stolen mustang / ticking motor

So, my buddy's 94 mustang got stolen a week or so ago. After the
police called and told him they found it in the road still runnin,
naturally i gave him a ride down to pick it up. When we got there the
motor had a nice ticking sound goin. It SOUNDS like it's in the head,
so i think the bottom end is ok. I pulled the valve covers and kinda
took a look at things as best as i could.... The only think i noticed
was that one of the push-rods on the passenger side (the furthest one
back) is a little scuffed right at the ball on the end where it meets
the rocker arm. While i think that prolly needs to be swapped out, i
wouldn't imagine that could be the cause of the ticking.

That being said, i am basically stuck. What should i be looking? Does
anybody have a notion as to what it might be and how i would go about
checking?

Thanks for any help- :-)

-- Bo

wrote:
> So, my buddy's 94 mustang got stolen a week or so ago. After the
> police called and told him they found it in the road still runnin,
> naturally i gave him a ride down to pick it up. When we got there the
> motor had a nice ticking sound goin. It SOUNDS like it's in the head,
> so i think the bottom end is ok. I pulled the valve covers and kinda
> took a look at things as best as i could.... The only think i noticed
> was that one of the push-rods on the passenger side (the furthest one
> back) is a little scuffed right at the ball on the end where it meets
> the rocker arm. While i think that prolly needs to be swapped out, i
> wouldn't imagine that could be the cause of the ticking.
>
> That being said, i am basically stuck. What should i be looking? Does
> anybody have a notion as to what it might be and how i would go about
> checking?
>
> Thanks for any help- :-)

Ticking can also come from lifters, fuel injectors and bent push rods.
It can be tough to tell what is making the noise without some good
testing equipment. If you suspect a push rods is bad then take them out
and roll them on a flat surface. A bent rod will be obvious to
identify. Some guys are good at using a tube placed at various points
and listening for the tap. I'm not that good.

On Mar 29, 2:43 pm, Michael Johnson > wrote:
> wrote:
> > So, my buddy's 94 mustang got stolen a week or so ago. After the
> > police called and told him they found it in the road still runnin,
> > naturally i gave him a ride down to pick it up. When we got there the
> > motor had a nice ticking sound goin. It SOUNDS like it's in the head,
> > so i think the bottom end is ok. I pulled the valve covers and kinda
> > took a look at things as best as i could.... The only think i noticed
> > was that one of the push-rods on the passenger side (the furthest one
> > back) is a little scuffed right at the ball on the end where it meets
> > the rocker arm. While i think that prolly needs to be swapped out, i
> > wouldn't imagine that could be the cause of the ticking.
>
> > That being said, i am basically stuck. What should i be looking? Does
> > anybody have a notion as to what it might be and how i would go about
> > checking?
>
> > Thanks for any help- :-)
>
> Ticking can also come from lifters, fuel injectors and bent push rods.
> It can be tough to tell what is making the noise without some good
> testing equipment. If you suspect a push rods is bad then take them out
> and roll them on a flat surface. A bent rod will be obvious to
> identify. Some guys are good at using a tube placed at various points
> and listening for the tap. I'm not that good.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks for the suggestions! Where things are now, i've taken all the
pushrods out (keeping them in order of course) and with the exception
of the one that's ever so slightly more worn at the end than the
others, they all seem to be ok. I rolled each of them on my glass desk
and none appear to be bent. Similarly, all of the rocker arms
themselves seem to be ok; no excessive or abnormal wear and they all
appear to be worn about the same.

I know, based on what the police said, that the kids who stole it took
her for a joyride, racing just about anyone they could find. That
being said, i'd imagine it could be related to over-revving or
something of that nature. I am just not familiar enough with domestic
motors to really be able to effectively troubleshoot.