Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Oh shite.

Well my heart has officially dropped. The other day driving home from work, I noticed some much more extensive valvetrain noise bouncing off of walls or cars that I drove past. I cut the music, and listened to it for the remaining drive home (couple minutes) while being very careful not to get the rpm too high. First of all there are no CEL's. I searched but didn't find anything that seemed concrete enough to say this is wrong or this is happening. I don't think it's rod knock, because it's not that loud or heavy sounding. When you open the hood it sounds like a tiny hammer hitting metal, but it's not a pinging type of sound, and it's not terribly loud. It is definately not the regular v-train noise or the normal injector noise. The speed of the noise does increase with the rpm, and when I tried to narrow it down to a specific area, it seemed like it was most noticable right over the UIM and injectors/fuel rail. It's too hard to tell exactly where it is coming from though, and it's really worrying me. I checked my oil, and the level was exactly where it should be. It has been about 5.5-6K miles since my last oil change, though I do run full synthetic at btwn 6-7 qts. I know that is waaay too long for an oil filter, and I deserve punishment for that. So I thought maybe the oil filter has failed or is clogged, and that I should get the oil changed asap. I haven't changed my own oil in a long time, never with this car at least, just because I'm lazy. So I took it to Walmart, don't crucify me yet guys, with my own Mobil 1 filter and Mobil 1 oil. Well they proceed to tell me that I have an oil leak from either my filter or plug, and they won't touch it for liability reasons. I haven't got completely under the car to see for myself, but my garage floor is bone dry. So I went and bought an oil drain pan and a filter socket, and plan to just do it myself later today. I don't have any stands or anything to put under the car, but I'll figure something out or just break down and buy some. But anyways, I'm so worried that the oil filter is not the issue and my automotive world is about to come crashing down. I don't auto-x, but I did run it pretty hard the day before this happened. Red-lined, but not bouncing off the rev-limiter kind of driving. Nothing out of the norm. Other than that I am very careful not to abuse my engine/tranny. Any thoughts, tips, or prayers are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and over the last few months I had some CEL's saying that my car was running lean, but those CEL's are a few weeks gone with some common fixes.

Filters last way longer than 7,000 miles. The ones I use last 25,000 miles before needing to be changed. What viscosity oil are you using? Make sue you are getting enough oil pressure.

I use 5w-30, but after changing the oil I saw nothing out of the ordinary with the old filter. The old oil also looked ok, no swirls, metal shavings, or anything. I now think the sound is more of a clatter, similar to the sound a disengaged Spec clutch will make. But as I said before, the sound speeds up and slows down with the rpm and is not biased to whether or not the clutch is engaged. I did observe some oil residue on the old filter, probably from spilling while adding oil. However there was also oil residue on the side of the block under one of the pulleys. It's the pulley highest up on the block directly acrossed from the motor mount. I will try to clean that up and see if it reappears. I don't have any type of guage to check oil pressure, but I'm sure I could take it somewhere if it came down to that.

Edit: Also observed that after just a minute or so of running, the oil filter was rather hot. Not sure if it's normal for it to heat up that quickly.

I know they make a dye that you can add to fluids that shows up under a black light, great for finding leaks. It sounds like the oil may not be getting where it need to in the top end of the engine. I don't go around feeling how soon the oil filter heats up, so I cant tell you if thats normal or not. I would have the pressure tested and see if its in spec or not. Of course you could also try just replacing the filter and adding oil to make up any difference.

Try getting some hose, and sticking one end in your ear and use the other to try and pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

My first guess would be either lifters or a wrist pin. But, what do I know anyway. I've been through 2 SVT motors in my life and both problems sounded similar.

The oil leak at the top shouldn't really be a concern if it is not puring out. If it is just wet or stained I wouldn't focus on that as it is most likely not your point of failure.


EDIT: Oh, BTW, when you were talking about narowing it down to the injector area and fuel rail, remember thaat injector pulses can often times be heard on some engines. I can't think of any other way to describe it other than it's a sound that just sounds like it belongs there. Not a metal to metal rapping sort of way.

if you're suspecting oil at all, why not just go ahead and change it? walmart wont do it, even if you haven't done it in a while I think you can handle it. one bolt, I never even use a wrench for the filter, I can get it w/ my hand.

I know when I go a couple hundred miles too long for an oil change, you can hear a kind of click/ping coming from arond the same area you're talking about. after an oil change it's like a while new car, and I hate myself for procrastinating. bleh.

Yeah, I did end up changing it myself. No biggie, I just never had the ramps or oil drain pan so I would just take it in to have it done. But now that I've gone out and bought the necessary hardware... Anyways, I just got off the phone with a mechanic who thinks it could be either the timing chain guide that has broken off making the noise, or that my oil pump has failed. I haven't had the oil light turn on though. Not even a flicker, not even once. Wouldn't that pretty much rule out the oil not making it up to the top of the engine? If there is a chance that my oil pump has failed, should I not drive it to the shop and just pay to have it towed. The shop is about ten minutes from my home. Oh the agony.

Edit: The lifter sounds like a logical culprit. Is there an easy way to check this without taking it into a shop?...Something I can replace myself?

I'm gonna' have to break down and buy a Hayne's Manual. I'll do some more searches to see if I can find any more info or part #'s.

Somebody on the board used to have the Ford manual on CD. Very helpfull.