I'm hearing a ticking sound from my 98 Escort (1.6 Zetec). It can be
heard both inside and outside the car with the engine running and
appears to be coming from the engine itself, since it is present
whether or not the car is in motion.

The rate of this ticking sound increases with engine revs and occurs
whether I'm in gear or just in nuteral.

I'm wondering if this is a tappet problem, although listening to the
engine with the bonnet open indicates that the sound is coming from
around about the cambelt cover. I hope this isn't the culprit since I
had a new cambelt kit (belt and pulley) fitted just 5k miles ago.

One thing I should mention - the car had an interim oil change service
in January at a local independant. I have been changing oil every 5k
miles since I got the car, which had done 77,000 miles eight months
ago and now has 90k on the clock. Anyway, the garage used 10w40 oil
where I have always used 5w30 myself - I raised this with them the
next day as I noticed it on the invoice and they told me that, with
the mileage I have on the engine, it would make no difference. Could
the increased viscosity of the oil have anything to do with this new
problem?

Thanks for any help.

EvB wrote:
0W30?) or the hydraulic tappets gum up. ISTR that it can cause jacking
up of the tappets if thicker oil is used. The ting is, the proper oild
is probably peanuts from a dealer.

"EvB" <evan (AT) canan (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Either you have a stuck tappet, (fairly unlikely I would say, they tend to
be fine in the Zetec E, even after a big mileage) or a blown exhaust
manifold gasket.

The 10w-40 is unlikely to cause a stuck tappet, but you may loose some mpg,
and have problems with tappet jack in the winter. 5w-30 should be used even
in a healthy big mileage engine.

Tim.
..

On 14 May, 11:54, "Tim.." <the.farm... (AT) spam (DOT) btinternet.com> wrote:
Many thanks to all for the replies. I have checked the oil since
posting and discovered that it was some way below the maximum mark on
the dipstick, although above the minimum cutout. I usually check oil
every week but have been running around recently and may have left it
for three weeks or so. Anyway, having topped up, the ticking noise is
gone.

This raises another question. The engine runs very nicely indeed as
far as I am concerned and (despite what the above might imply) I am
fastidious about maintenance. The Zetec has always used some oil
since I bought the car some months ago and it just slipped my mind. I
am somewhat concerned that the valve stem oil seals may be past their
best since there is a small amount of blue smoke on startup - not a
great quantity at all and not noticeable from inside the car. There is
no smoke under normal driving. Perhaps I am being somewhat over-
sensitive here?

I have read a few other posts which indicate that it is pretty normal
for a Zetec to use some oil and I'm going to check very carefully from
now on to find out exactly how much it is using. I have probably put
four litres in between three service oil changes in 13,000 miles. It
passed its MOT in April with no problems so I'm hoping that I don't
have much to worry about and I can keep driving until it blows up/the
body falls to pieces (most likely)/I need to purchase an oil blimp to
tow behind the car.

Any thoughts welcome, and thanks again.

EvB

Usually Zetec's dont use any measurable amount of oil between services, but
upto a litre in 10k would be nothing to worry about. Due to age, you'res may
be loosing abit through hard valve seals, but I wouldnt worry about it....

Tim..