Good reading everyone. I refer to my car as the ticking time bomb lol!
Can anyone please explain why changing oil would cause a ticking noise to begin with...? Seems so odd that fresh oil and filter would somehow trigger this phenomena. Crazy
Hello Honest Mike,Hey guys. Yes I searched here and on Google. I have read countless posts on this topic and still can't come up with an answer. My car is making that ticking noise that we've all heard so much about. Has anyone actually figured out what it is? No it's not the fuel injectors. This has no rythym. Some people say theirs started after an oil change. Mine has always done it. Before I changed the oil and after. Mine takes 5w50 oil being that it has the Track Pack option. Full synthetic. Maybe the oil is too thick? Or maybe the synthetic isn't allowing the motor to break in? Honestly to me it sounds like exhaust ticking. Like when you shut a car off and you hear the exhaust cooling down. But this only does it with the car running, warmed up, low rpm's. Driving me nuts.
For what it's worth -- and one case is not worth much -- ticking in my '14 GT started twenty miles after the first oil change (Motorcraft 5w-50, as recommended). I immediately changed out the oil and filter to the "old standby" I use in my Lotus Elise and my NC Miata -- Mobil 1 Eurospec 0w-40. No tick on start, none since. I'm thinking the cams and other odds 'n' ends are very sensitive to additive formulations, including zinc/phosphorus.