Suspect valve

98 Windstar 3.8l 68,000m developed valve tapping in rear bank. This occurs when the engine is at operating temp, never cold, and only during decelleration, and idle.
Four months prior, timing cover gasket leaked/repaired.
Now I'm told that a valve-job is in order!
I am the original owner and have maintained this vehicle from the git.
I've read the "coolant in the oil at the time of timing cover gasket replacement" argument, but I changed the oil.
Could oil additives help?
fwv98

Does your engine still use any coolant?
If so, the lower intake manifold gaskets may need replacement.
The head gaskets are not high fail on post '95 windstar.

You did not say who told you that a "valve job" was needed, but you might get a second (or first) opinion from a good mechanic.
I have seen hardly any posts about valve problems on the windstar....not that it cannot happen, but I would rely ONLY on a good mechanic's diagnosis on this.
They can properly diagnose a valve problem, on more than just the tapping sound.

I would NOT use "any miracle in a can" to try to solve the problem.
I would remove the oil add cap, and look down into the valve cover.....use a flashlight.
Look for signs of sludge, with the engine running, you should see oil kind of spurting onto the "rocker" that pushes the valve down.
Each valve has a lifter that is down, under the lower intake manifold, that has a little wheel on it.....that rides the cam shaft.
The lifter pushes the push rod, which pushes one end of the rocker arm up, while the other end goes down, pushing the valve down, and open.
The inside of the push rod is hollow, and oil is pushed up through from the lifter.
This is the oil that you see on the top of the rocker, which flows down to lubricate the valve.

If you see any sludge, you might try buying some Auto RX, from www.autorx.com
I did 1 treatment with this stuff....although, I doubt that I really needed to, as my motor was really clean.
This product is not like the solvent type cleaners, that can cause large amounts to suddenly come loose, and cause more serious clogging.
Follow the instructions for this product to the "T", and I think it will clean your engine.
HOWEVER, I STILL would have a qualified mechanic look at it before you try anything.
This is to address any possible situation that could get worse with continueing to drive the vehicle.
If something is causing a valve or other part of the engine to not get the proper lubrication, continued driving can lead to more serious repairs.

Thankyou for your timely advice!
I checked the radiator which was full at operating temp. So I'm not losing coolant. One indicator however; the overflow resivoir of the coolant system has about an inch of brown-green sludge. I flushed the coolant before the timing cover gasket repair and found the same contamination 4 months ago.

The reference to a "valve-job" was the recomendation of a local auto-repair franchise manager; who specificly said the valves would be "sent out" to be ground at a cost of $2500-$3000 for the entire job.

I followed your instructions-observing the front valve bank with a flashlight and there were copious amounts of oil on clean rocker assemblies-a virtual spurtfest on shiny non-sludged metal.

before I consult a second opinion, what constitutes a comprehensive diagnosis? In other words, what should a mechanic do, short of a tear-down, that would justify the initiation of an overhaul do to the suspect valve?

Again, thanks for your insight.
fwv98

I do not know exactly what they would do.
It sounds like they are quoting a LOT of money, so I would hate to see you spend that and find out that it was something else.
It sounds like they are removing the heads, and reconditioning them......

Wiswind,

Can you tell anymore about the AUTO-Rx treatment you recommended? I'm thinking of trying this on my 90 Nissan Pickup. I have a tapping noise and occasional white smoke out the tail when engine is cold (sticky lifter?). Would like to know if this product may offer results.
Thanks,
pitteach

I had something similiar on my 2000 Windstar 3.8. We started hearing a tapping noise that seemed to be valve noise but no adverse symptoms from the engine.

After about 6 months, a exhaust valve spring broke on the rear bank which did not allow that cylinder to compress or fire. The code of cylinder misfire was set.

All that I knew for sure was the misfire code and so I checked everything that I could and finally removed the rear head and noticed the valve just floating back and forth as I moved the head around. A compression test might have shown me something here but I didn't do one. That might be a good move for you to preform a compression check and compare the results from cylinder to cylinder.

I sent the head to a shop and $150 later, the valve spring was replaced, no need to grind any valves and the head was trued up for remount.

The head bolts are torqued and then stretched on my 2000, so I threw the old ones away and installed with new head bolts and gaskets.

After reassembly, no misfire and no valve noise. I am assumning that the valve spring was weakening and causing the "valve noise" and finally broke after months of driving.

Just a thought.

Jim

Head bolts, head gaskets, and lower intake manifold gaskets should be replaced as they are not re-useable.
I would also use these replacement parts ONLY from FORD.

Lower intake manifold bolts, upper intake manifold bolts and upper intake manifold gaskets are re-useable.