1999 V10 Triton chatter

homerbw wrote:
Thanks everyone for your replies. If I had to make and educated guess, the sound is more associated with the valves. Once I make speed, it stops chattering and even when I do stop and go city driving there is no chatter. It only happens when I stop after driving awhile. The engine has 69,000 miles.

At 69,000 miles I don't think its the valves, it does sound like the timing chain tensioner has gone bad, there is a YouTube video about this on the Ford Triton motors and the chatter does go away after the motor has been warmed up and the timing chain does effect the camshaft that operate the valves..

Here is the video about the issue and does apply to the V-10 as well, he describes a chatter noise at start up but goes away after warm up

https://youtu.be/eOIvT_NsCbw

it may be combustion chamber temperature when you shut it off cylinder head temperature goes up when first going down the road it takes time to bring temperature down and maybe the knock sensor is bad

This may sound strange, but seriously, use Marvel Mystery Oil. It's a heavy detergent. Sounds like it may be a lifter. That stuff frees them. Use some in your oil AND gas. It will probably go away. That stuff is amazing.

Thanks everyone for your replies. If I had to make and educated guess, the sound is more associated with the valves. Once I make speed, it stops chattering and even when I do stop and go city driving there is no chatter. It only happens when I stop after driving awhile. The engine has 69,000 miles.

The timing chain tensioner does go bad and you will have a chatter at start up and than goes away after motor is warm, they have been know to go bad on Triton motors mostly on the smaller blocks but can happen on the V-10.

I'm presuming here that you are having knocking or pre-detonation, which typically reveals itself under heavy load like hills or getting the rig up to speed. You will read that a little detonation is OK. It's not. What is happening is the mixture is exploding rather than burning in the cylinder. An exploding mixture puts tremendous heat and pressure on the pistons and head, and can blow head gaskets or break pistons. It usually doesn't happen on new rigs, but as they age, deposits on the pistons build up and the decreased chamber volume effectively raises the compression ratio, which is not good, especially with the cheap gas we have today. The first thing I do is switch to the highest octane gas which is more resistant to detonation. Yes it's more expensive, but an engine tear down is even worse. You can also add octane boosters along with high octane to get the rating higher. The next thing is decrease weight, which I know is hard. The next thing is downshift to the lowest gear possible going up hills. If you have to go up in second to quiet the engine just take your time and do it. The comment above about the spark plugs is correct. That year Triton has the 4 thread plugs and are prone to blow out. They didn't fix that until the 03 chassis year. The engine is trying to tell you "it's too much work". Good luck

Homer,

You don't say how many miles on that engine. What you are describing is a symptom of a lubrication issue. It could very easily be that the relief valve of the lube oil pump is hung open enough so lube oil does not get up to the lash adjusters (lifters) as fast as it used to. The diagnostic is involved, but any good mechanic can do it.

I have about six cheap as dirty tricks, but I won't go into them here and now.

Matt

You may want to check the torque on your spark plugs if your cylinder head does not have P1 stamped on the end the older heads had a problem with the spark plugs coming loose and spitting the plug out. Check for proper torque before tightening them the heads are aluminum.

Does it sound like an engine knock or more like something loose? If it's engine knock, you might try a few tanks of gasoline with Seafoam mixed in at 1 ounce/gallon of gasoline. Engine knocking is usually pre-detonation in the chamber before the spark plug ignites. Seafoam may help if it's because of carbon deposits built up in the ignition chamber. You might also try a couple tanks of high octane gasoline to see if that clears it up.