Topic: ticking noise

[Konrad]

I have a 2007 4.6 3 valve. I took it to the dealer because it was making a bit of a tapping noise when it's fully warmed up. It's been doing this for a LONG time but I wasn't sure if I was hearing it right, so I finally took it in. Ford looked at it and they say that one of the oil jets that brings oil to the top end of the engine is partially plugged so it isn't getting enough oil to that spot. They say the rest of the jets on that side of the engine are fine and even that one isn't fully plugged but that spot is not getting enough oil. It is not covered under the powertrain warranty because that only covers parts that actually break apparently. Their fix for it is to take apart the top end, clean that jet and put it back together. Since nothing is broken and cleaning it is according to them a maintenance, not a repair, it isn't covered.
Do you guys think that sounds fair or not? Since they aren't covering it under warranty, they would charge about $600 to do it. I don't have that. How hard do you guys think it would be to do it myself. They said they'd basically use brake cleaner to clean it, which is simple enough. It would just be a matter of taking it apart.
I'm open to opinions.

[stang98]

OMG I hate taking my car to ford, they wanted to charge me $200 to replace my thermostat. It was a 5 minute fix and $16.00 for the part. Ford service is a rip off. Especially in your case.

Brake cleaner is $5. all it takes is time.
Im not sure how long it would take you though. 

[Thierry]

This doesn't seem right. If your Mustang is maintained by this dealer and this fix is not part of the maintenance schedule, they did something wrong or there is a defect with your car. Can't you take it to another Ford dealer to see what they say?

[Soaring]

I agree with Thierry.  Get a second opinion.  Especially for the repair price.  Have them show you their written and advertised price for a Per hour charge.  Even if they charged 100 bux an hour, it shouldn't take 6 hours.  That's just crazy. 

[Konrad]

This was the second dealer I took it too. When I took it to the other one they speculated that a valve stem was just at the limits of it's tolerance and was ticking a bit. That was wrong though. When I went to the second dealer this problem was diagnosed by hooking up the computer and apparently it told them what it was and on what cylinder. That sounds to me like a pretty accurate diagnosis. I picked up the Haynes manual from the library because I was thinking of doing it myself. Apparently the heads on these cars are very complicated to work on and you need a bunch of special tools. Not sure yet what I'm going to do. I was thinking maybe a hot oil flush would clean it out without the need to take it all apart. What do you guys think?

[Soaring]

Drive it until it breaks, then have it fixed under warranty. 

[Konrad]

That would work except that it won't happen. The powertrain warranty is 100000 KM. It's been doing it for the last 50000 and I'm at 93000. So nothing disastrous has happened in the last 50000, it's probably not going to in the next 7000.

[Jeff73Mach1]

I'd try a flush for sure as just the gasket set is going to likely be over a hundred bucks.