well i popped the hood on my 04 today and heard a little ticking noise. from what ive heard this could be bad. the car has 38,000 miles on it and i just bought it. what can i do to check if this is the dreaded "head tic" noise? thank you everyone
i looked for that name in the directory, no one listed. what can i do myself to see if its the heads. i pray its not. i had a 2000 Gt that was improperly tuned and the motor blew. will a screwdriver up to the headbolts be able to fix it. also will an extended warranty cover the problem if this is it? thanks everyone
Posts: 2015
Joined: 9/24/2006 From: Wake Forest, NC Status: offline
Nevermind, sorry, they definitely hadn't fixed it until 2005. I don't know where I got that 03s were the ones with the issue and that 04s were fixed. Just ignore me. I'm still learning my way around SVT world.
i just had a co worker look at it and he said it was the injectors because his make the same sound. thank god it wasnt the heads. thanks for the input though
Team MF Member #420 Posts: 14534
Joined: 7/24/2003 Status: offline
MFJ, there was NEVER a recall. There was a TSB and only under special circumstances will they replace the heads outside of warranty.
Even early DOHC Cobra's have the head tick. There was a design flaw with the heads, the coolant wouldn't flow properly and the valve guides would wear and make an annoying tick/rattle noise. I was told by SVT that is it NOT a catastrophic problem. There are no known engine failures where the valve broke and damaged the engine. Many people have had the tick and coincidental failures at pistons #7&8 though.
You can purchase the new 2005 redesigned head from Ford pre-loaded, the passenger side head is around 850 and the driver side head is around 650 complete to the best of my knowledge.
Pick up a mechanics stethoscope from an automotive store, they can be found for less than $20 bucks. Put the tip on various bolts on the valve covers and see if you can isolate the noise. Once you get an idea of what part of the head it's coming from, while the car is running, start pulling out the plugs on the fuel injectors one at a time and see if you can isolate the tick by cancelling out the cylinders.
_____________________________
Black 04 Cobra For Sale. Will trade for 93 older/non 4-eye fox + $$.
Team MF Member #5002 Posts: 5069
Joined: 12/4/2005 Status: offline
My injectors have that sound... If you've ever heard the headtick, it's pretty easy to tell that it's not the tick, but if you haven't then it's pretty difficult.
Dan is right - there was never a recall only a TSB.
The easiest way to tell without going through any of those measures is to sit in the car with windows up, and everything off. If you can hear the tick in the car - then that's not your injectors.. my injectors make noise but I can only rarely hear it from outside the car... you can hear the headtick in the car.
FWIW... There were ZERO 99-04 Cobras that were sold with the "fix" for the heads. The fix was put out after every single one of the Cobras were sold. Also, there is a myth that if you have a blue stripe on your head, that it has the fix. That is not the case, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Dan is also right that nobody has ever linked engine failure to "the tick". It's just really annoying.
Posts: 2015
Joined: 9/24/2006 From: Wake Forest, NC Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Blownsvt
i thought the cobras produce for the last half of 04 were good to go and had a fix, that it is the 03's and early 04 build that has the issue.
Yeah, for some reason I think I had heard something like that too, but after I looked it up more it looks like wherever I heard that was wrong. Like xxkazp3rxx said, they all have the issue. I wonder if there is a certain mileage that it usually starts to show up or if it's random. If it's caused by wear then you'd think it's something that you could put at least some kind of time range on. I don't think my car does it, but I haven't driven it enough or paid attention to find out. I'll check next time I go out and start it up. I'm at 35k.
Here is a great explanation from Ike (WDW MAKER) on SVTPeformance.com. "The sound is simply a worn valve guide allowing the valve stem to move. This is caused by overheating of the area due to poor coolant flow in the part of the head. The lack of bronze valve guides in our heads makes them even more susceptible. The Jan05 heads come with revised coolant passages keep the exhaust valve guides cooler. This may also help to keep #7 and #8 cylinders running a bit cooler.
Will running a car with the tick result in some sort of catastrophic failure? Highly doubtful. It's mostly an annoying sound that you have to live with. I'm sure the worn valve guide causes a bit of inefficiency due to blow-by around the seals. I doubt it's enough to notice until it has been run like that for quite a while. I personally wouldn't and didn't want to live with it. Others chose to leave well enough alone and have yet to see any significant issues."
LDC sells a cooling mod that improves coolant flow, which in turns helps to prevent this issue from occurring.
This problem sounds like a light ticking coming from the driver’s side valve cover, and is most noticeable when the car is warm. If you can hear the noise inside the car while idling, you most likely have the problem, otherwise, the ticking you hear is most likely injector noise (normal). The only permanent fix for this issue is installing the latest factory heads, released in January, 2005. The part numbers are: Left side head Part # 2C5Z-6049-BAB Right side head Part # 2C5Z-6049-CAB
As of 11/10/06 the discount cost of these heads (complete with cams and valve train) is $1,358.00 plus core charges, from FORDSVTPARTS (Steve) on SVTPerformance.com. Steve can be reached by PM on that website, or by E-mail FORDSVTPARTS@HOTMAIL.COM. You can also call him at 1-800-328-9552.
Drivers head $616.00 plus a $150.00 core charge Passenger head $742.00 plus a $150.00 core charge
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light ticking sound - 
