Hey guys, I own a 94 F-150 with a 5.0 and I'm having some problems with it, it has 150,000 miles on it. When I start the truck when it's cold and hasn't been driven and put it into drive or reverse it starts to clatter and knock, but then it goes away after a couple of blocks. When the truck is idling or still in park it doesn't make any noise at all. It also ticks when you stand outside of the truck just when you press on the gas, I could hear it when I had my oil changed and they pulled it around. I've been hearing it ticking when I drive it, but it only does it above 1,000-1500rpm just around town, I can never hear it when I'm cruising on the highway.

It's also feeling really gutless now, recently I put a 4 inch lift with 33's, but I'm pretty sure it's getting worse. The only other mods, are a K&N filter and a cat back flowmaster with a 3 inch pipe.

Thanks for the help.

 

"Clattering" is different than "knocking" in my book - you'll have to discern how deep the knock is to figure whether it's the rod bearings or just lifter noise.

If it's been sitting for a stretch, the oil (by gravity) runs to the pan, starving the lifters (makes sense). So on start-up they'll be noisy. If you have carbon build-up on the lifters, they'll move more slowly in their bores, making noise until enough oil gets up there to lubricate them.

Also, heat plays a part. When everything heats up enough, metal expands, sealing up potentially worn areas (and helping oil pressure, though the oil thins out as it heats up).

If you don't know your engine's oil change history, I'd suggest doing one of many internal engine cleaning procedures to get the gunk and carbon off of moving parts. Old school guys simply added a quart of kerosene to the oil, ran it for awhile, then changed the oil. But with all of these newer sensors... Seafoam in the oil has been used with much success, but there are many other products. Try a search for "oil additives" or something like that. I think that once you douche your engine (and maybe use some different grade oil) it will quiet down a bit.

 

I just changed my spark plugs, one of them was pretty bad. That helped my power problem, but it stills makes noises. It's a knock that it makes, I can hear it best from underneath the truck. The truck has always had it's oil changed on time since it was new. I ran seafoam through it last year at some time.

The warmer it is outside the better the truck runs when I start it and the less noise it makes.

I'm wondering if a cracked exhaust manifold could make some noise until it warms up and expands to close off the crack somewhat?