Ideas on noise? Lifter possibility?

My 2.9 the other day had a clattering sound to it when I fired it up. A puff of blue smoke blew out the exhaust. The engine has not been a smoker or user of any oil. It seems when it sits over night upon firing it up it will clatter. Sounds like the top end. Once oil pressure is up it is smooth and quiet. The initial puff of blue still happens. I have not really driven it as I'm not looking forward to a potential break down. I figure I'll pull the valve cover and take a look in a couple of days. I'm not familiar with these engines. I've only ever had V8's or V10's in my vehicles. I thought maybe a lifter was going and would pump up thus the noise going away after oil pressure is up. Just not sure about the puff of smoke. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Very common issue with the 2.9L V6's in these and the Bronco 2's. Its all valve-train noise, nothing you can really do other than live with it. My 88 Bronco 2 does it pretty bad all the time. Part of the issue is the oil passages get clogged up and restrict oil flow causing noise, sure eventually its going to completely wear out the engine but drive it till it blows up because replacement engines aren't cheap and far from worth the repair/replacement . I love my Bronco 2 but its days are numbered. I have both the terrible rattling of the lifters as well as it smokes really bad probably due to bad rings and/or valve seats, who knows its not something that I have the tools and patience to mess with. I'm just hoping it will hold out until fall when a friend's son can get it into auto class at school and rebuild the engine for me. They did a great job on my previous Bronco 2's engine...actually better than the local Ford garage did on my 84 Ranger that I paid them about $2k to do and they broke more stuff than they fixed and it never did run right afterwards .

2.9 is notorious for lifter noise, mostly because of the design of the lifter assembly. Most people just tolerate it rather than try to do anything specific about it. Now, I tore the 2.9 out of my choptop awhile back to upgrade to a 4.0 because I needed the extra power in that truck and my 88 is getting the 2.9. So I figured that logic should dictate doing some “adjustments” to the 2.9. Heads got ported (gasket matched), ground the valves and seats, new valve guide seals, and I coughed up the money to have a local machine shop modify my rocker arm assembly to provide better oiling. There’s a write up somewhere in the tech pages on the website here about it. The project stalled when I had my surgery, so I can’t report on how well it worked yet, but hopefully this year I can get it together


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I don't like the idea of living with it. I think something went wrong and not just normal wear. the thing was quiet as a church mouse until last week. One day quiet, next morning clattering until the oil pressure built up. It clatters now each time a day of sitting goes by. Yesterday I started it and ran it until normal operating temp. Shut it down and fired it up about 30 minutes later and it was quiet. As I said, I think I'll pull the valve covers. maybe if there is a collapsing lifter a gap between the push rod and rocker will be present?

Thank you for the replies.

lil_Blue_Ford said:

2.9 is notorious for lifter noise, mostly because of the design of the lifter assembly. Most people just tolerate it rather than try to do anything specific about it. Now, I tore the 2.9 out of my choptop awhile back to upgrade to a 4.0 because I needed the extra power in that truck and my 88 is getting the 2.9. So I figured that logic should dictate doing some “adjustments” to the 2.9. Heads got ported (gasket matched), ground the valves and seats, new valve guide seals, and I coughed up the money to have a local machine shop modify my rocker arm assembly to provide better oiling. There’s a write up somewhere in the tech pages on the website here about it. The project stalled when I had my surgery, so I can’t report on how well it worked yet, but hopefully this year I can get it together


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What is the issue you see on the lifter assembly design? It is pretty similar to that of a Ford FE (390, 427, 428) with the rockers on a shaft. The lifter appears to be a common hydraulic design. I can't see any issues on the design other than normal wear. Again, I'm not familiar with these 2.9 engines. Maybe there is something I'm not seeing in the design?

Thanks for your reply.

2.9s tick. Its what they do.

That being said, what weight oil are you running? How many miles since last changed, and does it exhibit any other signs of oiling issue?

Fairlaniac said:

What is the issue you see on the lifter assembly design? It is pretty similar to that of a Ford FE (390, 427, 428) with the rockers on a shaft. The lifter appears to be a common hydraulic design. I can't see any issues on the design other than normal wear. Again, I'm not familiar with these 2.9 engines. Maybe there is something I'm not seeing in the design?



Thanks for your reply.

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From what I’ve read, the oil passages are a little on the small side. The modification from the machine shop eliminates the springs on the shaft in favor of spacers and opens up the oil passages.


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Mine on rare occasion has made a loud lifter clatter noise for a few seconds to maybe a minute or two after it having sat for awhile (first time I noticed it was maybe two years after I bought the truck 14 years ago), then completely goes away (never been any instances of blue smoke though). ODO (5-digit) says 5K miles (just now rolled over 2nd time), but is probably nearing the equivalent of 300K since it was disconnected for some time after putting my dual t-case in, plus all of my driving in low-range doesn't accrue miles on the ODO as quickly as normal driving would (it's not used much as a DD).

Like others have said, it's likely ignorable. If it does blow, then it's simply time for a 4.0L swap.

Fairlaniac said:

I don't like the idea of living with it. I think something went wrong and not just normal wear. the thing was quiet as a church mouse until last week. One day quiet, next morning clattering until the oil pressure built up. It clatters now each time a day of sitting goes by. Yesterday I started it and ran it until normal operating temp. Shut it down and fired it up about 30 minutes later and it was quiet. As I said, I think I'll pull the valve covers. maybe if there is a collapsing lifter a gap between the push rod and rocker will be present?

Thank you for the replies.

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Sounds about like what I’m going through hopefully something simple
I checked my rod bearings and they were no bueno

rusty ol ranger said:

2.9s tick. Its what they do.

That being said, what weight oil are you running? How many miles since last changed, and does it exhibit any other signs of oiling issue?

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10W-30, last change 875 miles ago, Wix 51515 filter, no oil issues preceded this.

This might be a case where 5w-30 is better. Flows a little better when cold and oil gets to the lifters faster.
Mine will occasionally clatter at startup, more so in the winter. I use 5w-30 until it gets hot here.
My previous BII I used a motor flush product to quiet a noisy lifter. It clattered non-stop before the flush.