Hi all,

I have been tackling this vehicle for several days now and can not identify the issue. The engine does not tick on cold start up, only when warmed. Here is what have been done and what I've figured out so far.

What we've done:

• Replaced all 12 lifters by pulling head and intakes and valve cover.
• Changed oil weight to thicker 5w-30 instead of 5w-20.

What we've determined.

• Definitely top end noise. Partnered with 3 other techs and its agreed that its not lower end due to the speed of ticking vs crank speed.
• With valve covers off, engine running, ticking can be heard. Oil is clearly circulating.
• Rocker arms not cracked.
• Cam lobes seems fine when head and lifters were off.
• With stethoscope the noise seems to be coming from everywhere. Any point on the rocker towers seems to be the same all across front and rear banks.
• Listening from oil pan is same. Seems to be same all around.

Not sure what else it might be. Either throw parts at it or replace engine. Shop doesn't want to spend much more money than it already has. Not customer car, everything is all internal cost.

Also looked at similar threads including this one. Not sure what other options or what other possibilities it may be. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I am assuming that you are working on an '05 or newer with the 5w-20 oil. Our engine guy says that they have been having issues with rod bearings crapping out and that it sounds like upper engine noise. He said to drop the oil pan and look for flecks of peeled bearing in the pan, he said the coating peels off the bearing, more common on the back cylinders (1,3,5).

 

Hi , Old Tech Here ! In the old days I'd pull each spark plug wire one @ a time till I found the spone bearing . this procedure will with out a doubt tell if or which bearing is gone .When you pull the wire on the bad bearing with the engine idling will go silent "no knock" this is the bad rod bearing . You'll need a rebuilt crank & a rebuilt rod .
you could have a gaulded or cracked piston skirt ! My thoughts Bud

 

Welcome to DF
I agree with tizzy, I have had two motors with some noise that you are having. Both motors needed a crankshaft and all bearings and a piston.

 

Thanks guys!

Yes that is correct, 06 with the 5w-20 oil. Oil has been changed several times, will there be any chance of remaining bearing debris still?

I forgot to mention that we did the spark plug disconnect process one by one as well. There was no change at all, noise remained regardless of plugs being disconnected. That is how we all agreed that it was upper end and not lower end.

Initially one of the techs assumed that it was either a rod or wrist pin. But after the plug wire trick, noise was still there.

We have since decided to just get an entire long block and not waste time on the tear down. As I've said before, this is all internal and not a customer vehicle. The shop has already put in over $2000 in cost to repair vehicle already and they do not want to keep throwing individual parts at it.

Although I would not mind finding out what is the initial culprit, it is not my choice. I can only do so much as the shop wants me to. I'll bring everyone up to date once the long block is installed.

 

Hey there. I've got the same exact problem on our 2004 Grand Caravan SXT 3.8 V6.

The noise seems to be coming from everywhere. Usually sounds like a lifter tick but is harsh when revved sometimes.

I dropped the oil pan a few months ago and didn't find metal in the pan and visually inspected the rod bearings. I didn't plasti gauge or anything like that. But they were not worn through the first layer as a worn/stretched rod / rod bearing would be.

I pulled the intake once to inspect. Found out the hard way that these narrow V6 has the head in the way of pulling out the lifters!

Doing a search on these engines the tick is a real epidemic. However, it seems that there is no cut and dry answer to what is doing it.
I read problems ranging from bad lifters to plugged oil lines in the head. Which doesn't make any sense. There are no lines in the head to provide oil to a lifter or cam, only oil drain.

Just seems that most people get various stories from mechanics and especially the dealers and just get a new engine, not finding out the culprit.

Our van still runs pretty good but the wife is annoyed with the tick and at 120k it's starting to really need things. I just replaced the motor mounts and it has something wrong with a side door motor or the BCM because it wont work and the left door does not turn on the dome light or turn off the radio after the key is removed anymore either. (The light worked momentarily once after having the battery disconnected until I tried that left side door again, then it quit again).

I've always done my own mechanic work but this is not cut and dry and I don't have too much time to tear this down and then order parts.
Thinks are kind of tight right now too.

I almost want to swap in another used engine, but finding one that isn't messed up and not paying over $1k is difficult.

I hope someone has more to say about the engine tick problem with these engines. It was such a good engine until now. :-(

 

flatrate ---About How long does the tick sound for before it transitionally moves away?

1truemetal...is your tick there on both cold as well as warm engine starts? You know tick comes from somewhere but no where.
how confident are you about bad pulley?
Your wife gets annoyed with sound. Does that mean the tick sounds continously?About How long does the tick sound for before it transitionally moves away?

 

http://vlane.com/discuss-topic/1300/...engine-failure

i was amazed with above link and all that was asked or said about the ticking sound you have. check it out. but flaterate and itruemetal please answer questions above when you and if you read this thread today. thanks

 

Hi , I'd knock out those pistons one at a time till I found the bad piston before I'd replace the whole short block . First I'd get another opinion from a good mechanic as the forum members arn't present !!!! Bud

 

It does not do it on cold start up, but only once its warmed up and stays pretty constant. Its a lot louder on decel, especially once you let off the gas.

I saw that link you posted before you put it up and its got a lot of info, especially how its common.

The shop however has decided that it does not want to dump any more money into this project and has shipped it off to local auction. Sad to say as I would have loved to figure out what this issue was.

Thanks for all the inputs. I hope one day I can figure this one out.