Engine Ticking Noise (lifters???)

[skyline_paul]

Hey guys i got this noise from my engine bay its just a light tich when starting up and its getting to me, any answers would be greatly appreciated.

[Essential]

Dont take my word for it but maybe your engine is pinging?

[boj01]

Not if it is doing it at idle as well. Most like be the tappets. Check your oil level and make sure the engine is topped up. Maybe use a thicker oil and this will keep the tappets quite, although this is only a temporary fix.

[wreckedhead]

rebuild

[siksII]

rebuild

lol

anyway

i doubt it would be the lifters, as they are usually noisy when the motor is cold, and the noise would happen all the time and especially if you leave it without driving for a few days, and the noise would increase in frequency with revs.

what u have explained does not sound like lifters..

try and different oil, i cant think of what it would be...

btw. i wouldnt use those oil additives/flushes if i were you, they might cause more problems than they solve, ie. they gunk can get cleaned of then all get stuck in chunks somewhere else in the engine.

best to just change the oil a few times with cheap oil.

[666DAN]

Could be a multitude of things...could be the dreaded piston-slap that my corolla sported

[RTHRTY3]

i doubt it would be the lifters, as they are usually noisy when the motor is cold, and the noise would happen all the time and especially if you leave it without driving for a few days, and the noise would increase in frequency with revs.

Sorry to hijack, but do u get rid of this? Currently using Castrol Magnatec, after changing from a 15W/40 rating, noise goes away after the oil change but comes back again after a couple of days.

Cheers

[siksII]

Hey, 15/40 sounds normal, and you should use an oil of similar rating 10/40 or whatever,

i have found that if it is bad, use cheap oil(magnatec or whatever) for about 500-100kms and then change it for oil you would normally use(synthetic of similar weight) which sort of flushes the system.

so i dont think it is the brand of oil, its just that u have one or more sticky lifters. open the bonnet and you can probably hear which ones are bad..

[Airzone]

I had a look at cleaning / changing lifters in my r33 gts25t... ROFL. It's a c*unt of a job. Cams have to come out, unlike in that photo-guide of that lancer gsr that's linked to around here..

[siksII]

yeah i have seen the guide ur talking about..too bad its not that easy..

cams would have to come out, but i dont think it would be a bad job. i have replaced the cams in rb25.. not really a difficult job i guess just fidly. u just have to have a torque wrench to make sure u attach them back properly and evenly (the cams can crack in half, my exhaust one did!)

when i started the car afterwars one lifter was SO NOISY like crazy!!! i was scared it would be like that forever!!! it was bloody loud. after a good run it quietened down

but then again when we put them back in the head was sitting on the ground, not on the bottom end so it made things easy.

[Sumo]

I found that using a good quality oil made my lifter go quite.

Motul Turbolight was the oil that fixed the tap tap tap

[Lukas]

:mad:I've got a lifter problem as well... I think? It started about 6 months ago after a major service! But it is weird, because lifters usually tap when the engine is cold. When I first start my car in the morning (cold) it starts and runs at the high rev warm up mode, while it is warming up I have a smoke and coffee, usually about 10-15mins... no tapping. Then all of a sudden the engine slows down once it is warm and the temperature guage says so.... then tap, tap, tap, tap!!! WTF this goes away after a short drive... whats going on?

[The Dan]

Just to clear something up. Lifters don't tap. The rockers do. And as for not doing it unless cold. That is incorrect, if you have a sticky lifter it will cause a tapping noise all the time. Sometimes they unstick once the oil has warmed up.

Thicker oil is not really the best option either. A thinner oil will get rid of a noisy lifter more often than not. It is the gunk built up in the lifter that prevents it from filling with oil properly. The thinner oil allows better flow through the smaller spaces thus allowing the lifter to 'pump' up.

As for products. This is your best option to free up a sticky lifter as it doesn't just brake off chunks of gunk and leave it floating around the engine in it's full size (speaking of which, lifter veins are virtually smaller than any other oil passage in the whole engine to to get stuck in anything other than another lifter would be highly unlikely) The product will break down the sludge or gunk into much smaller pieces and then they travel to the sump and eventually go through the oil filter which picks them up.

My Suggestion:

Run Wynns engine flush for 10 km

Drain ALL old oil. Try to use a clear container so you can examine the old oil. You could even go so far as to strain it through paper towel to locate any impurities so that you can identify them.

Change Oil filter

Refill oil with Synthetic grade oil. Somthing like a 10 or a 15 weight.

If the noise is still there, you may have to try manually cleaning them.

If that doesn't fix it then you'll have to buy new lifters. Assuming that is the problem in the first place. I always recommend getting a professional opinion before replacing anything. Especially when those lifter cost $700-$800 for a set.

[Slide]

place a screwdriver on parts of the engine when its making the noise and put your ear to it to pin point ticking noise

[always_me]

i thought it might be injector pulse. mine do it all the time after a new rail, but my engine has load piston slap when its cold, i was told it s a tell tale sign of forged pistons, but not sure

[r33freely]

i would have thaught lifters were more noisy when engine is warm and oil thins out?

[The Dan]

Usually more noisy when cold as they have to fill with oil to 'pump up'. When they are warm, the oil is thinner and, therefore, fills them up more easily.

[Swordfish19792002]

Is it lifters or Shims ?

[The Dan]

Lifters

Shims are only spacers which space the buckets to the followers. They come in all different thicknesses for setting valve clearance instead of hydraulic or adjustable.

They can be found on GTR's.

The GTST's don't have shimable buckets, they have hydraulic lifters.

[r33freely]

can the bucket shim type be fitted to an rb25dert head? or would you be better of fitting a rb26 head if its possible?