Guess what boys and girls, the new head that has less than 1000 miles on it and it is ticking like a timebomb, I mean bad ! I mean this thing only has 800 miles on it. I'm so pissed I love this car I want it to be perfect. What should we do ? I have no underhood mods, the weather outside is even cool. It is real bad at startup, sounds like it's going to drop a valve !
New revised head !!
- Thread starter Yates...Man
- Start date
If you have already had it replaced, I would still try again. Depending on the Service Dept. you may have a smooth experience. What a PITA!! I have gotten lucky so far (knock on wood), but I know a few guys down here that have had it replaced twice. The Service Dept here was cool about it, even put installed headers on one car while they had the engine out.
Anyways, it is due to overheating (supposedly) if it keeps happening maybe look into the Apten cooling mod to relieve the heat off of those cylinders. It sucks though, you have to remove the tranny.
Let us know how it goes.
Anyways, it is due to overheating (supposedly) if it keeps happening maybe look into the Apten cooling mod to relieve the heat off of those cylinders. It sucks though, you have to remove the tranny.
Let us know how it goes.
Ask for a NEW ( not rebuilt ) engine on them!!!
thats the new head that just came out! that sucks. does anyone really no how to fix the tick for good.
We have heard so many reports of Cobras re-ticking after a few thousand miles with new heads, I am wondering if there is some non-head issue, like coolant blockage in the block or some other location, that is causing this problem in the heads.
Are you sure this is "the tick"? The tick does nothing on start up. It manifests itself when the engine is hot, and is not heard when cold generally.
It sounds like you have cold start piston slap, which all Terminators exihibit. This is due to the loose tolerances in the motor. Reason is that the forged pistons expand quite a bit when they warm up, but the cast iron block does not expand much, so you have to have a loose tolerance when cold so when the piston heats up it won't be too tight in the bore. Another part of the reason is due to the fact that these pistons do not have full skirts on them due to emmission reasons. The little skirt it does have comes out of the bore slightly at BDC. This is why you get some slap. Read in the Sean Hyland book, he explains it as well. Its a mod motor design issue
It sounds like you have cold start piston slap, which all Terminators exihibit. This is due to the loose tolerances in the motor. Reason is that the forged pistons expand quite a bit when they warm up, but the cast iron block does not expand much, so you have to have a loose tolerance when cold so when the piston heats up it won't be too tight in the bore. Another part of the reason is due to the fact that these pistons do not have full skirts on them due to emmission reasons. The little skirt it does have comes out of the bore slightly at BDC. This is why you get some slap. Read in the Sean Hyland book, he explains it as well. Its a mod motor design issue
rmgtc01 said:
I know I will drop the car off tom. to have them do whatever they need to do. This is the newest head bultaco370, I don't know what to say. Do they actually give a rebuilt engine option, that is pathetic! I thought for sure they would only use new on SVT, it's not like we are driving around Ford panelwagons. I could hurt somebody right now, I mean put them in a hospital. Who has enough time to deal with all of this crap ? Now the car will be down for another week at the very least.
Woodsrat said:
This was my first thought, poorly aligned gasket.
tv's 03 said:
No I know all well the difference between the two, I have been under the hood of 12 difft cobra's with various sounds. The easiest way to tell the difference is to tell the speed of the sound, piston slap is 1:1 with rpm's, valve/valvetrain issues are half the speed of RPM's or the bottom end of the motor. Not to mention I put a scope on the head and I can pinpoint the cylinder #8 and which valves intake or exhaust. The sound is the exhaust valves. Which one or both is very hard to detect without visual inspection.
tv's 03 said:
These motors rarely exhibit piston slap due to the extremely tight tolerances that Ford so ignorantly used to avoid the complaints surrounding piston slap. Instead of tolerating the neccessary chatter of piston slap the accompanies a forged motor when it's cold, they decided to go with the unneccessary chatter of incorrect valve guide castings and extremely tight ring-to-piston clearances that can cause cylinder scoring when exposed to excessive heat. If you want to hear crazy piston slap, drive just about any LS-x motor on a cold day!
Sorry to hear about the head, Yates! It is strange that it's doing it at startup. You sure it's not an assembly error, considering that the tick usually doesn't get loud until the car is warm?
Last edited:
WDW MKR said:These motors rarely exhibit piston slap due to the extremely tight tolerances that Ford so ignorantly used to avoid the complaints surrounding piston slap. Instead of tolerating the neccessary chatter of piston slap the accompanies a forged motor when it's cold, they decided to go with the unneccessary chatter of incorrect valve guide castings and extremely tight ring-to-piston clearances that can cause cylinder scoring when exposed to excessive heat. If you want to hear crazy piston slap, drive just about any LS-x motor on a cold day!
Sorry to hear about the head, Yates! It is strange that it's doing it at startup. You sure it's not an assembly error, considering that the tick usually doesn't get loud until the car is warm?
I know, this is why I think the valve is so loose it's going to drop it. Not the normal tick sound either, this will send a chill down your spine when the car starts. FREAKY!! Sounds like it's starving for oil, but oil pressure is right on. The actual sound is close to what the car sounds like when you change the oil and the oil pump is trying to pull the oil you poured in the filter to the pump, meanwhile the top end of the motor sounds like it's starving.
Last edited:
T BAG said:
Will do.
Maybe the tech screwed something up on the install.
Everyone talks about piston slap. I done have nor have i ever had that sound. Mine ticks so loud when it is warm you can hear it from 15 feet behind when you walk up to it, but nothing on startup. And my Ford dealership keeps giving me the run around saying it is normal?!?! I'm about to tell them to keep the dam car. Our chevy has had a few problems and they fixed it even with all the banks shit on the engine.
Yates...Man said:
What are the #'s on your service slip for the NEW head?
JP
my car is at the dealership as we speak getting a new drivers side head. This is bad news
JP said:
I will get it for you tomorrow.
I agree.FordFreak said:
Users who are viewing this thread
