Tappet noise

[Ralph S3]

Bit fed up this morning. Spent all day yesterday finishing reassembly of my 2.9 engine after a changing the head gaskets, injector refurb and all the core plugs etc. Finally got round to the big moment yesterday evening and started it up after 9 months off the road. The good news is it started and all the injectors and wiring seem ok. The bad news is I now have a loud tapping. It sounds very much like a tappet is out of adjustment. However, my engine has hydraulic tappets (it does, I promise..!!) and following the Haynes (and Ford) manuals I didn’t touch any of the rocker tappet adjustment screws. I took the rockers off, made sure all the push rods went back in the same places and put the rockers back on. Supposedly the hydraulic lifters will compensate for any small change. I did change the gaskets and had the heads skimmed so I suppose it’s possible the pre-load on the tappets is slightly out but I can’t see why this would only affect one tappet. I’m starting to wonder if perhaps one of the hydraulic lifters has collapsed or that perhaps a bit of swarf has blocked the oil hole and it isn’t able to build up pressure. Either would mean having to remove a head again which is pretty depressing.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks on how to get a hydraulic tappet up to pressure. Any tips on whether it is possible to spot a failed tappet without removing the head. Any other ideas gratefully received..!!

Ralph

[Alan461]

Are you absolutely sure the manifold gaskets aren't leaking?
mine sounded like it had a loud tappet when it was a manifold leak.

[Ralph S3]

I guess it could be a manifold leak. Sounds very mechanical to me but I will have another look tonight.

R

[GreenV8S]

I agree with Alan - header leaks can sound very metallic.

Having said that - if you have skimmed the heads then you should check and reset the preload, and it's not impossible that a lifter has jammed or blocked while you had things apart. But a manifold leak would be far easier to find and fix so I'd look for that first. (Start the engine from dead cold and run your hands all over the manifold - you will feel any leaks.)

[Ralph S3]

OK, panic over. Looks like it was a stuck lifter. Engine was running while I used a stethoscope trying to find the location of the ticking when suddenly it started to quieten and then disappeared. I suspect for some reason one of the hydraulic lifters took a while to pump up with oil. Anyway, just need to sort out the timing and a couple of small leaks and its hopefully good to go. Oh, and rebleed the clutch which is misbehaving. Once step forward...

R

[GreenV8S]

Possible partially blocked oil way? Not a crisis but personally I'd want to make sure everything was clear and getting the right amount of oil.