Hello all
I have been reading posts on this forum for a while now so I decided to give it a shot.
I have a 97 explorer 187k miles with a 4.0 OHV motor that has has a ticking sound for about a year now.
Last week I changed my oil 4 quarts 10-30 castrol gtx and 1 quart of marvel mystery oil.
The ticking has not gone away but it has gotten a little more quite can I expect it to go away immediately? or will it take some time?
Should I change my oil again at 1500k or go the full 3000 miles and use the MMO again?

Thanks!

I would go ahead and change it early. At 187k you may have dislodged deposits that could clog your oil filter. To change at 1500 miles certainly won’t hurt anything but could help if there is a deposit problem. You have nothing to lose but the price of an oil change. Keep us informed.

Ok will do but I still want to find out if MMO is supposed to work as soon as I put it in or does it take some time?

Thanks for the reply

Oh, sorry. MMO works as a good cleaner but has to be able to get to the deposits to clean them. If you have a blockage, it can take a while to wear it down and get flow going again. It may take a little while to work and it’s possible that if you have a very bad clog, it might take engine work to fix.

Cool thanks I will change again at 1500k but the noise has gone down a lot I agree with you about the deposits I am using a motorcraft filter, so I will see how the oil looks a 1500k if is getting black I will change it out and add MMO again.

Oil color is generally a poor indicator of oil life, however if you have nothing else (which is true, we don’t unless you want to send in a sample- the thought of which makes me laugh), it will do. MMO takes a bit of time to work. It’s a slow cleaner which is really where the advantage of it lies. It isn’t as harsh as other engine flush solvents.

As for the ticking sound, this is a known problem in the Ford Explorer, they have poor oil flow to the overhead valve train. I have managed to cure this problem several times successfully. I can give you my cocktail procedure if you want.

-Techniker

Yes please I would really appreciate that.

As far as the oil being dark I just figure if its still pretty clear than there must not be a lot of junk suspended in it.
I just added MMO to the fuel yesterday I want to see if this helps too.

Please keep us informed. 

Depends on the “ticking” you are referring to...some call it a “ticking” some call it “slapping” and everyone seems to have their own definition and remedy for each

My old Kia Rio had a “ticking” at cold start, using the dealer “bulk” Pennzoil 5-30 (even though the oil cap says 5-20 they told me 5-30 would work just as good.....)....well, what I did, I added Seafoam to the crankcase at 1.5 oz. per qt, came out to about 6-7 oz if I recall (4.5 qt crankcase)...the next morning the car was silent.

Then I’ve read on other forums that the “ticking” sound is due to too “heavy” of oil......well, the only change I could do there, would be to use a 0W-oil....and had the fear of voiding the waranty....so not gonna go that route, but yea, the seafoam quieted it right up....no idea if it was just dirt, or if the seafoam “thinned out” the oil just enough to make it flow better at cold start…

But I’m willing to bet MMO would cure the problem no problem as well, if used 20% of the crankcase capacity....

Mine is still ticking I am going to change the oil again in another 700 miles with another quart of MMO.
I have been using it in the gas to but still no improvement.

For a test, use the same oil and weight, same application of MMO and change your oil filter brand......I’ve heard that some filters are “noisier” than others......no idea why/how exactly since I’m no scientist lol but I’m thinking it’s related to the size of some of these filters.....make sure you are using the right sized filter

I am using a Motorcraft filter and its the factory size and recommendation. Someone else told me the same thing, I trust the Motorcraft filter but I am open to anything right now I used a Amsoil filter and oil before and had ticking as well I might try the mobil1 filter and see if that helps.

Forget the filter, you’ve already tried other types without success and the ticking wasn’t there a year ago. You may be resigned to a mechanical fix, since it does have a ton of miles on it.

Try switching to a High Mileage 5W-30...?

Back when I had my Rio it had an odd “tick” on cold-starts (yea....70 degrees Florida “cold” starts lol):
one methanic told me I should try thicker oil to “quiet it”
another mechanic told me I was using too heavy of oil......at the time I was using 5W-30, as recommended by the owner’s manual.

And then when I did some research on oil filters at BITOG, some posts pointed out that some filters are just noisier.....I always used the orange can FRAMs on those cars (before I was educated lol, now it’s XG, TGs, or the ST Champion Labs filters).

But will say mine quieted when I used the Seafoam in the oil, 1 oz. per quart of oil, if I recall, I used like somewhere between 4 and 5 oz, cause my sump on my car was like 4.75 qts per the manual and within a couple days the ticking stopped.

So conclusion, either it “cleaned up something” or thinned the 5 weight oil down a little bit, allowing better oil flow.

Note: both vehicles were low mileage cars Like, less than 50k......so I couldn’t see them being _that_ “gunked up”.....though I believe they were previous rental/lease cars.....

And another note: I didn’t keep the Seafoam in all that long - like less than 500 miles......lol.  BUT, on the “next fill” the tick/tap/whatever-noise was GONE So who knows...lol.  if the Seafoam “thinned out” the oil, surely the noise would have “came back” on the next fills, right?

Long story short, just keep the MMO in there a little longer....give it time to do it’s magic....you don’t want to go adding Seafoam to the crankcase with MMO in there already.....now, when you change out the oil next, you “could” try the Seafoam mathematics if you wanted to, to see if the Seafoam would quiet the engine up.....

bugs~ - 28 October 2010 11:17 PM

And then when I did some research on oil filters at BITOG, some posts pointed out that some filters are just noisier

I guess you missed my point where he said that he had already tried a different filter. The only moving parts in the oil filter are the bypass valve and spring (if the spring is separate) and the anti-drainback flap. If your bypass valve is cycling open and closed, you have another problem altogether. Some car makes have the valve in the engine instead of the filter, but the Ford Explorer is not one of them.

Ok changed the oil today it was black I have the filter I will post some pics after I cut it open.
Started it up and let it idle for a few minutes and there is no ticking.
The only change is that I went from 1 quart of MMO with 4 quarts of Castrol 10-30 to 1 quart of MMO and 4 quarts of Pennzoil 5-30 (it was on sale).
I havent driven it yet but for the few minutes it was at idle I could not hear any ticking. Maybe the switch to 5-30 and MMO?
How thin is the oil now since I have switched to 5-30 plus the MMO?

I changed it out at 2200 miles since my last OC I will go back to 3000 mile OCI after this one