tappit?

[jzwartster]

I lost about a quart of oil the other night when I rubbed through the remote line and now I have a tappit tappin. Its not loud but its there and pissen me off. It used to be so quite under the hood. Just had the new ball and socket collectors put on maybe its commin from there Im keepin my fingers crossed. I dont think its the header gasket they all should be real tight. (I just put new ceramic headman elite headers on.) What do you think about pullin the tappit cover off and try to get some adjustment out of them? I had just changed the oil and 4 quarts read full on the stick I have I know thats not right. How much oil do you use with the double hump pan and remote lines?

[cgrey8]

With my old 2.9L V6, I ran 5-quarts per oil change. When I added the remote-mount oil filter system years ago, that added about 1/2 quart to the system.

With the V8, I find that's still the case. Oil changes are still in the 5 1/2 quart range to keep the level correct on the dipstick. What I've always been a little unsure of is if my level indication is accurate. My dipstick and tube are the original Explorer equipment. However the pan and pickup are Fox dual-sump setups. The Explorer pan and pickup were both "deeper" than the dual sump. So it is possible my Explorer dipstick is sticking down further into the dual-sump pan than it should thus showing me a higher level than it would with an Explorer pan. If that's true then I'm actually under-filling it with only 5 1/2 quarts. But I've never noticed a problem with the engine getting oil, even with the level indicating low on the dipstick.

[jzwartster]

hey thanks. thats what I thought and I had gotton my oil change done at a shop and they didnt have the castrol oil I run, so I bought a gallon jug and forgot theres only four quarts in a gallon. Anyway I forgot to add another quart and losing the quart from the leak on my hose it ran down to about 3 quarts. Not Good. Fixed the leak added the quart I had and noticed the lifter tappin. Thought I might still be low so went to the part store and added another, still tapppin. With about 5 quarts it should tap but maybe if im a quart low like your sayin they might hold 6 if not a bit more. I have approx. 3' of remote hose per side making it easy for relocater removel for filter removal during oil changes. I can take the filter off near the outside of the drivers fender. Its not the stock stick I had to cut it. I will try adding a quart of castrol synthetic and hope she quites down.

[cgrey8]

If the tappit isn't getting pressure because the pickup is sucking air due to a low oil level, then I could see adding some oil as fixing the problem. But if the oil level is completely submerging the pickup, adding another quart on top of that, I doubt is going to make any difference. You might find that a thicker oil or STP oil treatment or something might make it quit tapping, however if this is a recent development that came on all the sudden, I'm not sure it should be ignored. You may just need to pull the valve covers and find out why it is tapping. Maybe it just needs readjusting? Perhaps the nut/bolt just got loose. If that's the case, I'd expect the tapping to get worse as it the bolt/nut works itself looser.

[jzwartster]

yes it just happen after running the oil level to about three quarts. thanks for the tip on a thicker oil treatment. In the past when I drove oil leaky vehicles I would add oil when I heard the lifters tappin thats what it sound like, I will go from there and make another post. I also need to change my setting unit plug so I can see what my pressure is.

[jzwartster]

Added some STP oil treatment as you suggested. think maybe a combination of being a lil low on oil and a lifter not gettin oil. the STP gave her the cush she needed. Also fixed my setting unit great 55 lbs of oiul pressure, Which I think is good for a ford. My old 406 in my '54 chev ran 70 lbs al day long.

[cgrey8]

I generally don't recommend people actually use that thick STP stuff. It won't hurt anything, but it doesn't really help anything either. Next time you change the oil, use a heavier weight oil such as 20W50. If you use synthetic, use Castrol's 5W50 or 0W50. The thinner cold-weight is better for cold-starts than 20W50, but the cost of synthetic often just isn't worth it.

[jzwartster]

a heavier oil even on a new engine? hmmm, I will try it maybe 5 quarts of castrol 20/50 and 1 quart of castrol synthetic. Im just a gear headed ready to learn. What kind of oil do you perfer? Im still goin to stick to my castrol just wondering what you run.

[cgrey8]

On a new engine? That's not right. You shouldn't need a heavy oil to keep the engine from ticking. Given that, I'd be a little more concerned.

As for oil, I use fully synthetic 5w30, whatever the cheapest is. Back when about the only affordable synthetic vendors were Castrol and Mobil1, I used them. However now even the Walmart brand has gotten a fully synthetic offering. I think the stock I have right now is Pensoil. I look out for when AutoZone or Advance has a rebate going for one of the name brands and stock up. They've never failed at sending me my rebate check. So I've been lucky at getting oil for a fair amount less than what the shelf-price is just by looking out for deals when they come and stocking up with as much as I can afford...or at least as much as the rebate rules will let me.

[Dave]

I think 30 is heavy enough for most engines. On the other hand, I'm running the 5W-50 Castrol because of the clearances I have in my motor.
Dave

[jzwartster]

Sorry I didnt specify. When I added the stp oil treatment at O'Rileys and drove it home the ticking went away. It perfectly quit once again. Thanks for the suggestion on synthetics i will keep my eye open on the rebates as every dollar counts but I will not cut corners on my truck. This was my fathers truck (before this motor) and he passed away 2 weeks before my wife blew up the 85 GT motor. This one I went all out with no thought on money spent to do it right. I have about 8000 miles on it now. Running great once again! thanks

[cgrey8]

I agree, cutting corners is almost always going to come back and bite you. However I have no issues with running "cheap" synthetic motor oil. Anybody's synthetic oil is going to be better than any conventional oil. The burn-temp is higher with synthetic, the soot-buildup is little to non-existent with synthetic, and synthetic won't sludge even if it does burn, well alone sludge under normal operating conditions. So unless the quality of fully synthetics has come down, the cheapest of the cheap synthetic stuff is going to be more than plenty.

[jzwartster]

Tightend my header gasket again today too. Cant believe how much I turned each bolt. Had them tight two days ago and I even use the red thread gup to avoid backin out. Must be the ceramic. Real nice and quite, was nervous for a bit. Got over $3500 invested aint much but in todays market i dont want to have to do it all over again...Keepin the foot out of the gas for a bit. Anyway when I do I get about 4-6 miles to a gallan and 8-10 if I keep it slow.

[cgrey8]

Malcolm and I both had problems with bolts backing out and used high-temp lock-washers on each bolt. For the bolts I couldn't get to thread with the washers, I coated in orange silicone gasket. Both have worked well. So if you have a chronic problem with this, try coating the threads with that high-temp orange silicone gasket. That should hold the bolts in place.

[carvinmark]

Tightend my header gasket again today too. Cant believe how much I turned each bolt. Had them tight two days ago and I even use the red thread gup to avoid backin out. Must be the ceramic. Real nice and quite, was nervous for a bit. Got over $3500 invested aint much but in todays market i dont want to have to do it all over again...Keepin the foot out of the gas for a bit. Anyway when I do I get about 4-6 miles to a gallan and 8-10 if I keep it slow.

Got to say man, that's some poor fuel milage! Whats up? I think I'm around 12+, that's taking it easy and just playing a little bit.