Bought a 1997 4.2L 6cyl Ford F-150. When the engine is warmed up, i get a Tick sound when i'm at higher rpm's and when i give it just a little bit of gas. If i give it alot of gas, i don't hear the sound. I'm trying to locate the sound but it's hard it's a pain..

Anyone have this same problem? Truck has 72k miles.

 

run a higher octane fuel. also, you probably dont have a REAL problem. if you read the book, a little of knocking going down the road is normal.

 

ive had a slight ticking for a long time now, but i only notice it at idle with the windows down. i think mine may be coming from the exhaust. when i open the hood i can't hear it coming from the engine although the lifters do make it sound kinda like a deisel lol. i think as long as it doesnt get worse under load its prolly not a problem. i could be wrong tho...

 

I'm going to have it checked out with a local mechanic just to be on the safe side. It might be coming from the exhaust. If that's the case, i plan on getting new exhaust soon anyways.

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know what they say.

 

The 4.2 engine was designed to run on 87 octane gas.By using a higher octane gas you are just masking a problem.You will here an occasional pinging sound,but that is normal.
The sound you are describing sounds like a lifter or exhaust leak.Do not rule out the fuel injectors because they are kind of loud too.
BTW,how is your coolant level? Go check this website out;
www.leakingfords.com

 

I think it's coming from the Exhaust some where. As soon as the rain stops i'll be able to look a bit more. Coolant levels are fine. Grrrrr to the odd problems. It's not a ping. Sounds more like somethings loose.

And due to the rain, i found a leak in my sliding window .

 

Been there,done that! When I bought my F150 used from Ford I had a warranty too.They hired an outside company to replace the slider.Glass installer dude said even tho you are extremely careful removing the slider it will still break. I watched him the whole time and he was correct,it broke. It cost Ford over $400.00!

 

Grrr to the leak.. GRRRR i say.

Wonder if i can get a 1 peice installed. Instead of having the sliding window.

 

When you said "somethings loose" , I had a flashback of when I had a rattling problem when I would take off slowly from a start and at very high rpm's. It turned out to be that one of the black lowering brackets on the sides of the engine that the factory uses to lower the engine into the bay was loose and was clattering against the exhaust manifold on the passengers side. All I did was tighten the bolt that holds the bracket on, and bend the bracket outwards away from the exhaust manifold. I think the bolt is on the exhaust manifold now that I think of it. I would go look but I just got done waxing my truck so I'm too lazy right now. But I hope I gave you some idea what to look for. Hope I helped.

 

Thanks but the sound happens after the engine has been running for awhile. I'm going to have them find the source when i take the truck in for the lovely gasket issues. But thanks for the info.

 

I'd say it is the gaskets causing the problems if you haven't changed to the improved revised gaskets. I think you caught the problem just in time before your engine bit the bullet IMHO. Good luck with it.


Peace...

 

Yeah, i've been watching the coolant levels every day and making sure no funny sounds or white cloud exhaust fumes are coming out. everythings working find for now. No leaks that i can see, no white foam around oil fill spout.

Engine sounds like a high powered diesel engine