Question?????

Ok gang I'm coming to you for help again. My car started making a ticking sound, no it's not knocking, when I would start it for about a second and would then quit like the lifters or something like that . This started about two days ago and I noticed that if I didn't let it sit too long it wouldn't do it, like going into a store for a few minutes, but after any length of time it would do it again. So yesterday when I got home I decided to check the oil and it's just barely touching the stick! I just changed the oil about 4k miles ago and I use the Mobil 1 Full Synthetic extended performance 15k mile oil. I bought some oil this morning to fill it back up but I don't understand what is happening to the oil. The car doesn't leak anywhere and it doesn't turn the pipes black anymore so it doesn't seem to be burning oil that I can see. Where else could the oil be going? I talked with my Dad last night who said that his truck is the same way with Mobil 1 oil. He uses the same oil and will add 2qt's between oil changes and his truck doesn't leak either. Has anyone else had this issue with Mobil 1 or any other synthetic oil? What are some areas that I could check for possible unknown problems? The car runs great and doesn't seem to have any issues . I was afraid that 10 years of sitting most of the time to becoming a daily driver would create problems, could this be part of the issue? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks everybody.

Make sure you don't have an exhaust leak. A small one can sound like a engine tick
Maybe your timing chain tensioner this also makes a ticking sound.
and you probably are burning oil but nothing that bad if you are not noticing it. If your car sat allot in it previous life your valve seals could be letting a little oil by. I'm in need of valve seals on my car and adding Lucus oil to my mobil 1 helps greatly. My car will smoke on start up and when I get on it for the first time but with Lucus in the oil I get no smoke at start up and no puff of smoke when I get on it.
If it does not seem to get worse I wouldn't sweat it. just my .02

I added oil today and haven't started it since. The tick immediately went away before adding the oil though. It would only last about a second and would quit. The car has 55k miles so it shouldn't be burning oil too badly. I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets worse. I'll keep you guys posted about the sound and consumption....

My wife's Kia did something like that. We changed the oil from the winter blend 5w-30 back to a summer blend 10w-40 and now it don't do it anymore. It might be the oil is too thin when it gets hot and drains down into the pan. And takes a minute to get back up to the lifters after it cools down.

Yeah as for the small tick it sounds like just taking a second to get the oil up into the engine. As for the "missing oil", didn't you say the car was parked for a while and that is why the guy sold it? if so and your ambitious you could change the seals, or if your lazy just run thicker oil LOL. I tried running Quaker State PowerQ 5w-30 one time and my car went through oil pretty bad so i switched to Valvoline high mileage 10w-40 and haven't had to add oil since...

Shady wrote:Yeah as for the small tick it sounds like just taking a second to get the oil up into the engine. As for the "missing oil", didn't you say the car was parked for a while and that is why the guy sold it? if so and your ambitious you could change the seals, or if your lazy just run thicker oil LOL. I tried running Quaker State PowerQ 5w-30 one time and my car went through oil pretty bad so i switched to Valvoline high mileage 10w-40 and haven't had to add oil since...

And also if the oil is too thin when hot it burn more easily.

Thanks guys. I'm thinking that I will just change the oil and refill it with 10W-40 and see what happens.

GreyGhost wrote:My wife's Kia did something like that. We changed the oil from the winter blend 5w-30 back to a summer blend 10w-40 and now it don't do it anymore. It might be the oil is too thin when it gets hot and drains down into the pan. And takes a minute to get back up to the lifters after it cools down.

Why would you use a thick -40 weight oil like that? You are just asking for trouble. 5w20 and 5w30 are the heaviest weight oils needed for a modern car engine. The tolerances are just too tight for that kind of oil.

scstanger wrote:Thanks guys. I'm thinking that I will just change the oil and refill it with 10W-40 and see what happens.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -40 is too thick.


