I am in Toronto Canada, bought a 92 SE 5 speed(VE motor) 3 weeks ago with about 108k km(about 66K miles if my math is correct.

In the last 2 weeks sometimes when I start the engine I would hear a "tack - tack - tack" sound from the rear valve covers and it would go on for about 15 minutes. Sometimes it happens when the car's been running for a while. I am running 5W30 synthetic with the proper Nissan oil filter.

I suspected it might be my VTC so I contacted a Nissan dealer to get a quote for replacement. They told me VTC failure is unusual it could be something else to bring the car in for a diagnostic. I thought they might be hiding something so I went to another dealer to check it out. They told me the same thing, VTC failure was uncommon. I asked to lookup the TSB on VTC failure but he couldn't find anything on VTC problems, i was looking at his screen the whole time.

Could this problem exist on on US Maximas? Is there any Canadians on this forum who experienced VTC failure?

 

i cant see how they would be any different
maybe their just tryin to cover it up?
or just flat out deny it

 

Not a lot of Canadians here - certainly not enough to tell if VTC failure is common or not (statistically). Mine works just fine, but I DID hear a VE Maxima once as I was walking. It either had the VTC problem or shot lifters.

Try the grounding "fix" for it and see if it goes away.