Oil too thin making the engine tap?

I recently got a 2003 with the 6 cylinder engine. I used the oem 5w20 oil they recommend and noticed after the engine warms up and is at idle, I got a decently loud engine tap. Given a little bit of gas....it goes away. I live down in Georgia, so the cold doesn't concern the engine much. Should I try switching to 5w30 or another viscocity to try to eliminate it...or maybe it's some other problem or issue with the 4.2 engine. Any help? Thanks!

I have personally only used 5W30 and 10W30 in my vehicles and they have never had a problem. I live in Canada so cold does become a factor and I will switch from 10W30 in the summer to 5W30 in the winter. Summer is ok to use the 10W30.

I don't have a 2003 6 cylinder, instead I have the 97 6 cylinder. But I doubt that it makes a difference.

I had the same problem on a ford pickup. Try a 10W30 oil and check if this helps. My problem was the oil pump not picking up until the engine was up to full speed.

Anecdotal evidence aside, the crux of your problem is answered in your initial post: "oem 5w20 oil"

No, it is not the oil viscosity that is causing your tap, it is some other problem within the engine.

If OEM recommended oil caused engine tap, it would no longer be the OEM oil, service bulletins would have flown out through the mail and Ford would be in a class action court battle for this issue right now.

I am surprised I am in the minority here. I would have thought that almost all would agree that manufacturer's spec oil is the only oil you want to use.

He probably has a problem with engine but if a thicker oil solves the problem it is much cheaper. I bought a new 1997 Ford 150 and I changed the oil at 1000 miles then at 4000 miles. It would start get to full rpm with no oil pressure I was ready to shut down and the oil pump would pickup. I drained the oil and it didn't seem to have any lubrication more like rubbing your fingers with water.
I switched to thicker oil and the problem went away. I drove it until I got in a wreck and it never used any oil.
I just didn't want to fight with a dealer it was much cheaper for me to use thicker oil. I think he could put an electric 12volt primer pump and be ok. But
probably at this point needs a new oil pump or the strainer cleaned.
Thats why I suggested cheap first.

Its possibly a hyd lifter not filling with oil and will tap until its filled. I would try some auto-rx to clean up the problem.
www.auto-rx.com

"probably has a problem with engine but if a thicker oil solves the problem it is much cheaper"

Thing is, the thicker oil will not solve the problem, it will only muffle it so any potential damage will be ongoing yet out of earshot out of mind.

Another solution would be for him to turn up the radio - "I can't hear any tapping anymore."

I used to be a machinery inspector and inspected an oil company. We were discussing doing oil analysis on some equipment. He stated they had a fleet of company vehicles and used 5W30 OEM oil. They did oil analysis on all the cars. Every one had disolved metals in the oil. They switched to 10W30 oil and stopped getting disolved metal. I would assume this was from the bearings. I assume the company wanted the vehicles to wear out around 100,000 miles. This would help sales. He didn't state what kind of cars the sales dept. used.
Hopefully they have some engine improvements since then about 20 years ago. He's getting noise because he's not getting oil or he has oversize bearings dropping pressure. The problem on my truck was I started the engine got up to full rpm before the pressure came up. A 4000 mile oil pump with excess clearance. It worked fine with thicker oil. I had a gage and could observe what was going on.

"they had a fleet of company vehicles and used 5W30 OEM oil. They did oil analysis on all the cars. Every one had disolved metals in the oil. They switched to 10W30 oil and stopped getting disolved metal"

If you drain the oil out of any not quite new engine (operated), you better find metal. And you will continue to find dissolved metal throughout the service life. Yup. I don't know how this guy missed it when he checked the 10-30. You know when they talk about "normal wear and tear" in an engine? Where do you think that 'worn' metal from that "normal wear" is going?

This anecdote seems to posit that the 5W-30 recommended by the manufactuere was destroying the engines and that a different viscosity oil was better. I absolutely do not accept this. The manufacturer's recommend oil was eating the bearings? How did they stay in business until 20 years ago let alone 20 years after that?

It is even more important with modern cars to obey specs.

Why do you think foreign manufacturers are getting so much business?

"Why do you think foreign manufacturers are getting so much business?"

I don't know. Why? Because those manufacturers specify oil viscosity that doesn't wreck their engines while domestic manufacturers specify oil viscosity that does ?

By god i just changed my vettes oil didnt see any metal. Hope im okay with my 46000 dollar investment...

You don't have to see it, although you very often will. As the other poster noted, the fleet vehicle's oil was analyzed for "dissolved" metal. Now the metal is not really dissolved, what the poster likely meant was that the oil was checked for microscopic metal in suspension.

But it's there. You ever see magnetic drain plugs? Do you know why they sell them? To collect the metal suspended in motor oil.

Here's another one that the mechanics here should know. you take your car to the local fly by night tranny shop for their special fluid and filter change . The mechanic drops the pan, then with a worried look shows you all the metal in the bottom of the trans pan, then sells you the [un]rebuilt he took out of the last car with metal in the pan. Because they all have metal in the pan.

I am not saying there is no occasion in which one might want to change their oil viscosity. i am saying that a relatively new engine that is tapping when run with spec oil has a problem that will not be fixed by changing to a heavier oil. It may be hidden by the heavier oil, but problems that are unfixed and then hidden only get worse.

If your worried about your oil http://www.mowersplus.com/ does them for $15.95 + S&H They do more farm soil tests but also do motor oil for tractors and farm machinery. This would include farm pickups and other vehicles.
Some parts stores may also offer this service.
As I tried to explain my truck had zero oil pressure on start up and didn't have any pressure for appx. 1 minute appx.750rpm engine starting to rattle badly.
This was at 4000 miles with the 1st change at 1000 miles. With heavier oil the engine had pressure immediately on start up.
Customers even had forums on this problem with no help from Ford.

"zero oil pressure"

Ever had the oil pump inspected for tolerances?

I would have but the oil change solved the problem. It only happened a couple of times. I had a friend who would have let me use his lift after hours. I would have had a new pump and required gaskets before I started. I doubt Ford would have picked up the tab.In my 1997 manual 10W30 was also approved for the engine. Over the road trucks are designed to run around 1,000,000 miles before complete rebuild. I never heard of a pickup engine doing this.