My 302 motor has a little tick but it has never hurt performance. As the motor warms up the tick or it can only be a bit heard in a narrow alley. Do you know of any additive that might get rid of this nuisance. Thank you, Guy
Check oil weight... too heavy can cause a lifter tick. I ran into this in my 401 nailhead when I tried running 20w-50. Went back to 10w-30 and it went away immediately. Read the 1962 service manual, and that situation/fix was listed verbatim in the troubleshooting section. Worth a shot...
MMO is my go-to when doing a crud flush. I like to run some in the oil a couple hundred miles before an oil change and some in the fuel....whenever.
Is the 302 a Ford or Chev?? How many miles on the engine?? Has the ''tick'' slowly appeared, or been there since new?? If Chevy, try adjusting the valve clearances.. If it's a Ford, run with the rocker cover off, using feeler guages, run thru all the valve to rocker surfaces with a .010 blade, and see if the ''tick'' dissapears on any valve.. I have cure noisey valveson Fords by taking a few thou off the base of the rocker pedestal before today.. Over the years, I have used this (Pro-Ma MBL8 250ml) on Mazda 626's and Subarus with real rattly lifters, with great success.. We changed the oil with the recommended grade, and added this additive, started up the engine, it rattled for approx a minute until the additive mixed in, then almost instantly stopped rattling..
Freshly built and documented engine, Old engine in new to you car, Wrecking yard or used donor engine recently installed in your ride and out for the first drives? Last time the oil and filter were changed if it is an older engine? I've seen the results of fresh high detergent oil being put in old engines that hadn't had the best of care or timely oil changes by the previous owner. Usually a lot of sludge floating around in the oil until you get in several oil changes at short intervels. As Blake said in post 4, too heavy of weight of oil? He seldom misses the mark on stuff like this. I've known more than one guy who dumped 50 Wt racing oil in an every day street engine because he now had it in a "hot car" even though the engine was a stone stock used engine with a set of shiny valve covers added. The results weren't always what the guy expected.
Have had success with getting it to operating temp for an hour or so with couple of quarts of A.T.F. in it to clean out the lifters. Then do the oil change.
My Ford 302 had a tiny little tick. It was the #1 piston skirt bouncing between the bottom of #1 piston and the crank.
My grandma had a nervous tick, they always thought it was from that metal plate in her head. I'm not so sure, but everytime she turned on the microwave she pissed on herself..... she was a sweet woman
You SURE it ain't the fuel pump? Mine make just enough noise to worry me sometimes. Has for the last 10 years. 6sally6 You COULD just tell everybody it has solid lifters!
Small exhaust leaks can sound like a tick from the engine. You've established unequivocally it's and internal engine matter? Reminds me I have a header gasket leak to fix on my new build motor that's only been run a few times! That ticks! Chris
Exhaust leak... I can agree with checking that out. Look for grey traces where the exhaust gases are escaping. Get someone to hold a rag over the exhaust (few seconds...) while you listen.
to be serious happydaze and bob,s suggestion is a good one had it happen over the years.the fuel pump spring on the arm is another good luck solving
Had a tick in my OT daily driver. Turned into a CLACK! Hole the size of a quarter in the exhaust manifold. Bingo. Tick gone. Seafoam eliminated the occasional missing in the same truck. Good for now.
Also, if you need to chase town the location of the 'tick' noise, use 2-ft of fuel line... one end held up to your ear, then the open end gets moved around the running motor... exhaust manifolds, valve covers, etc, to locate the source. Works a treat!
Like others have said could be an exhaust leak. Could be a cracked cast iron exhaust manifold that when heated nearly seals itself shut.
Go buy a stethoscope, works great and is way safer than a solid rod that can puncture you feeble brain when the fan blades hit it !!!
Just use a couple feet of heater hose, works like a charm and no danger danger of piercing your ear drum.
Hello, We put in a Racer Brown Cam and complete lifter kit in our 348 Impala after our stock car class racing in 1960. I was the person to adjust the lifters and timing for the motor. The motor was quiet with the hydraulic lifters as a stock motor. But, once the Racer Brown Cam and complete lifter kit was installed, we had to adjust it for a perfectly quiet running motor. In our quiet backyard garage area, we could hear the ticking sound of the motor. We used these oil additives in the 348 motor after installing the Racer Brown Cam. A family friend, who is an expert mechanic, told us that it helps with the motor running smoothly and can be added when necessary. He gave us cases of each. A lot of the race cars, from circle track to drag racing were using it for good running motors. When we heard the ticking sound, we knew it was time to adjust the valves using our trusty thin feeler gauges. But, several times during our dragstrip and street racing episodes, we put in either Wynn's Friction Proofing or STP oil additive. (Most of the top drag racers used that method for added help for their motors.) That stopped the ticking, but the more we raced, it definitely needed adjusting to get rid of the ticking sound. NOTE: The drag race inspectors did a sound test on those "stock" cars to make sure they did not upgrade their cams and lifters that came from the factory. The ticking noises were a sure give away that solid lifters were installed and not stock. Jnaki In order to keep it at maximum running tune, my brother always gave me the job of adjusting the constant ticking sound coming from the cam/lifter kit. It worked, it ran better and it stayed quiet for quite some time. Then the cycle started over again after many episodes at the drags or long road trips. The thick oil additives did work, but it came down to making the manual adjustments for a quiet motor. In the drive-in restaurant parking lots, when the hoods were opened to talk about racing specs, the motor was always quiet. The motor was telling others that it sounded stock. That was an advantage as it was not stock, but sounded quiet with the fine adjustments made. Additives or fine adjustments, they both worked until plenty of road trip miles and power acceleration runs.
Guy, I sorry, but I had to laugh at some of those answers, almost spit my coffee out....again! These guys on here never fail me! Lol..... But, I had a OT engine similar to your 302 that had a tick in it, it came in at about 100,000 miles. Like yours, I mostly noticed it while another vehicle or wall was close to the car, then I could hear it. Small metallic click or tick, seemed lighter than a lifter. I just ignored it, as I couldn’t hear it most of the time. Finally quit driving that truck, due to fuel problems at 245,000 miles, still ticking! Bones
added MMO to existing oil...that seemed to do the trick but in 200 miles will drain and add new 10w - 30.
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