M400 ticking noise

[georgeM400]

Hi Guys,

Just recently, a new noise has appeared coming from the M400 engine which was not there before.

Its a fairly rapid ticking noise and when i accelerate when in neutral, the number of times it ticks increases then slows down as the engine drops to idle.

I could well be wrong, but I have a feeling its the head gasket. Anybody else had this issue?

thanks
george

[peterguk]

Sounds more like a gasket in the exhaust system..... e.g. cylinder head / manifold, manifold / turbo etc or a cracked manifold?

Edited by peterguk on Wednesday 26th September 20:17

[georgeM400]

well the support bracket for the standard exhaust snapped last week on the day the ticking noise started. thinking about it now, im sure you're right about it being the exhaust manifold.

That roush exhaust setup is looking more and more tempting...

[joust]

Yep. That's the sound of a leaking exhaust gasket.

J

[ajg31]

or the stress may have actually cracked one of the manifolds. Hopefully it is just a gasket tho

[MadMacMcMad]

If it's an early 400, then it might not have the re-inforced manifolds. If they are not fitted, then it is only a matter of time before they will have to be replaced/re-welded and gussetted anyway.
I had to replace both mine on my 03 with the re-inforced ones after 10Kmiles.

[georgeM400]

its an early M400. Im going to get this fixed pretty soon. thanks for all your help everyone.

when it is fixed, ill post exactly what the problem is back on PH.

[georgeM400]

garage has told me i have a bad tappet which is causing the ticking noise.

has anyone out there had to chage their tappets for the M400? if so, is there anything else apart from tappets i may need to change while im at it?

[obes]

I would be amazed if this isn't a cracked manifold. I'm not sure I can recall anyone ever having a tappet.. ?

[gadgeroonie]

i'm not sure if you can do the tappets with the engine still in the car !

any idea's anyone

[YellowShed]

obes said:

I would be amazed if this isn't a cracked manifold. I'm not sure I can recall anyone ever having a tappet.. ?

Ditto, Owen. In my experience, I've never heard the tappets being noisy on anything other than rebuilt engines being started when the tappets have lost their oil. Then they're only noisy for a few seconds.

If the noise sounds like a tappet, especially from the front bank, then I'd bet a whole £1 that it's a cracked manifold - and being linked to the exhaust bracket breaking!!

YellowSehd

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

My brother had a tappet go on a similar Ford engine, and it didn't tick. It was like someone with a hammer banging the valve down! As everyone says it's most likely the manifold cracked or a turbo falling off.

[paulcundy]

YellowShed said:

obes said:

I would be amazed if this isn't a cracked manifold. I'm not sure I can recall anyone ever having a tappet.. ?

Ditto, Owen. In my experience, I've never heard the tappets being noisy on anything other than rebuilt engines being started when the tappets have lost their oil. Then they're only noisy for a few seconds.

If the noise sounds like a tappet, especially from the front bank, then I'd bet a whole £1 that it's a cracked manifold - and being linked to the exhaust bracket breaking!!

YellowSehd

I agree and Trevor's listened to a few engines in his time. If it is a tappet that would be the first I've ever seen reported on PH or elsewhere. Tappets are a louder hammerier noise because theyare at the top of the engine and only covered by a cam cover.

If it is then one bank can be done with the engine in, the front bank can't.

If its a light gentle tickling sort of noise I'd be very wary of your cranks or big ends. Sorry.

Regards
Paul C

[alex_123_fra]

MadMacMcMad said:

If it's an early 400, then it might not have the re-inforced manifolds. If they are not fitted, then it is only a matter of time before they will have to be replaced/re-welded and gussetted anyway.
I had to replace both mine on my 03 with the re-inforced ones after 10Kmiles.

Hi George, hope you're enjoying the car. If you are who I think you are, your car had the reinforced manifolds fitted by the factory in its July '06 service. I suppose they could still crack though.

In addition, your car should still be under warranty if I remember correctly so I hope the dealer is not charging you whatever is the issue.

Alex

[alex_123_fra]

alex_123_fra said:

MadMacMcMad said:

If it's an early 400, then it might not have the re-inforced manifolds. If they are not fitted, then it is only a matter of time before they will have to be replaced/re-welded and gussetted anyway.
I had to replace both mine on my 03 with the re-inforced ones after 10Kmiles.

Hi George, hope you're enjoying the car. If you are who I think you are, your car had the reinforced manifolds fitted by the factory in its July '06 service. I suppose they could still crack though.

In addition, your car should still be under warranty if I remember correctly so I hope the dealer is not charging you whatever the issue is.

Alex

[georgeM400]

Hi Alex, yeah its me. Great to hear from you. Hope the RS4 is going well, it must feel nice now that you can open your windows with one finger instead of using brute force :-)

The car is going great apart from this little niggle which ill fix asap. Also had a coolant leak a while ago (more of a weap) so i took it back to the dealer and they pressure tested it. One of the turbo hoses dripped at the connection so they replaced all the turbo hoses incase any others were on the way out. Chocolate bracket snapped (thats normal for standard exhausts, im used to it now). Ive only done 2K miles since i picked it up. I try to use it as much as possible as i know its not great to leave a car stationary for long periods. I had an oil and filter change last week, ill make a habbit of doing this every 2 - 3K miles in the future to be safe.

The car is still under warranty, the dealers are fine with replacing whatever needs to be replaced. Im contemplating on hooking up my samsung Q1 pc to the engine to keep a log of whats going on with the car. I spoke to the dealer about this and they said its a great idea. If something weird does happen to the car, i can print out the graphs which should help them diagnose whats gone wrong in a shorter time.

Thanks everyone for your help

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

georgeM400 said:

...Im contemplating on hooking up my samsung Q1 pc to the engine to keep a log of whats going on with the car. I spoke to the dealer about this and they said its a great idea. If something weird does happen to the car, i can print out the graphs which should help them diagnose whats gone wrong in a shorter time.

Hhhmmm just to let you know if you were thinking the ECU has OBD-II output you'll be disappointed. To do what you want I think you're talking custom software because I don't think the MBE software is very good at long time logging (if it can log at all).

[georgeM400]

i have this connection near the back right wheel.
http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/obd2explained...


and i have been told i can use this interface with this connection above
http://www.scantool.net/products/product_info.php?...

will this not work with some standard off the shelf logging software?

i dont know too much about all this but i do not want to modify any engine mapping whatsoever. Just a simple live read out of whats going on with the car's sensors at any moment.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

georgeM400 said:

i have this connection near the back right wheel.
http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/obd2explained...

I'm reasonably sure that isn't connected. All the interfacing I've seen to the ECU is via a 9 pin D-type connector in there somewhere, and that certainly isn't OBD.

[Timbo_Mint]

Just a thought .....

It's not one of the pullies is it? Only I had a repetitive noise and it was a deformed belt (the one on the nearside).. cost £8 to replace.