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AWWYEAHS550

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First off, if this needs to be moved or copied to another location, be my guest and my apologies for not getting it right. Grab a cold beverage of your choice…this will be a long one…but helpful. Car…except for wheels, tires, and exhaust, it’s a daily driver virgin Mustang GT Premium. Regular maintenance always completed…77,000 miles.

Retired from Navy (35 years) back in Sep 2018 and came home to Houston…about 4 months ago I started noticing change in performance…erratic idle on start up (almost cam like) complete with some hesitation during acceleration…but it passed…figured it was a bad batch of gas…hesitation still there…so in the midst of selling a house in VA Beach, finding a house here in Houston, closing and moving in, and getting job, about the only thing I took care of was the oil changes and alignment. I figured it was time to clean the injectors and change the plugs (original set)…fast forward to a week ago…

Had been doing some reading on injector cleaners…came across LiquiMoly…all I can say is it is LEGIT and life changing. After the application my hesitation was 98% eliminated! Around town mileage increased from 14.5 to 19.0. I am amazed. While at it, I added the 2001 Valve Clean...and believe the combination truly made the difference (for obvious reasons).

What it DID NOT DO was stop the intermittent ticking noise coming from the engine…ticking noise first showed up about 3 weeks ago…the kind that doesn’t necessarily increase with the speed of the engine…even thought my damn a/c compressor was going out again…momentarily because I am very familiar with that sound. So, as part of the LiquiMoly purchase I also bought the Cera Tec Friction Modifier to see if this would quieten the engine noise…haven’t changed the oil, etc, yet as it was just changed about 3 weeks ago…coincidence hit me…is the Mobil 1 Full Sythetic the cause…no, I don’t think so…only noise I have ever experienced is the occasional sewing machine racket on start up…BTW, I ALWAYS let the engine come up to temperature. So, this noise is really bringing me down…especially when my car has been trouble-free/tick-free since I bought it.

Because the car had the original plugs and coils on it and 77,000 miles, I thought that perhaps the 2% of the remaining hesitation was related to heavy stop-and-go traffic when stationed in DC for 3 years (terrible, terrible traffic in a 6 speed…sometimes didn’t break 35mph on a 21 mile drive home)…extreme temps under the hood, etc.

Well, I changed the plugs yesterday (NGK LTR6BI-13) and the coil packs (MSD Street Fire). See the pictures of my plugs. Gaps ranged from .055 to .059 with majority closer to .057…and IMHO the plugs look good.

Got the car put back together and started it up…WOW! Smooth, strong, and quiet…yes, QUIET! The intermittent ticking noise is GONE. Took it for a spin…nailed it…WOW! Serious power is back and NO TICKING! Started it this morning…ticking gone. This tick sounded bad, so bad that I actually thought it was time to go into the engine. GONE!

Soooo, all of that to share the history of how I got here and HOPEFULLY alleviate someone’s problem out there…oh, and BTW, I did not nor have I EVER had a CEL on this car, ever. So, the takeaway here is that some of you might just have a bad coil pack…don’t know…and I haven’t checked the continuity on the stock packs I took out…didn’t notice anything external and cannot tell if there is anything crazy in the tubes.

Hope this helps you. I have a JLT CAI and Lund 93 tune ready for install in the next couple of weeks…wanted to get this ironed out first before slapping all of that on there. Good luck!
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accel

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Keep us updated. I'd rather change spark plugs than keep running on ceratec.

While my engine was ticking back in time, I noticed that some engine starts were completely tick free. Only to return next time.
 
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AWWYEAHS550

AWWYEAHS550

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Keep us updated. I'd rather change spark plugs than keep running on ceratec.

While my engine was ticking back in time, I noticed that some engine starts were completely tick free. Only to return next time.
Will do. Still no CeraTec in it. Still no ticking. Drove it hard yesterday and today. Installed the JLT CAI and Lund 93 tune today. Went to the grocery and jumped on it...wow! What a nice difference. Really digs harder in the power band range around 2500-3500 rpms. Will be an interesting commute to work tomorrow.

I’m convinced my ticking issue was a coil pack beginning to fail...might be wrong but plug and coil change and the ticking is gone. I know I should have changed the plugs at 25, 50, and 75K miles but even with all of my spirited driving and the serious traffic, my plugs did pretty well.

I hope resolving my issue helps other folks.
 

Condor1970

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Will do. Still no CeraTec in it. Still no ticking. Drove it hard yesterday and today. Installed the JLT CAI and Lund 93 tune today. Went to the grocery and jumped on it...wow! What a nice difference. Really digs harder in the power band range around 2500-3500 rpms. Will be an interesting commute to work tomorrow.

I’m convinced my ticking issue was a coil pack beginning to fail...might be wrong but plug and coil change and the ticking is gone. I know I should have changed the plugs at 25, 50, and 75K miles but even with all of my spirited driving and the serious traffic, my plugs did pretty well.

I hope resolving my issue helps other folks.
I wish you had a recorded video of it. If it's a coil pack going bad, I fail to see how adding Ceratec would affect it. Meaning, if what you had was the infamous "Typewriter Tick", then how could changing a coil pack make the noise go away? In most cases, the tick occurs with fresh oil, but subsides as the oil ages. How would that have anything to do with a coil slowly going bad when the "Typewriter Tick" seems to be more of an oil related issue, and nothing to do external to the engines ignition system?

My point being, if you had some ticking noise, and it went away with a new coil pack and plugs, then I somehow doubt it was the same Typewriter Tick that everyone else is experiencing.
 

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accel

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I wish you had a recorded video of it. If it's a coil pack going bad, I fail to see how adding Ceratec would affect it. Meaning, if what you had was the infamous "Typewriter Tick", then how could changing a coil pack make the noise go away? In most cases, the tick occurs with fresh oil, but subsides as the oil ages. How would that have anything to do with a coil slowly going bad when the "Typewriter Tick" seems to be more of an oil related issue, and nothing to do external to the engines ignition system?

My point being, if you had some ticking noise, and it went away with a new coil pack and plugs, then I somehow doubt it was the same Typewriter Tick that everyone else is experiencing.
I also wanted to ask regarding a videoclip, but I guess it is too late.

What could be done though reproduceability test - reinstallation of old plugs/couls, verification the tick is there, swapping into new ones again - verification the tick is gone.

P.S. If it was spakc/coils - why would sb teplacement fix it? Or, maybe in as part of plugs reinstall as well as short block reinstall something is re-tightened and that something is affecting the tick?

But I myself was witnessing non ticking engine ticking right after the oul change.... I mean literally right after, before the car got out of ramps. It was not as frequent yet as the one you hear on videos, but became like that in days.
 
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AWWYEAHS550

AWWYEAHS550

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I also wanted to ask regarding a videoclip, but I guess it is too late.

What could be done though reproduceability test - reinstallation of old plugs/couls, verification the tick is there, swapping into new ones again - verification the tick is gone.

P.S. If it was spakc/coils - why would sb teplacement fix it? Or, maybe in as part of plugs reinstall as well as short block reinstall something is re-tightened and that something is affecting the tick?

But I myself was witnessing non ticking engine ticking right after the oul change.... I mean literally right after, before the car got out of ramps. It was not as frequent yet as the one you hear on videos, but became like that in days.

Okay...you might be right. I went and listened to a couple and mine was the intermittent one that doesn’t necessarily tick at motor RPM.

I’m relieved...and happy. Runs amazing and the tune yesterday was the icing on the cake.

Sorry no video. I barely had time to doe the CAI/tune.
 

5ABI VT

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I think you have mistaken the 18+ issue for your own. I too had a 15 for 4 years and I traded it in for a showroom 19 Bullitt just last month. after 4 weeks I heard the tick. Its a piston slap noise that sounds like rod knock. First heard it at around 2100 miles. I changed the oil 4 times since new just for peace of mind to see if it might help. it did not. Its not the di tick. its not a rattle or accessory tick or ignition tick. Its a knock that's quite loud. ive had an 01 z28 and 02 SS.. the exact noise and those were piston slap that went away as temps rised. In this case when fully hot holding the rpm between 1000-1500 and it was quite loud. ALmost diesel like. I traded it in last week for an M4. I wont upload the videos just yet. I have 0 faith in warranty and don't like people touching my car. Especially poorlyt trained and under experienced ones that don't care about my car.
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