03 mustang mach 1 need help
 

Hey guys i jst enharited my grandpas 2003 mustang mach 1 its got the 4.6l with an automatic tranny and i belive its the two valve but im not positive and its completly stock
well the car has 111000 miles on it but its all city my grandpa could never aford gas so its been on the highway mabey twice so its never been ragged well about a week ago he toom it to a machanic due to a knock on the motor and the shop said it was a head gasket well we my grandpa ended up sellin it to me and wen i got it me and my dad started to look at the car and wen yu first start the car it has a very slight tick its batley noticable but wen the motor warms up it starts to get a knock in it we think its a lifter collapsing dose anybody have any idea wat the problem is or how to stop the knocking id apreciate any advice

If the tick goes away don't worry about it.

First off, it's a 4V engine. Secondly, the tick in the beginning may not be something to worry about. What is worrisome is the knocking. This could be a few things:

1. What codes are being thrown? This can help determine where to start looking, provided the check engine light is on. If the light is off, any pending codes?
2. Check the coolant and oil. Do either look like it's contaminated? This is a tale-tale sign of a blown head gasket (coolant starts to look like chocolate milkshake or oil has coolant in it). For the oil, an oil change would be needed to check this out more accurately.
3. The 4V engines have knock sensors. I don't know if they stay off during open loop operation but if they do, this may be the culprit or at least part of the problem.
4. Did your grandpa ever get a tune-up? It may be overdue for plugs.
5. What's in the tank, 91+ or 87? The 4V engines are tuned for 91+.

Just a few things that come to mind...

This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but in some of the SOHC (your's is a DOHC) the timing chain tensioner will get crudded up and will cause a knock when until the engine warms up. Since your G/P rarely drove it on the highway it just might be a case where this happened. It really won't go away but after a few oil changes it will probably settle down a bit. Once you get around to replacing the chains (at some future date) you can clean it up and that will be the end of it.
BTW, sounds like a decent car, don't butcher it up, I wish I had something like that when i was younger.