98 XJ 4.0L Engine tick

[tazwegion]

Good to hear it was a relatively simple fix, I had a similar noise issue once on a 3.3 Blue Commodore engine and varied the rocker height (different models had differing clearances) and it worked well... gotta love low tech engines! LOL

[Goneagain]

Agreed!!##

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[It'sBigAl]

I brought a mechanics stethoscope off eBay. $12.00 from an Australian seller. I gotta say as good as the screwdrivers and such are, this is 10x better for listening to an engine.

[XJJordan]

At that price it's a pretty worthwhile investment! I might have to get one!

Since posting the last I have run into a new issue that I assume must be related? Now on start up it stutters a fair bit and sometimes won't even fire up?? Though if it does fire, and I give it a few light revs before driving, it drives fine without any evident misses? It drives fine at normal town and highway speeds and doesn't miss a beat. But as soon as I stop engine and try and turn it over again, regardless of whether hot or cold start, it either stutters or won't fire up?? Could this indicate that maybe it is one tooth out of sync in the dizzy replacement?? If the timing was out would it run fine at town and highway speeds? The dizzy was definitely the cause of the tick sound cause it is gone, but there must be something going a miss now after the new dizzy replacement. I have read a few US forums and found a guy who said that moving one tooth ahead fixed his timing issue because the timing chain may have been a touch warn/stretched or whatever they do when they get old?? But I don't want to try and move it ahead a tooth in the dizzy gear just in case it causes damage to te engine? Would that happen?

Thanks again for help and ideas everyone, this is driving me nuts! Just need the thing to run right haha cause I can't afford a new engine or stroker at this point!

[LuluBelle]

maybe now that you have changed dizzys your cam sensor has shit itself ? easy fix/replacement
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[Rodgebone]

worn out distributors are actually a fairly common problem on the 4.0L - ive seen it many times including my own car. usually it will start out by making a "chirping" or "squeaking" noise thats often confused as a belt issue but then becomes a loud tick as it wears further. its a simple fix with a new unit from RockAuto. and not to say it doesnt happen but ive never seen a sticking or collapsed lifter on the 4.0L after looking at hundreds of these motors

sounds like you installed the new dizzy one tooth off. even if that happens the computer can compensate the timing enough to avoid a misfire but usually creates other problems like intermittent stalling or hard starts.

go buy an inexpensive stethoscope from Supercheap - its an indispensable tool for finding all kinds of noises on the 4.0L and MUCH better than a metal pipe or a screwdriver