Nasty engine tick...

[Ryan O'Rourke]

Hey folks..

sorry for my lil sabbatical there... been busy for the last month and my car has frustrated me to the point were i don wanna thikn about it  :oops:


Anyways... over the last month my car has developed a "ticking noise"
Its completley random, but appears to be at its worst when its cold... im no mechanic but arent ticks/knocks usually related to valve/cylinder problems?? if so... does that mean my engines fooked  :cry: ?


The tickin is comin from the top right hand side of the engine block, i originally hoped that it was somethin from the belt area but it sounds like its comin from the engine itself..

[Matt Peschke]

check out this Ryan

http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/answers-problems.htm#myengineticks

[Kevin Standeven]

good link. my lifters are quiet all year round, but every winter they start acting up. make sure your oil level is adequate, and maybe run some mccc through there once the weather warms up. if you really hate it and persists into the warmer months, you can buy and install revised lifters that I believe cure the problem.

[Andrew Steele]

MOST people experience this and attribute it to Lifter Tick.

Many ppl solve this problem by going to a nice Synthetic blend like Mobil1

Some ppl solve this problem by replacing their lifters with 3rd Gen lifters.

Some ppl ignore the problem and never have problems.

Draw your own deductions

Me personally, I went synthetic and it went away.  On my 6bolt rebuild, i'm planning on putting in 3rd Gen lifters.

-Andrew

[Matthew Giene]

Some ppl ignore the problem and never have problems.

Then they wire the knock sensor the the firewall so that you do not get Phantom Knock....

[Ryan O'Rourke]

Your shittin me? so theres a possibility there isnt a serious problem?

Lifters... scuse my mechanical err idiocy... but what exactly are lifters?

[Andrew Steele]

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/lifters.html

This should help you understand them better.

-Andrew

[Marty van den Bosch]

A DSM that has no tick at all is a rare thing...  

Mine is very minimal, my ESI was pretty loud - ran just fine though

[Ryan O'Rourke]

Damn guys... thanks for the prompt responses and clarity

Special thanks to matt and andrew for the detailed website  


you guys kick ass... now let me go clean the shit out of my breeks... reminents of my original reaction, as i thought this was a much more serious problem

[Mike Schmid]

To sum up the thread, yeah, lifter tick isn't one of those things where your engine could explode at any moment.   Unlike rod knock, haha.  

It's more of an annoyance than anything.  What happens is the old design hydralic lash adjusters (lifters) don't work super well and they don't take up all the slack in the valve train so there'll be a clearance of a few thou's between the valvetrain parts and it results in a tick everytime the parts hit.  It will cause accelerated wear but it's not that big a deal.  The ticking could show up in the knock sensor which will pull your timing because the ECU thinks it's seeing predetonation.  The new 3rd generation lifters don't tick.  Some people find that a quality filter and synthetic oil will solve the ticking.

[Andrew Scott]

Trust me, you'd know if you had bottom end trouble