car makes a ticking noise. is it the vtc's?
 

My car makes a loud ticking noise which does not go away even after car warms up. The noise seems to get louder as i accelerate until the engine noise drowns out the ticking. Is this my vtc's or something else?

Do you have a 92-94SE? Does it sound like a diesel engine or just a very loud 'clacking' sound? If so then yes, it could very well be the VTCs.

It might be if you actually had any

Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wilmington, DE
Car: 1997 white SE
Age: 24
Posts: 171
Buyer/Seller Rating: (1)

actually yes i do have them. the car i am referring to is a 92se that i bought a couple months ago not my 97se which i also have. i may not be a mechanic but i am not an idiot.

Did you open the hood and put a small tube to your ear and point it to each VTC to verify it's coming from that area? Basic stuff

assuming it is the vtc's, I don't know how long it has been making the noise since it has been like that since i bought the car. Right now I don't have the extra money to rebuild or replace them. If I let it go for a couple months can it damage my engine?

Yes I think you can actually....in really bad situations the caps on the ends of the sprocket assemblies break apart and jam up the timing chain and all that lovely stuff........awsm66 had a few pics about that happening to him a few weeks ago I think

Probably not. From the time I've been here, I've only read about 2-3 cases where the vtc assembly actually fell apart. You could try grounding them. Instructions are on Craig B's site.

But they do sound like they have been bad for some time. By the time they tick ALL the time, it's probably been over a year easy from when the 1st started to clack

You know, there happen to be a few people on the org who own multiple maximas but only list 1 in their profile. -1 for you. :nono:

Him not mentioning that -1 for him and you :leapfrog:

Why do you think my first question was to ask if he had a 92-94SE? -10 for you.

-100 for bringing all this up after we resolved it

If you ground the vtc's,can you leave it like that forever? Do
you lose power by grounding them? ty dan w. mine tick so sweet
tick tick tick tick tick tick........

I figure every question should include the year/trim of the car...

Good question. My VTCs click but only when the engine is cold, and only sometimes. Would grounding it, though, make me lose any power? That's what I really care about anyways, not what my car sometimes sounds like.

Grounding does cause you to lose a little power but the alternative is to have it blow up. Jeff said he only heard of it happening a couple of times but thats because most on here will ground them when they hear them ticking. I have seen two motors personally that had the end cap explode and cause the motor to go. I read a guy that replied to my thread that said it happened to him and another guy on the VTC discussion thread said it happened to him...well he said the VTC slipped off but the only way that can happen is if the cap breaks or the bolt snaps.

How long it takes before the cap explodes I dont know...maybe years of non stop ticking but I wouldnt take the chance.

I would buy a rebuild kit and rebuild the VTCs if you are worried about losing power. If not ground them until they start ticking again while grounded (others have reported this) and then rebuild if its not to late. On one of the motors I have seen that had the end cap break I saw the inner gear was cracked as well.

Personally I would rather pay the ~$80 for the gasket and the rebuild kit to rebuild it and not worry about a new motor later.

Just be very careful and follow the service TSB to a T if you do it or you can screw the motor up anyway.