Another topic about ticking.

scuzzy · Post by **scuzzy** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:08 am

I've always had this noise, from day one of the engine swap, so I'm not too concerned as of yet, but my question is, should I be?

On a cold and warm startup (where the car has set for a few hours) the valvetrain doesn't make a ticking noise.

But after the engine warms up for a few minutes, it starts, a small tapping, reoccuring only on the passenger front side of the head - not loud, you can hear it if you close the hood and stand infront of the car, and it doesn't sound anything like rod knock. It's not very loud either.

Anyway, I've had it for a long time now, almost eight months I suppose it is, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse - like I said, I've always attribuited this to being the noisy subaru valve train. subaru engines are pretty noisy from what I've heard.

I figure it might be my HLA's, that's about all it could be in that area - but my oil only has about a thousand miles on it and it's still pretty fresh, I drive the car hard just about every day.

it could be carbon buildup, I suppose, but it should do it even on cold starts I would suspect.

Anyway, I don't think I should be, but would you be worried?

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:36 am

well, this might not help, but maybe you should put some Lucas oil stablizer in it, that would help it oil better
maybe one of the oil holes in the head that oil the rocker and rods is clogged, it wont be a loud noise, but you can still hear a clicking, mine was once and i took a sewing needle and stuck it in, and that unclogged it and its been fine for about a year

but i geuss it might not be an oil problem, sorry i cant help you any more

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:33 am

noisy injector?

Tone-us · Post by **Tone-us** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:03 pm

Mine has been doing this exact thing! But like you said it's only on cold/warm starts. Mine on the other hand goes away after the car warms up? I added another half quart of oil and it seemed to help. While it's happening, if I'm inside the car I can't really hear it. As soon as I roll down the windows it becomes apparent, when it goes away it's like click, click. click, click, click.... then no noise? I guess at the next oil change I'll add some lucas stabalizer.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:34 pm

I would stay away from oil additives; just use the best oil you can afford. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

Maybe the way to diagnose this is to try different fixes. Like, try SeaFoaming the intake to see if there was carbon on the valve seats. Or try bleeding the lifters to see if there was air trapped in them.

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:59 am

i didnt quite understand that website, i think he was talking about putting in two additives, i got the just of it, but it was a little confusing

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:04 am

It is indeed confusing... He didn't exactly follow the scientific method. You can't draw strong conclusions from it, but it does provide some indication that the Lucas oil additive can cause foaming, which hurts an oil's ability to lubricate. Or, more generally, that the use of third-party oil additives can create the situation where you have a suboptimal overall mixture.

scuzzy · Post by **scuzzy** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:30 am

Yeah, I'm against any addatives - if you think the problem is oil then try stepping up a little in the weight to see if that fixes it, or stepping down
whichever you prefer.

Anyway, my ticking has been going on for so long and is so light (it pretty much is inaudiable above idling - which is a good thing) that if it were going to lead to rapid engine distruction, it would have done it already I think

anyway, I need to get some oil pressure and other gauges for the car, just cause.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:57 am

well, i think Lucas works pretty well though, when we were driving to Lexington once to see my sister (about 3 hour drive), our 92' Explorer had a bad oil pump and it started knocking severly, and it got louder with the more gas you gave it, we were almost certain that we would never make it to my sister house, we stopped mid-way in Louisville and by this time the oil presure gauge was going crazy, and couldnt think of what to do, so we kept going, and finaly we thought about that oil stablizer, we stopped at a Autozone, got some put it in, and about 15 minutes after starting it back up, it stopped knocking and the gauge stayed level

that was last year, we still havent gotten a new pump but we put Lucas in with every oil change it it does not click or knock

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:08 pm

Interesting. What kind of oil?

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:34 am

its Penzoil 10w-30 Advance Protection

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Another topic about ticking.

Another topic about ticking.