[yellow3.8]

I'm new to the forum and I already did a search on here and I'm still unsure about my problem. I would really appreciate the help. My girlfriends Mustang is a 2001 3.8L with about 40k. The problem is when she first starts the car in the morning you hear a ticking noise for about 30 seconds then quiets down. You can still hear it when you accelerate but its not really loud. Its coming from the driver side head/exhaust manifold area. I figured it was an exhaust leak so I pulled the old exhaust manifold gasket off and didn't see any indication of a exhaust leak. so I went ahead and replaced it anyway with a new one and also checked the donut gasket on the bottom of the header and the donut was ok. Well put everything back together and still the ticking sound. I changed the oil and put new plugs in. So at this point I figure its the lifters.
So if it is the the lifters then whats involved with replacing them? The lifters are about $12 bucks each so I was thinking about putting in a new head for about $215. Its a push rod so I know I wouldn't have to remove the head to replace the lifters, the problem is I've never replaced lifters before. What does everyone think? Thanks..!!

[kscoyote]

Originally Posted by yellow3.8

I'm new to the forum and I already did a search on here and I'm still unsure about my problem. I would really appreciate the help. My girlfriends Mustang is a 2001 3.8L with about 40k. The problem is when she first starts the car in the morning you hear a ticking noise for about 30 seconds then quiets down. You can still hear it when you accelerate but its not really loud. Its coming from the driver side head/exhaust manifold area. I figured it was an exhaust leak so I pulled the old exhaust manifold gasket off and didn't see any indication of a exhaust leak. so I went ahead and replaced it anyway with a new one and also checked the donut gasket on the bottom of the header and the donut was ok. Well put everything back together and still the ticking sound. I changed the oil and put new plugs in. So at this point I figure its the lifters.
So if it is the the lifters then whats involved with replacing them? The lifters are about $12 bucks each so I was thinking about putting in a new head for about $215. Its a push rod so I know I wouldn't have to remove the head to replace the lifters, the problem is I've never replaced lifters before. What does everyone think? Thanks..!!

The ticking is normal -it's from the tubular exhaust manifold, which doesn't muffle the sound of the combustion chamber as a cast exhaust manifold would.

To see if it's any different, try another 3.8L at a used car lot. If it sounds different/worse than that, you may consider it.

But I've never heard a modern 3.8L that didn't tick, since they got rid of the iron manifolds.

[yellow3.8]

........whoops.....

[yellow3.8]

Originally Posted by kscoyote

The ticking is normal -it's from the tubular exhaust manifold, which doesn't muffle the sound of the combustion chamber as a cast exhaust manifold would.

To see if it's any different, try another 3.8L at a used car lot. If it sounds different/worse than that, you may consider it.

But I've never heard a modern 3.8L that didn't tick, since they got rid of the iron manifolds.

Kscoyote thanks for the help, what you stated makes perfect sense. Thats good to hear. I'm running a tubular turbo exhaust manifold on my Rx7 and I get a similar sound from my engine bay. I didn't even think of that. So Nebraska huh? My Girlfriend is from Scottsbluff. Thanks again....!!

[kscoyote]

Originally Posted by yellow3.8

Kscoyote thanks for the help, what you stated makes perfect sense. Thats good to hear. I'm running a tubular turbo exhaust manifold on my Rx7 and I get a similar sound from my engine bay. I didn't even think of that. So Nebraska huh? My Girlfriend is from Scottsbluff. Thanks again....!!

I'm actually from Kansas (KS), but I'm running out to Scottsbluff tomorrow. Nice place once you get there, but the 8 hr drive is no fun . . ..