Friends:

Starting to experience a loud "ticking" sound when starting the 300TE in the morning. Lasts 1-3 seconds, then stops. Oil pressure gauge behaves as normal, clean Mobil 1 in the crankcase, car drives normally ... I can't seem to isolate the sound ... any thoughts? Does this motor have hydraulic valve lifters?

TIA very much for any thoughts.

Brian

Yes, the 103 has hydraulic lifters. What you are hearing is a lifter that has bled down and is then refilling after the oil pressure comes up. Depends a lot on the mileage on the motor.

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Jeff Lawrence
1987 300e
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE

Thanks for the reply jeffsr - this makes sense as it is only when cold and goes away quickly ...

Should I be concerned? The motor has only 160K on it and runs like a dream - except for the very small seepage I'm getting from the head gasket (#@$&$*@) ....

quote:

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Originally posted by jeffsr:
Yes, the 103 has hydraulic lifters. What you are hearing is a lifter that has bled down and is then refilling after the oil pressure comes up. Depends a lot on the mileage on the motor.

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Depends on your level of comfort. A good hard run on the highway can usually clear up intermittent lifter noise. If it doesn't, it's not usually a big problem. Things to remember, There is a spacer between the liter and the valve stem that can wear out. If the noise is only when cold, this isn't the problem. Change the oil often and change it hot, unless there is something radically wrong with one lifter, you should be OK. If you want to consider replacing one (the noisy guy), you might as well replace all of them at the same time. Not much extra work..

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Jeff Lawrence
1987 300e
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE

I had a similar case; 160k 300TE with a ticking noise at startup. I was certain that it was a lifter/cam follower. However, my noise wouldn't go away with RPMs, only time. And it would still occasionally start to tick while warm, at idle.

Thing was, the noise wasn't coming from the upper end of the motor, but rather over by the injector pump. I ran BG injection cleaner thru it (their "44K" product) and the tick's gone. I concluded that it must have been the pump, which has been quiet for the last 5k miles.

Just a thought...I'm inclined in your case to agree with my fellow respondents, but I wanted to apprise you of my out-of-the-ordinary problem & solution.

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Best regards, Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE

Been there done that and it wasn't pretty.

In my (now sold) 91 300TE 4-matic, I experienced a noise similar to the one you describe, although it wasn't correlated with engine temperature. It would tick for a day, and then stop for a day or two. Never would do it consistently enough for me get over to my mechanic when it was ticking.

This car had ~140k miles or so on it at the time, meticulously maintained its entire life, and in fact had been running on Mobil1 for some time.

One day the ticking was back, I drove it to the mechanics and they pronounced it as a sticking lifter. When they went to dig into it, it turns out that the #2 cam lobe was really chewed up. $1200 later I was on my way. Don't remember all the details, but even when all the oil changes have been performed at the correct interval, you can still see failures like this.

I sold the car six months later when the oil consumption increased greatly (presumed valve seal work needed) and when we found good sized chunks of friction material in the tranny pan..... The car also had a tendency to eat sets of tires. A set of Michelin MXV4s would last maybe 20k miles even with regular rotation and proper inflation.

I have the chewed camshaft sitting in my garage as a reminder of the car from hell. It was a dream to drive but insanely expensive to keep on the road. For that kind of money I'd rather be driving a 6.9

THANKS EVERYONE for taking time to reply. I think I'll approach it this way:

(1) change oil, it's due
(2) get a highway blast scheduled
(3) run a can of Redline SI-1 or BG44 through the fuel system
(4) keep an eye (ear) on it to make sure it doesn't get worse.

Great forum, thanks again.

Brian
89 300TE 160K
84 733i 5pseed 135K

Where is the injector pump on a M103? Mine doesn't have an injector pump.

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Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi

They have CIS with electronic controls. The 'pump' is under the air cleaner. I'd much rather have EFI.

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Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

That's not a pump. Just a distributor. If it was a pump it would not have a pressure regulator on the line going into it.

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Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi