So, I am losing my mind on this complete engine overhaul. I have already had it completely done and running. After about 300 miles of the initial break-in, it starts ticking real bad. So I start diagnosing and I think it is a slipped sleeve (still not 100% sure though). Some backstory on this block, when I first initially got my original block sent to the machine shop they had a accident and the block was essentially destroyed. They ended up getting a block from a junkyard 2003, they pull it apart and it had rust and pitting inside the cylinder on the sleeve. They ended up boring the sleeve out and got it honed, So I got the correct pistons and all that and got it reassembled.

So what I am trying to figure out is how should I go about testing for a slipped sleeve, currently I am making a homemade test kit where I can pressurize the cooling system on the block so I can see if any air/water is leaking through the cylinder. My first test went pretty well, only issue is where I mount my air hose the weld has minimal leaking so I will have to make a new one tomorrow. With my first initial test I did not notice any leakage through any of the cylinders, I worry about the actual block not being damaged enough where coolant wont leak through it (cause if im not mistaken, the block itself still has a solid cylinder all the way down then it has the sleeve to go over it). Is there any other way to determine if the sleeve is actually moving?

 

@freedom if all the liners are level with the top of the block none have slipped, once they slip they will never come back to true. Also a liner does not just slip it takes a significant overheat event with engine kept running.

I may be mistaken but I did not think you could over bore the 4.0/4.6 sleeves, honing I get. If the rust pitting was so bad it neededan over bore I would have refused the block

My bet is lifters or rocker arms.

What weight oil are you running

Ticks on old design V8's are hard to find here are a few things :

Wear /oil pressure related

• Rockers
• Lifters
• Push rods
• Camshaft/lifter combo
• Main bearing
• Connecting rod bearings

Exhaust leaks

 

Check your oil pressure, report back. Sleeve ticking usually only happens after the engine is hot, what temperature does it start ticking at - use an OBD gauge to tell us. There are post where users have sucessfully pinned the sleeves.

 

I do have a picture that I will have to find but on cylinder 4 it is not perfectly flush with the deck of the block, I didn't want the bored out block either but at that point I didn't really have any other option so I went with it, I checked the rocker arms and lifters and nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, both being brand new as well (which could be possible bad part from factory). and based off the sound its making I doubt its the main or con rod bearings but if I can confirm its not the sleeves then those I will check next. Running Rotella T6 5W-40 as my oil, was going to run that for its life.

As of right now I cant tell you oil pressure cause its already pulled apart down to the pistons (the machine shop got involved and they want us to find out if it is the sleeves) Only one point in its life did it reach 220, which in reality is a common temperature to reach at a completely stock setup. I do have a brand new nissens radiator and 180 thermostat. Other than that it ran below 200 constantly, was planning on installing some additional fans on the front to push more air through it. Going on memory I think it started ticking when it would warm up (120-150), at operating temp (180-200) it was real loud, and you could hear it from every side of the vehicle. I was looking up fixes for slipped sleeves but id rather have pinning them my last resort, seeing how pretty much everything is brand new I want this engine to be in the best condition I can make it.

 

Not to rehash the oil thing, as everyone has opinions, but 5w anything in these is not so good unless you are in the arctic. The Rotella 15w40 conventional is the go to oil and generally will quiet an engine down.

 

@Freedom38 Sounds like that number 4 might be your problem. You are correct 220 is not a significant overheat.

And to go with @Dave03S 5/anything is on the low end for these, LR spec'd 5 weight only when you had temps at -10F regularly 10/30 to 10/40 is the range for almost everything else.

 

I agree use 15/40w unless you live in Alaska or Canada all year round. 5/40 is to thin IMHO.

 

Exhaust leaks can sound pretty bad especially on the upper exhaust manifold gaskets, then you have the 2 lower gaskets. Run a treatment of Seafoam thru the intake and you'll find your exhaust leaks very quickly lol. Lifters can certainly tick, but the liner sound only happens when fully warm. If it's right away it's either exhaust or lifters.

 

Hard to see in photo but there is a visible line where liner appears to be lower than the deck of the block. I dont know if that little gap would classify as the sleeve is moving or not.

cylinder 8 exhaust lifter, appears to have abnormal wear on side.

lifter from different cylinder, no abnormal wear compared to other lifter.

Even comparing to my 100K mile lifters there was no similar wear on any of them.

If memory serves me right, I want to say that the ticking appeared after it hit that 220, but in reality I cant tell you for sure, I just know on the first startup there was no abnormal ticking like it is doing now.

I do agree that 5w-40 is too thin, at the time that was what Autozone had in stock, but next time I will go with 15w-40.

@Best4x4 I looked at the exhaust gaskets and they appeared to be in good shape, no leakage based off carbon buildup or any other way, but I did not check it before I disassembled the motor for any leaks while running. I was wondering based off that abnormal wear in the picture above maybe that could cause some ticking, maybe its going up sideways or no oil getting to it.

 

I used two pieces of 2x4 wood to test my block and it worked great. I just used the stock head bolts to tighten the wood down on the deck. I further improved it but only for the heck of it, the simple 2x4 on the block deck worked fine. The wood crushes down and formed a gasket blocking off everything I needed. Then I just forced a hose with one of those blower tips with the squeeze handle and jammed it into the block through a coolant orifice that I left unblocked purposely. This pressurized the block just fine. However, mine didn't leak until I started using map gas to slowly heat the cylinders up one by one with pressure still applied. Suddenly..... I got bubbles behind the liner and it was confirmed, cracked block. There's a few ways to heat the block to something near running temp and actually tap the liners. I found it possible to circulate hot water through much of the system but since I didn't need further testing, I never bothered advancing my testing. In order to recreate the issue, you need a warm block not just warm sleeves, so that the block expands and the sleeves get loose, assuming that's what is happening. When you simulate this situation, you should be able to slip them up and down with light tapping.

HOWEVER, if your sleeves are slipping, the indicator would be the head gasket, which will show signs of being "hammered" by the sleeve going up and down.

02+ blocks have a physical interlock so they can't slip down as older motors can. HOWEVER, they could technically slide up a very very small amount into the head gasket. I find this situation very unlikely but some have sworn to have witnessed it in some measurable amount. 03/04 blocks are much worse for cracking like mine did, as the tooling down the head studs was worse in creation of the blocks and the space between liner and block is inconsistent due to again, worn tooling. Sad situation.

Hopefully some helpful thoughts here.

Why do you think it's a slipped sleeve currently?

Lifters seems like a reasonable cause.

-Greg