89XJ 4.0 auto. Could be described as a ticking/knocking in the motor. I would say top if I had to guess. It's not 100% of the time...yet. It gets louder/quicker when i accelerate.
Before I tear into it and get way over my head any ideas?

 

It isn't 100% of the time....when don't you hear it? Hot? Cold? Idle? Post a recording of the sound?

 

Auto or manual trans?

 

Some things to look into:

- What brand oil filter is on there? Are you doing anything like 20W50 with Lucas molasses?
- You mentioned it's an auto, have you looked at the flexplate bolts? They can come loose and cause knocking.
- Have you run it without the belt to eliminate accessories?
- Have you ever run SeaFoam or Marvel Mystery oil in the crankcase? These can sometimes help clear out a sticky lifter.
- You can try running it with one spark plug wire pulled at a time to eliminate force-carrying linkage like connecting rods. Don't pull from the dist cap while its running unless you have thick rubber gloves lol

Also try a piece of garden hose as a sort of stethescope to narrow down the source of the noise a bit.

 

Excellent advice.

 

It does it both hot and cold and mostly at an idol. It's just driven around town so no longer than 20-30 minutes at a time and when it is ticking the noise doesn't just go away.
It's got an autolite filter and 5w30 Valvoline NextGen oil in it. Both were new last week.

Thanks for the tips, I'm gonna get started on checking all those options out after we finish rebuilding an engine on a, you guessed it, Ford.

 

So, have you decided to tell us if it's an auto trans?

 

Third word of the first post lol

 

I shouldn't post before at least one cup of coffee, huh?

Need to think about this:


https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/ho...ocking-125547/

 

Sorry pal, but after 6,000+ uninformative, inaccurate posts you can't be forgiven for this misstep.

All kidding aside, I won't even handle sharp instruments until I've had my third 16oz mug of coffee.