Hey, guys I'm having at issue with my 2.2liter. I just posted the other day that I haven't had any problems with it and now it started Ticking!! It sounds like its right on top of the engine and as RPMs increase so does the ticking. The only thing I have done is added a different type of oil than I usually use. I always use castrol 20W50, but I checked my oil the other day and it was a quart low so I ran to the Dollar General Store (only store close here in town) anyway all they had was STP 10W40 so I put that in there and Now TICKING!!!!! Is it possible that the other brand of Oil is the culprit?? I don't know and my truck sounds like crap and its embarrassing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Thanks for any tips. I plan on changing the oil tomorrow after I get off work.

I'm afraid now something is really wrong <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Monday everytime I stopped at a red light it would start running rough and felt like it was only running on three cylinders. The last time it did that (73,000 miles) I replaced the spark plugs and it ran fine. So I went and bought spark plugs and when I pulled the #4 plug boot the bottom half of the boot was covered in oil. When I pulled the spark plug out the entire thing was covered in oil. So my valve cover gasket is leaking right there apparently. I drove to work this morning (8 miles) and when I stopped at the redlight to turn in to the parking lot the damn thing went to running on 3 cylinders again and it was putt putt putting and chugga chuggaing all the way into the parking lot. I also changed the oil last night and that didn't help the ticking. Also my check engine light has been on constant for 5 years and this morning it started flashing <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> The truck never ran hot and no other lights came on and its not smoking from anywhere?? I'm worried about this. Any ideas??? It's a 1999 rodeo S with 2.2 and 5 speed.

I just went ahead and took it to the shop! Would you beleive it stopped ticking when I got about half mile from the shop! I took it anyway because of the miss. The owner told me that since the valve cover gasket was leaking oil into the sparkplug well it most likely fried my wires. So he is putting a new valve cover gasket and plug wires on and checking while he has the cover off to see what might have caused the ticking. He said maybe the old oil stopped up something and it got an air bubble and it just took the new oil a while to get the possible clog and air bubble out. I could have changed the plug wires and valve cover gasket myself but the ticking is what has me worried.

On the 3.2 motors, lots of people like the Mobil 1 oil.

For my old school 2.6, I've always used Castrol too.

Well after paying $270 for new plug wires, valve cover gasket, and they cleaned the PCV system. I was driving home and my oil light came on. Then it started ticking again so I stopped to check the oil and it was full!! So I got back in and proceeded to drive the rest of the way home well the engine got louder so I stopped again and the oil is still full. I got the rest of the way home about 1.5 miles and parked it. I called the guy to ask if something they cleaned could have stopped something up and is now not letting oil get around the engine. He said no and to bring it back in and he'll look at it. So then I called a local shop in the small town I live in to come tow it to their shop and look at it to get a second opinion. Well when the guy got to my house he listened to it and said it sounded like where the camshaft sits in the head is messed up and it's not making any oil pressure and I will probably need a new head, but it was gonna be at least $300 just for him to take it apart and look at to see what was wrong with it and then it would be most likely major money to fix it. So we said forget that and had him take my old ford truck in to adjust the carb and check out the ignition stuff. So now my 1999 Rodeo is sitting in the yard!!!!!!! And my 1977 Ford F100 will be my daily driver. He said when he gets done with the Ford I'll have a Hell of alot more vehicle than fixing that Rodeo!
Just thought I'd let ya'll know about my Crappy luck, but it's also good I guess because I like my F100 better anyway.

Sorry about your bad luck.

For future information,the oil light (or gauge, for that matter) indicates pressure and not volume of oil. For instance, if your oil pump were to fail, the engine could be full of oil, but none of it would be circulating, so the light would come one and/or the gauge would indicate "0".

Okay, my wife nor my mom like me driving the old ford everyday not to mention the 10 miles/gallon. Anyway I put the rodeo in the shop again and just like I had figured the pick up screen was clogged, I figure when they were so called cleaning out my PCV system them dropped crap in the engine some how and it all got down in the oil pan and stopped it up. He also says he found coolant in the oilpan when he pulled it!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> So now he says it may need a head gasket or a whole new head?? So we'll see!!

Update:
Got the Rodeo back yesterday. It was $1,200 for them to pull the oil pan and clean it all out pull the head and send it to the machine shop to have it checked and "do a little valve work", put a new head gasket on, new timing belt, new serpentine belt, of course change the oil and coolant, and it STILL TICKS a little bit but he said it's nothing to worry about because it all checked out okay at the machine shop. I just thought I'd give an update, so now my old ford is running great and I have the rodeo back on the road too.