1990 mustang gt cobra the other day i was driving down road and all of a sudden my car started ticking. and its getting worse and worse doesnt sound good at all...
---Change your oil and select something other than Rotella, SM (API) rated oil and anything with the starburst. My suggestion would be a known good filter, a Motorcraft, Baldwin, NAPA Gold/WIX, or Amsoil filter (all have anti-drainback valves) and some SuperTech Synthetic from WalMart w/about 1/4oz of Lucas Zinc-Plus added to cushion the cam. We're getting into winter months so if it's cold by you, the usual HD SAE30 (for cars), 0w30, 5w30 or 10W30.
---If you've listened to the lazy, back-alley mechanics who say a Ford runs on 20w50, that's where your lifter clatter is coming from. The hydraulic lifters require a thinner oil. Thinner oil also needs that "
ZDDP" that the EPA and AAI is forcing the API to give us less and less of in our oils. Probably to force older vehicles off the road to ensure jobs and a market for new vehicles, but regardless, older vehicles (pre-93 especially) need zinc-alkaline in the oil. A nice round number is 0.1%, or 1,000ppm for V8s and around 0.12 or 1,200ppm for 4 cylinders, trying not to topple over the .13% mark, which causes sludge like SF oils used to (where I believe Penzoil/QuakerState got its bad rep).
---A bud of mine, as well as myself, used to use Castrol GTX religiously and swear by it. I stopped forking money over to "Standard Oil" in 1995 and yes, though I know the BP shamrock is on the bottom of the Lucas bottle, I know Lucas Zinc-Plus has 64,000 ppm of ZDDP, so I can easily divide that into "quarts per bottle" without having to convert to the "Imperialist" measuring system. In 2006 he came to me with his Vulcan 3.0 tappity tappin like a POS Chitvy or better yet, the average vortic-tic-tic-tic. He asked me why. I asked if he's switched oil yet. He said no, and I said well, you have received the new oil. API changed the "recipe" for the oil in 2006 (average stock started reaching the public in late 2006-early 2007), but they didn't change the rating. Newer SM rated oil, with lower zinc levels has been proven, by racing cam manufacturers, to destroy a camshaft in as little as 25,000 miles. API covers their butts by saying "
Refer to your owner’s manual for type of oil to use." while forcing oil on you that again, has been proven to cause damage to "flat tappet engines". Get some quality oil in there and if due for an oil change, what temperature are you in? Refer to your owner’s manual for type of oil to use.
---See areas that mention MIL-spec, Volvo, Nissan., etc., valve train tests and you have found the beginning of the trail. There really never was a day when people could just get in and drive, but now more than ever the operator must pay attention to the vehicle and the government that is trying to separate the bond we created while clinging to older, more reliable vehicles. Blame California for starting it and Obama for allowing it.
:OT:
---RUSH was
way ahead of their time... lol.
