first of all: please excuse my english. I'm a backpacker in Australia who bought a 1990 EA Falcon Stationwagon. The car run great so far but since about 2 weeks there's a bad ticking coming from the engine, especially when the car is cold. After the last oil change the ticking became softer. The guy from the service station who did the oil change said the ticking comes from the automatic valve something. He said: shouldn't harm the engine but if it becomes worse i have to fix it. price: 1000 australien dollars. He recommendet that I buy a lifter fluid. That's what I did. Ticking is a little bit softer again but the engine still doesn't sound smooth.
So what could it be? Do I really need to fix it? I want to sell the car in abouth 3 month and don't want to invest much more money as you sure can understand!
Thanx in advance for every response and greetings from Perth...
Yep, some good oil and take it easy and you should hopefully see your 3 months out. A quick oil filter change would be good too......they cost about $10-15.
Any trips to Broome or across the Nullabour from Perth!?
If you put $1000 into it, you definitely won't get your money back when you sell it.
Yep, some good oil and take it easy and you should hopefully see your 3 months out. A quick oil filter change would be good too......they cost about $10-15.
Any trips to Broome or across the Nullabour from Perth!?
If you put $1000 into it, you definitely won't get your money back when you sell it.
Thanks for your tips so far! Shouldn't be a problem from too less oil because I checked the oil regulary and the car itself doesn't drip oil and doesn't burn much either. Oil filter has been changed in the service station with the oil change. I'll put the thinner oil in at the next oil change, let's say in Cairns or somewhere else a few thousand kilometers away...
But: Do you know what exactly the mechanic meant as he said 'automatic valve ... '? What automatic valve thing? But as far as I found out in this forum and from your responses it seems to be an acoustic problem and doesn't really harm the engine. There's no difference in the driving abilities of the car (or engine) since the start of the klicking, too.
I hope the guy who buys the car after me doesn't think he buys crap, because this car is really really reliable. Didn't think like that of a Ford before I had this one...
Thanks so far and thanks for further tips!
Alex
PS.: TruBlu351: We already crossed the Nullabor (pretty easy) and wanna start the trip to Broome in a few days...
The mechanic was talking about the Hydrolic lifters these lifters fill up with oil and push the valvers open (No valve clearences to be done on these cars)
When dirt etc gets into the lifter then it does not fill up under preasure ,nor bleeds and this causes the noice due to the excessive clearance.
By running a cleaning additive in your oil just before a change of the oil the dirt might be disolved and the problem overcome.
Viel spass, und gute reise!
Could also be a problem with the timing belt pre tensioner. A vital weak link in the ea26 series engine. Besides the heads warping all the time that is.
use the nulon brand lifter quiet and stick with a 20w50 oil,the penrite 50 is a great oil but it actually counter acts this problem,also be careful of using a engine flush prior to oil change these products are so good that they can loosen so much sludge they will block your oil pump pick up if the car has not been serviced properly.this is a noise that is common with these vehicles in a unserviced state and would have to be very excessive to become a driveability issue,the cost of repair is as much as the car is worth. riest:
EA falcons run a timing chain not a belt but you usually get a rattle not a tick from a chain tensioner but i have seen EA falcons with half a million kays with terrible lifter noise but they still run strong so basically if you change the oil regularly you might find it will quiet down if it doesnt i wouldnt worry about it to much.
Hey guys, thanks for these answers. Here's how the story went on: In a Roadhouse in the Kimberleys (Turkey Creek if anyone knows) somebody could change me the lifters (the mechanic). The lifters weren't new but they were clean at least. Okay, the sound was even gone afterwards. But it came again... oh man.
Because I can't change the lifters again and because I have to sell the car now (I'm in Brisbane atm) would you recommend to put in a very thick oil to make the tickering sound mute? Or wouldn't it do any good?
Thanks so far!
Depends on how much you want for the car. since it's such a common occurance with
high milage engines it shouldn't detract to much from the price if its not to loud.
Do an oil change with a oil made for engines with a bit of wear like helix 25w60 older engine oil.
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