3 Day diagnosis..tick,thump,slap

[TruBlu03]

Brougt it in Monday and today they tell me they don't hear any tick, piston slap or thump from the a/c. Great, I must be completely insane! The tick and slap I am told are the injectors. Hmm, I really don't think so but is hard to argue. They certainly don't sound like any injectors I've ever heard, or as loud for that matter. Either way, my complaint has been noted just in case. The piston slap is hard to replicate as the car needs to be cold. They tell me they think it is just the injectors. Again, I don't think so. It's a differnet sound, only occurs when cold and goes away once warmed up and it just started 2-3 weeks ago. May have to keep working on this one. Now I just can't imagine how they couldn't hear the a/c thump, it is so freaking loud cars next to me with rolled up windows can hear it! Not to mention you actually feel it in the car when it happens. I've had people at lights give me strange looks when the thump occurs. So, with the mechanic looking at me strangely, I take him for a ride. 30 minutes later it is fixed. The a/c accumulator bracket was bent. They think it must have happened when the c/c plates were installed. Hard to say since I hardly ran the a/c since I got it. At least it's fixed now.

Overall I'm just damn happy to have my car back. 3 days away is entirely too long! I'm not fully satisfied with the results but I can't compain too much. They are a great dealer and I never get any hassles about mods. They generally do decent work it just depends on what the problem is.

One thing I thought was funny was the mechanic said he couldn't hear any noises because of my aftermarket shifter. Heh, my shifter is stock. I have the MGW handle and T-Handle shift knob, I also used the large rubber isolater on the handle. Oh well. The tick is yet to be resolved. I hope FORD can find/do something about it or it dosen't affect enigne life. It certainly hasn't effected performance that I can tell, runs like a bat outta hell!

Damn I love this car!

 

[Orange Poison]

LL,

Does yours still knock a little in the morning for a couple minutes then fades away? Mine is doing this. I took my car into the dealer for this. Leavin' it overnight so they can hear it. I'll post the results when I get it back.

Tony

 

[TruBlu03]

Yep, is what it does. They said they couldn't hear anything after three days in :shrug:

Maybe you will have better luck!

 

[OverToad]

LL, I ran my AC for the first time ever a few days ago. I've got a friend who's a real .......er.........sissy (I've got a better name for him, but this IS a public board) and HAD to have the AC on
As we were stopped, I would hear a thump from the engine. It happened about once a minute or so.

Is that what you had?? Having never run the A/C, I'd never known it was there.

 

[DaveSVT03]

I brought mine in on Monday too and today they told me it was injectors and opened the hood to show me. I said it was hard to hear the tick with the hood up. So they closed it and I had them stand close to the front of the driver door- bingo they heard it. Then they put it up on a lift and prodded and poked with the stethoscope thingy. Well now they are doing some "SVT recommended" procedures and I hope to get it back by Friday.

Anyway, maybe its worth trying the hood closed approach and see what happens.

 

[TruBlu03]

Originally posted by OverToad
LL, I ran my AC for the first time ever a few days ago. I've got a friend who's a real .......er.........sissy (I've got a better name for him, but this IS a public board) and HAD to have the AC on
As we were stopped, I would hear a thump from the engine. It happened about once a minute or so.

Is that what you had?? Having never run the A/C, I'd never known it was there.

Hard for me to say. Mine always followed the compressor cycle and it was VERY loud when it hit the firewall. First time I heard it I thought I had run over something beacuse I could feel it as well. I have seen some posts about other noises related to a/c compressor cycling, I believe regarding the vent flaps opening and closing. May want to look into that. I could replicate the sound at a much lower volume by moving the a/c hard line on the passenger side. The line is connected to the accumulator,(black cylinder) attached to the firewall via a bracket. Pull up on the line quickly and you can hear it thump the firewall. Mind you the sound was much subdued but that was how I figured out where it was coming from.

Hope this helps!

 

[OverToad]

:thumbsup:

 

[TruBlu03]

Originally posted by DaveSVT03
I brought mine in on Monday too and today they told me it was injectors and opened the hood to show me. I said it was hard to hear the tick with the hood up. So they closed it and I had them stand close to the front of the driver door- bingo they heard it. Then they put it up on a lift and prodded and poked with the stethoscope thingy. Well now they are doing some "SVT recommended" procedures and I hope to get it back by Friday.

Anyway, maybe its worth trying the hood closed approach and see what happens.

I'll be honest, I really didn't want to leave it there any longer since I know what the procedure is. I just am not comfortable at all with them cracking the heads open to check and re-torque. That recomended fix from Ford for the tick that happens after the car gets warm. That isn't really my problem as it does it all the time so I'm pretty certain it wouldn't corect my problem. I'm basically laying my hopes in an un-offcial new head release in June. No idea if it's true or not but I'm willing to wait it out for now.

