Random Tapping

[merc123]

I've got a very random tapping noise. To me it sounds like rockers tapping. It happened before and I could hear it against a drive through wall but went away. Has 113k miles. Noticed a hole in the intake pipe (CAI) a few months ago and patched it. Oil report showed a little higher than average aluminum wear (piston..rings?) and higher than the universal average for silicon (dirt) but they didn't see anything exceptionally high.

Well today my girlfriend said she heard a thud then it started to tap loud. Not like a ball in a rattle can, but almost like an exhaust leak or rockers again. I turned the car off and restarted and it went away. I drove it slowly home (less than mile) and could hear it while sitting at the redlight, and when I got in the driveway it was gone.

Oil has 4,000 miles on it and only use Ford 5w-20 and has plenty of oil. What could it be?

 

[Deleted member 38176]

Plug backing out?

 

[merc123]

Could be. It had a different IDLE exhaust note than I'm used to also. Sounded a little more raspy like an x-pipe as opposed to the smooth rumble of my h-pipe.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Better check dem plugs...

 

[merc123]

I don't know the cylinders so bear with me Left ones are passenger, right are driver. The driver's side, 3rd plug had a lot of something fluid in it. I couldn't tell if it was oil or gas but it had a reddish/brown texture to it but no distinct smell. I was able to make it about 1 to 1.5 turns on the plug by hand though before I needed the ratchet so I'm guessing that one had worked it's way lose and had fuel blow by. There was quite a bit of mist that blew up out of that hole with the plug still in the hole so it had some fluid on the top of the plug.

The passenger side plugs were all really wet and assuming it was fuel and not oil. The "strap" was a little bit whiter than the driver side also

Here's some pics of the plugs. The one with the fluid is pictured by itself. You can see the brown coloring on the porcelin. I haven't fired it up yet because I did an oil change also and the 5 qt jug is in the other car that's not here so I don't know if it fixed the off idle.

 

[Deleted member 38176]

Coolant can easily turn brown and does so quite often. When was the last time you had a flush? What color fluid do you see in the reservoir? Coolant can also turn brown if it has been sitting in the plug wells for some time. I doubt the fluid you're seeing is fuel. You might have a coolant leak somewhere and it is collecting in the plug wells.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I think it is just water in the plug wells from driving in heavy rain or washing the engine.

 

[merc123]

The fluid was only in that one well and haven't washed the engine in months. No heavy rains either. None of the rest of them had it. I'll keep an eye on it in the next few weeks since it doesn't take but about 5 seconds to pull a boot. For some reason I thought you had to remove the fuel rails to do the plugs. Good thing you don't.

The coolant has turned a brownish color and I do need to flush it. Just haven't made the time to do it but I guess I'll have to. There was no water or antifreeze that showed up in the last oil sample so I don't think there's a head gasket leak to might be putting some in the cylinder. We shall see. I'll report back.

 

[merc123]

It happened again today. Got out and it sounds like it's coming from the area around the tensioner pulley on the passenger side. It was really loud. I touched the tensioner and pushed it a little and it stopped. I couldn't get it to repeat to see if it was some how the tensioner. It's a new tensioner (whole assembly) so I dunno. Maybe timing chain guides?

 

[merc123]

Found it today! It was the electric fan behind the radiator.

I unplugged it and the noise stopped completely. As soon as I plugged it back in the noise started again. Thanks for all the help guys! I needed plugs done anyway Glad it wasn't something more serious at this point.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Interesting! My fan failed also its easy to replace the electric fan assy. I got mine off amazon for $175

 

[merc123]

Got one from AutoZone for $140. Haven't replaced it yet but looks like just a few bolts. Probably do a coolant flush while I'm there since it'll be easuier to take the reservoir off to do the fan install.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I just moved the resevior out of the way but left its hoses connected.

 

[merc123]

Got it done. Did the coolant flush. Had to get the coolant from Ford, no one else carried the right kind.