chip

My 95 4.0 (160k) has always made a rather loud clackity clack noise only at idle. Not while driving or revved up in park. I thought it may be piston slap but I ruled that out since the engine is strong, tight and burns no oil. I then thought it may be excessive slop in the timing gears and figured I'll get around to changing them at some point. Well I finally got around to looking into this noise and before I tore anything apart I had the engine running and rolled around the underside on my creeper. I discovered the noise coming from the bell housing area. I removed the flywheel inspection cover and found all the torque converter bolts were loose and I had been driving it like this for months. I snugged them back up, put the cover back on and wallah! no more funky noise at idle.