Hopefully you can get some better results than I did!

 

[Jon]

I get the A/C thump too. I'll check the accumulator bracket on mine too. Thanks for the info LLCoolStang.

 

[NastyWS6]

those must be some noisy injectors :lol: atleast it is documented

 

[OverToad]

I get the A/C thump too. I'll check the accumulator bracket on mine too. Thanks for the info LLCoolStang.

Why, I do believe we've found another commonality to go with the "Clunk" the "Tick" "the pull" and "The Vibe".

Considering us "southies" are about ready to use our A/C's a little (I never use mine, unless it's 100+), I have the feeling we'll be seeing more of this problem crop up.

This is something we should keep our eyes open for..........

 

[Uncle Meat]

Originally posted by OverToad
This is something we should keep our eyes open for..........

You mean ears! :-D

U.M.

 

[JB]

:read: http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20178

 

[rskdsk]

Hello'all
My name is Rick and I had the piston slap. (coming out of the closet) The piston slap cause Ford to replace my engine ... and eventually with all the other problems I'have had, they are replaceing the whole car. Piston slap only happens when the car is tres cold. It will only happen for a few moments when first started, then go away. You will not notice a reduction in performance ... at least not until 30-50K miles. The dealer explain to me that piston slap is pistons and sleives not matching in tolerance. meaning that the piston has to much play when first started, but after heat expansion ... everything is ok. That first couple of minutes with the piston slapping around in the cyclinder with little lubercation will eventually result in premature piston/cyclinder wear and lower compression. My piston slap was very noticable ... so Ford shipped me a new engine.

I will not claim this information to be true ... but it is how the dealer explained it to me ... and it does make sence.

 

[TruBlu03]

Originally posted by JB
:read: http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20178

I should have printed out that thread with the picture and took it in with me, maybe that would have saved some time. I just don't understand how noone is hearing this we we take it in. I suspect a resurgence with this issue since alot of places are starting to warm up.

 

[TruBlu03]

Hmm, going through my records I got the c/c plates installed 10/25 which was only a few weeks after taking delivery. I saw and responded to Joe's post back in November, so I'm wondering if my bracket did get bent when the c/c plates were installed as the mechanic said, which made my thump worse? I have to assume there is a normal thump associated with the same accumulator bracket since others seem to have it as well and it goes back several months. I'd have to hear someone else's thump to judge the difference. Just thinking mine might have been made worse by the c/c install.

Hey Joe, any chance you have the slap as well?? I sure would like to get that fixed to j/k

 

[Efi-Street]

When I get around to taking mine in for the tick, I'll have them start up one of the new ones on the lot and compare it to mine. We'll see if they "notice" it then.

 

[slythetove]

I recently took mine in for the tick. They said they adjusted the cam ladders per a call to the hotline. It did nothing. They said it's normal operation for this engine.

I listened to three of them last Friday night at my house. All three had the tick.

Let's hope it's normal, because almost EVERYONE has it. I'd even wager that some that claim not to have it just don't know how to find it.

Overtoad, as for the A/C thing. I'll let you know if you have the thud. I had it. I was one of the first to report it:

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20178&highlight=thud


In that thread Joe Ashville provides a diagnosis and a remedy. I pointed Leif Johnson to that thread to fix mine, and they did.

If you have it I'll be able to tell, and then you can get it fixed.

Remind me to check it Friday.

 

[03Sssnake]

Originally posted by slythetove
I recently took mine in for the tick. They said they adjusted the cam ladders per a call to the hotline. It did nothing. They said it's normal operation for this engine.

I listened to three of them last Friday night at my house. All three had the tick.

Let's hope it's normal, because almost EVERYONE has it. I'd even wager that some that claim not to have it just don't know how to find it.

Overtoad, as for the A/C thing. I'll let you know if you have the thud. I had it. I was one of the first to report it:

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20178&highlight=thud


In that thread Joe Ashville provides a diagnosis and a remedy. I pointed Leif Johnson to that thread to fix mine, and they did.

If you have it I'll be able to tell, and then you can get it fixed.

Remind me to check it Friday.

Your right on the money....If the law of averages had applied, one of us should not have had the tick

 

[OverToad]

If the law of averages had applied, one of us should not have had the tick

Or, if your a fatalist like myself, you substitute Murphy's Law for the Law of Averages, which means all three of us are focked! ;-)

I'm not worried about the tick. I've had it since May of '97 and it never caused me a problem. I've got bigger, more important things to stress myself over, hehe.

I rifled through that thread Sly, and I'm far less worried about it now than I was last week.