Ticking Noise - Possible Manifold Leak?

[Black Widow]

hey guys, just thought i'd ask, i've noticed sometimes when i'm driving my car there is an evident ticking noise its only when i put my foot on the accelerator. but it is only intermittent, for example driving to work today it happened until i got to the servo, i turned the car off and went inside, i came out and turned it back on and nothing. but then when i was almost at work it started again. Would this be a leaking manifold?

[OZ_Pomy]

i had a ticking noise aswell awhile back turned out afew of my exhaust manifold studs were snapped and the gasket had split and was creating a ticking noise. Replaced studs and gasket all is good now.

[TTT]

an exhaust leak would be more obvious when cold.

the metal (manifld, gaskets etc) all expand a little with heat and the exhaust leak will not be as noticible and if small enough, not there at all.

then you will hear it again after the car has cooled a little and you turn it back on.

since your one came back later in the drive like when you were near work, I'd say it's something other than a leak.

also, if it had a small leak to cause a ticking on idle, it would mean that you would hear a really loud shreeking screaming sound when on boost as it will really leak from there.

does the ticking increase a decrease with revs?

as in tick tick at idle becomes a faster ticking at say 2000rpm?

It sounds like a/the lifter/s to me.

search for "ticking lifters" maybe something will come up.

they can be removed and serviced but I don't think it's easy

[Black Widow]

i've been told its probably the dump pipe? because today there was a loud noise, the exhaust volume tripled, and then i had no boost, it backfired constantly and struggled?

[TTT]

lol...

yeh sounds like it's beyond a leaking gasket then..

[Black Widow]

lol...

yeh sounds like it's beyond a leaking gasket then..

what does it sound like then?

[TTT]

well if the exhaust all of a sudden got really loud and struggled and no boost etc I'd say that you should at least visually check and feel that all the bolts are on the manifold to block and turbo to manifold and turbo to dump pipe.

If you lost all boost and got really loud, I'd take a guess that the manifold to block connection is fubar.

this would mean.. no exhaust gasses to turbo = no boost.

exhaust gasses escaping between block and exhaust manifold and not getting to turbo and exhaust would mean all that sound escaping without any muffling = loud exhaust sound.

there is a heat shield and stuff in the way so you won't be able to check it too easily without removing the heat shield (only a few bolts of which most bolts will break off)

I can't remember how many bolts/nuts there are for the manifold to block connection.

search for pics of RB20/25 manifold and you should be able to see how many holes there are and therefore how many bolts you were supposed to have.

the manifold might even be cracked..

OBVIOUS NOTE: if you are going to remove any bolts from that area.

1.) do it when the motor is cold.

2.) spray ALOT of wd40 on to all the bolts the night before you work on it and keep spraying some the next day when you want to remove the bolts. it will help them come off a little easier (still bloody hard though).

3.) Keep tissues, detol and banaids near by for your knuckles.

[inthisglass]

It probably is the manifold as you described the no boost and loud exhaust but also have a look at the gears on the front of your engine.

my car would some times make a ticking noise and then stop and then come back from time to time.

It turned out the bearing of my idler gear had gone and was only being held in place by the tention of the belt.

and +1 for the looking out for you knuckles. Those bolts are a bitch and you end up punching your engine a few times when they suddenly loosen or snap.

good luck anyway.

[_Ryan_]

delete

Edited October 28, 2007 by Ryan1600