Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ticking/knocking from upper intake manifold

my 95 se ticks somewhere near the front of the upper intake manifold. It sometimes doesn't when idleing but when I pull on the throttle it does it really bad and rally fast then it ticks slowly when I let it back down to idle. This guy at the Ford dealership said a timing belt might be flapping against some cover from oveheating but its ticking from in the front of the engine. any ideas???

Um..mine did the same thing. Turns out that sound was NOT from the manifold but the bottom end. $4000 later I had a new motor... It was a connecting rod bearing that failed at 86K. I hope that's not your problem.
Same place, same sound, same symptoms. It ran w/less power than before for a bit then it siezed. I now have a 96 motor in there.

is there any way to fix it without a new engine?

Just figure out exactly where its coming from. Thats a good place to start.

You might also want to take a look at this thread.
http://www.contour.org/cgi-ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=005921
Hope it helps,

thanks guys Ill try using a peice of hose to make sure its not just a pulley but Im pretty sure its in the engine. My dad thought it sounded like a lifter

My car had the EXACT same symptoms as yours; at 60K it spun a bearing and now my engine is hosed. My sadder but wiser guess is that the ticking is the piston smacking the head due to tight clearances and a worn bearing.
Dealer wants ~$6000 total (to swap a rebuilt long block); I'm surfing the web looking for a salvage.
For what it's worth, Coast said they've seen this problem before & the only prevention is to keep the oil extreeeemely clean: MAX 2500 miles between changes and make them show you the filter! (so I sincerely hope Ridin'Dirty, isn't).
During '01 I av'd. every 3323, which I thought was fine, BUT the infamous water pump went out & it overheated a little over a year ago, so maybe it was burning some oil?
Stock SVT piston rod bearing inserts are aluminum alloy; are they all that delicate? Or is it a bad lubrication system, the high RPM's, or what?

Mine was making the same noise and I was worried about cam bearings and such so I removed the accessory drive belt and voila...tick/knock went away. In my case it's an idler pulley. Don't jump to conclusions.

Its made the noise ever since my car overheated and I had to replace the waterpump. now it ticks its going to cost 800 to 1000 to fix (12-13 hours of labor) hopefulley its a belt

Mine did the exact same thing at 56K and it was the #4 and 5 pistons smacking the heads. You'd know it if it was indeed an engine failure, you'd notice a loss in power. Big time.