in there 5-15 mins... then dump it and change it