Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I always understood you retorque the head bolts while the engine is still hot on cast iron heads? That is the way the say in the repair manuals.

I would try spraying GumOut down the carburetor throat with the motor racing on fast idle. If the noise changes the likely culprit is sticking valves.

In the old days before reproduction parts the old timers had success pulling the valves, polishing the stems with crocus cloth, and cleaning the guides with a wire brush on a drill.

When I faced these problems I always recommended a complete valve job and refused to replace only the lifters due to the high failure probability.

The polishing method might be more suited to your situation given it will not affect the lifter pre-load.

Fred and Dan had a similar elusive problem with a 54, in the end we found a valve with a rusty stem making it stick a bit causing the tick. Turned out to be a tiny flaw in the cyl head letting water spray into the combustion chamber and rusting the valve stem creating gunk in the guide.

Thanks
James From
Kanter Auto Products

Since I had the head off to replace the lifters, I removed all the valves, they were all cleaned before re-assembly. Everything in this engine is quite clean. It was rebuilt about 6 years ago(not by me), with not many miles since. No gunk anywhere. I don't think there is much chance of a sticking valve, but I will try the suggestion just to see if it affects the noise at all. Willing to try anything. I also tested the valve springs, which were fine as well. Did not have the head surfaced, so I don't think clearances have changed all that much.
The noise only starts after the motor has heated up, though now it comes on quicker - that is after only a few minutes. Before it took maybe twenty to thirty minutes to become noticable. Compression is 105 to 110 across all cylinders.

Is the ticking at crankshaft or camshaft speed? Knowing this will help narrow down you search for the problem. Fuel pumps can sometimes provide interesting noises. JWL

If you are starting to grasp for straws and the noise is crank speed there was a thread with an intermittent ticking noise which turned out to be the oil fill pipe was cocked or slightly rotated and the angled baffle at the bottom was being touched by a crank throw when it expanded. I don't remember which engine that happened on though. Since the oil fill tube is a press or friction fit possibly it was bumped.

I had a knocking noise in one of my cars (not Packard) and it was the engine mount...I was soooo relieved!! Check the engine mounts??

This sounds like exactly the same problem I am having. It is driving me crazy.

Did you ever figure it out?

Btw, I checked compression (cold) and I had 120 psi in all the cylinders.

I did have an issue with oil in one of the cylinders, the one I thought had the bad lifters. I also had some issue with the head gasket in that cylinder. When I replaced the head gasket I checked the guides and they both seemed good (all the guides were new, I replaced each of them myself). I don't have a good explanation for that either, especially since the compression is good.

Check exhaust manifold.

Quote:

I'll second this. My experience was non-Packard (my truck) and it had a constant tick. New manifolds and gaskets solved the issue. Perfectly quiet now.

-Kevin