I've had my 4.9 for about 1,000 miles now and i finally got around to changing the oil and filter. I put 6 qts of 10w30 in it and started her up and now it sounds like theres marbles rattling around in there. the tap sounds too fast and inconsistent for a lifter tap, but i could be wrong. the oil that i drained out was something thicker than 10w30. anyway, it so far has run fine, doesnt burn oil, and has good oil pressure. should i just put a thicker oil in and ignore this or is there a way to narrow down the problem? thanks.

 

how many miles on the engine....?

I had the same thing happen to me on my 95...the engine didnt make a sound at all...not even teh common Ford Main rattle during startup...

truck has 92,000 on it now and when I changed the oil at 90,000 it got the rattle...and it stayed...

until it gets worse I am living with it...only does it during starting when mid-warm and only at idle...

 

mine does the same thing as dr. bowtie said.... my 4.9L has 101,000 miles on it.... i just ignore it and drive it anywhere.... it hasn't gotten worse and hopefully it wont untill it reaches 150,000+ miles

 

It has 135,000 on it and runs pretty good, and seems to have been maintained exceptionally well. Was just curious because it doesnt seem like there are any common wear problems with 4.9s at that low mileage. I only hear the tap when I'm idling. I guess I'll just live with it or if it gets worse try throwing some 10w40 in it. Well, at least I my exhaust manifold leak is still loud enough to drown this new racket...

 

mine has an exhaust leak also most of these 4.9s do, because i heard that ford didn't put manifold gaskets on them from the factory....

 

I looked...mine has a gasket...and it's factory and never been apart...

 

hmmmm.... i haven't looked at mine yet.... i hope mine is just a bad donut gasket, but with my luck thats very doubtful