Quick question

[edgeofvamp]

Hey guys, looking to buy a 99 leggy n/a auto for the girlfriend.

The car has a 140,000 miles on it and is in great shape.

It has a fairly noticeable tick from the drivers side of the block when the engine is cold, but when it is at running temp it goes away. The guy at the dealership said it was normal, but i have owned my 94 leggy for over 4 years and i have never had that noise from mine-even though the car hits red line regularly all winter.

Anybody know what it is and know how to fix it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[ericem]

Those car's have piston slap so most likely normal could also be the valves need to be adjusted!

Is it a 2.2 or 2.5? If it's 2.5 id be concerned if the headgaskets have been done because there bound to go!

[edgeofvamp]

It is a 2.2. The engine bay has been detailed, but after the test drive i checked back under the hood. I think it is the hla's, but if we get the car i am going to do a full seafoam treatment and put synthetic oil in it. I think the dealership probably went cheap and put regular oil in it(bad move in my mind). We will have to wait and see.

I am still open ears, because if i remember correctly they made some subtle changes to the engine from the one that i have in my 94 leggy and like i said, i have had my 94 for over 4 years and i haven't had this sound from my car yet(not to say it won't happen).

[Legacy777]

I would not recommend putting synthetic oil in it. Synthetic can clean junk from the seals and cause them to leak. I'd just stick with regular oil. Also, if it's been running regular oil for its entire life....putting synthetic in it now may just give you some headaches. Seems like some people have issues when putting syn oil in higher mileage engines.

[edgeofvamp]

Well thanks for the posts guys. Unfortunately the dealership stuck it too me and sold the car to someone else, now i am standing here with the cash from my loan in my hand scratching my head, so i look for another car to fill in the gap till i can find another car to look at.
So i choose to test drive a Jetta that they had just got in(before inspection); i get the car 3 miles down the road and start heading back. I get stuck at a light and out of nowhere the thing starts steaming out of every inch around the hood, so i quick turn on the flashers and run the light as on lookers look at me in disbelief. I get up to a parking lot and shut her down and let her roll in neutral to a stop. By the time i got the hood open the steam had started to die down a bit. The entire head of the 2.0L engine was steaming, so i look over and see the recently full coolant reservoir and line are completely empty, i pull the oil fill cap off and right then you can see the signs of a either a cracked head or blown head gasket with that wonderful light powder brown color of mixed coolant and oil.

So i push the car back into a parking spot, lock it up and take the demo plate off the back of the car. After i i get half the way back to the dealer, i get stopped by a cop, he asks me why i have a dealer plate in my hand and how i got it. So i try to explain what had happened to him, he didn't believe anything that i had said so i had him give me a ride back to the car and i let the car explain my situation. He opened the hood and thank god the head was still steaming, so he apologized and let me go(wish he would have gave me a ride to make up for time lost). So i finally got to the dealer and to my surprise, you would think that they would make me pay for repairs, but he didn't, he actually apologized(who would have thought that there is a dealership with a conscience).

So all said and done i went back and paid back my loan with what i got and the search continues. Yeah it sucks that he sold the car i wanted, but that is to be expected from a dealer, first come first serve and all that.

Morale of all this is that there are good dealerships out there, but it is a struggle to find them. Good luck guys and i hope none of you get stuck in this position.

[Legacy777]

That sucks they sold the car. Definitely sounds like you had an adventure with that Jetta. That sucks the cop wouldn't at least take you back to where he picked you up.