Oil leak found, now she's ticking....
 

Well i almost ran out of oil yesterday but I filled it back up. I have a leak and need an oil pan gasket. But now as the car idles, theres a ticking noise but the oil level is good. Do you guys think I hurt the engine bad?

If you ran the engine w/ little or no oil, that tick could be a connecting rod or main journal bearing about to boobies up. Check to see if the tick gets louder. If it turns into a clack, then you had better get home within about 3 miles.

Run it till she blows...:D

Then it's JDM time...:cool:

I once ran my car with a hole in the oil pan (long story)... After replacing the oil pan and refilling it, it clicked for a little while then everything was back to normal. I've had no problems since...

add some STP.
also listen to see how the frequency of the sound changes with the rpm

does your engine seem to be louder and jerk back and forth (sounds like its working pretty hard)?

theres a distict difference between valve/vtc high freaquency "tick" and worn rod/crank bearing low frequency "knock"

did the vtcs tick before this happened if not its proboly them ticking but if they were ticking before and now theres a new different tick it could be worn bearings

Just to add another possibility...a lifter could have collapsed and the FSM states that they will not self bleed. I've also seen a couple of VGs in the past that were run low on oil, the lifters collapsed and would not recover so the owners got to buy another set. I would get a mechanic's s***hoscope from your local 'discounted' parts store and try to pin point where the noise is at if you can't tell what the noise is by ear.

That's like saying she's amost pregnant :) You will know when you ran out of oil, no doubt about it. Did your oil light ever come on while you were driving? Without the FSM in front of me I believe our oil light switch is rated at 5-7 psi. If it makes you feel better, I ran out of oil three times within a span of 7 yrs. All three times I busted a line going to a auxilary oil cooler I once had. There's nothing more mesmerising (or scary) than listening to all those lifters sing a mad happy tune. All has been well since then, but it doesn't solve your prolem. I would guess it's a VTC that's causing your noise and with over 1200 post under your belt you should know if a VTC is detrimental or not

Well the car was not ticking before this happened. The ticking seems to stay the same pace and frequency. When I press the gas i cant hear it as much but I know its still there. I mainly notice it as the car idles. my oil light never came on maybe my bulb is blown. I will get her looked at soon though...thanks for the replies and sorry I was late getting back to you guys.