Expert: Mike Evans - 6/29/2010

Question
Hi my name's Justin. My question is. I have a 1996 Mercury Sable Ls, with a 3.0 Duratec engine. When I crank it, all of a sudden you hear a slow clicking noise, that goes away when I press the throttle pretty hard. it's kinda like a slow chugging, and then click. Like Chug click. Like that. I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm fixing to take a road trip for about 700 miles and I don't know what it could be. It doesn't do it when it's warmed up. just when it's cold. Could it be come kind of vacuum loose? Or a distributor? Please Help. Thank you.

Answer
    My guess is that you have a bad lifter.  I wouldn't worry about it until it starts doing it even after it's warmed up.  Best thing to do at this point is to let the car sit and run for a minute or two to get the oil warm before you drive it.  Also wouldn't be a bad idea to change the oil.  And, when you change it, go up one notch in the viscosity rating.  I think it probably calls for 5W30 (there's a sticker under the hood and it also lists it in the owner's manual), so you could go to a 10W30.  If it calls for a 10W30 then go to a 10W40.  Cars with more than 100K miles on them almost always can profit from going up a notch.