1979 Ford 2.3 SOHC Knocking/ticking

Have a knock or a tick (not really sure which?) on my 79 pinto 2.3 engine. The noise doesnt seem to get any more rapid in pace or louder, but can only be heard on acceleration. At idle or on decel you don't hear the noise.

I'm thinking main bearing noise. What do you guys think?

How long will this engine last this way? I think its been doing it for a while now.

No noticeable loss in power or other bad effects. Just the noise is all.


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Could it be pinging?

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Chet

What's the history. how many miles. has the engine been apart and put back together. ? ford did a run of those engines where they deleted drilling the squirter hole in the rods,
The bump was still there , just no holes drilled. I don't remember what years they tried to save a couple pennies but some of those engines had problems if torn down they need to be drilled. There is a lot more info on those engines on the ranger station site.

Any idea if the noise is coming from under the valve cover or from the bottom end. Use a stethoscope or a long screwdriver to the ear to narrow where the sound is coming from.

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BSE Racing Engines

Don't think so, its too consistent. Its like a lifter tick or a knock, but its not a rod knock. (I know what that sounds like! lol!)

Don't know if the engine has ever been apart or how many miles are on it. Id venture to say no, and a lot of miles, but don't know for sure. I believe the missing rod oil squirter holes applied only to 74 and maybe some 75 model engines. This is a 79 model.

Sounds like its coming from the bottom end, but I haven't used a stethoscope or anything like that to verify it. I noticed it doing it the other day when I was under the hood fixing a vacuum leak. When I revved it up it made the knocking sound.

It does SOUND like it goes away after a certain RPM but i'm not sure if its really going away, or just covered up by the roar of the engine.

Also while "floating" along (maintaining vehicle speed but not accelerating) it doesnt make the noise. Only while giving it some gas.

Ive determined the noise DOES go away if you give it enough gas. So it only knocks on normal acceleration.

A timing belt (needs replacing at 65K miles - for sure!!!) or possibly a cam follower (do the valve stem seals too at 65K). Lucky thing with a timing belt failure on this engine is that it doesn't destroy the head, you just coast silently to the shoulder and wait for the rollback.

My now long gone '79 turbo TRX Mustang made some strange engine noises about a week before it let go - at ~65K miles

When you have it apart it's a good time to replace the water pump.

Timing belt is ok. Not sure about the valvetrain. Water pump is practically new. Its about 3 years old but there's not but maybe 10,000 miles on it.

Could be a lifter tick but I don't know. If i pull the valve cover how will i know if a lifter or cam follower is the source of the noise?

Listening through a piece of heater hose can help pin down the source of the noise pretty quickly.

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Chet

These little motors were real prone to eating up the cam shaft lobes. If the noise sounds like it's coming from the valve cover I would check for that.