Here is some light reading for you all.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xVX2PLxyYwU1ltTutPgMtiqdnfGfGpqibO6dSfB3PGc/edit?hl=en&authkey=CKzOxZoE#

Ok ok! I wont change the oil! Mike you're a trip man and thank you for the "light reading"! Frank and the gang, I'm just going to keep checking it to see how much its consuming. Like I said I haven't tried to start it since I added the oil to it and I'm at work so it's not an option tonight. I'll try tomorrow and see what happens and post an update. Thanks for the info everybody!!

I wouldn't worry too much there Richard, just keep using your normal oil and check it often. I usually use nearly a quart every 4-5k w/ 5w-20, but I'm up to 225,500 miles on mine.

Danstang wrote:I wouldn't worry too much there Richard, just keep using your normal oil and check it often. I usually use nearly a quart every 4-5k w/ 5w-20, but I'm up to 225,500 miles on mine.

you and tyara have the mileage king and queens of the group! mustang mileage FTW, although my built v6 has a little over 1500 miles and i fear it will break anyday

Richard, What I was trying to say is your problem may be as simple as having a oil change. One car is diferent to another, even year to year. If you change your oil PLEASE check and use the recomended oil for your year,model,engine.

GreyGhost wrote:Richard, What I was trying to say is your problem may be as simple as having a oil change. One car is diferent to another, even year to year. If you change your oil PLEASE check and use the recomended oil for your year,model,engine.

Got it, thanks. Of course it made the sound when I started it today because I had just added the oil and had not started it since. I drove it to work tonight so we'll see what happens when I go to leave.

Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!

The oil seems to have corrected the start up tick!

I'm going to keep my eye on it and see what happens from now on. If it keeps consuming oil in this manner then I'll add Lucas to it and go from there.

Yeah the car just seems to run differently now....better. Picky girls they are!

Ok now I have big problems. After adding oil I believe that I've added too much and my car is now leaking like I've hit a bleeder or something. I put it on the ramps yesterday and drained the oil out of it today. I'm going to get new oil and filter either today or tomorrow and just start over. I'm hoping that it's leaking from around the filter but I can't really tell. It's not coming from the heads or valve covers, it's definitely coming from the bottom of the engine. It may be the oil pan but I just cant tell. It doesn't leak constantly so it's a pressure related leak. None dripped over night. What weight oil should I get and brand? I'm up for suggestions. The car has 55k miles but sat for most of its life. Wouldn't you know as soon as I sell the convertible the Roush breaks down!

Ok I believe that I blew out the oil pressure switch and this is where the oil is coming from, not the filter. All of the oil seems to generate from this area and there was oil all in the plastic connector.

New question:
How likely is it that this is what happened? Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? It looks like the pressure sensor is hollow with a wire connector on the outside end therefore being completely plausible that this is my issue. Any words gang?

Thanks for the insight Frank, what do you think about the above?

The gauge is non functional and hasn't been since I bought the car. I replaced the sensor a few weeks ago and still nothing on the cluster. I think that either the gauge is bad or the needle is stuck. The previous owner put the white gauges in so who knows. I'm planning on getting a new sensor tomorrow with the oil and filter so I'll post an update then. Anyone else ever heard of this?

Those needles are real touchy I sanded my back panel so light would shine through and replaced the bulbs with red led's. I had to triple check that the real panel was seated real well cause a few gauges hit, love the finished work though

The gauge issue is on my "to do" list this weekend. The computer reccommends 5w-20 oil, any objections?

scstanger wrote:The gauge issue is on my "to do" list this weekend. The computer reccommends 5w-20 oil, any objections?

If thats what oil your car recomends, then thats what I would use.

Ok I've put everything back together and put 5qts of Mobil1 5W20. I am going to keep my eye on the leak situation and see what happens. I will keep you guys posted about what happens. Thanks everybody.

I'm pretty sure you need 6qts. Your book might say 5 and you might show full but Ford changed the requirements because they found oil starvation problems going around corners. Trust me you will be ok with 6 I put 7qts in for my oil changes. I have seen a oil pan test where someone put 9qts in a 4.6 oil pan and it was still not over flowing the oil pan