For a little while now my 97 Max has been making a ticking sound coming from the engine. I figured it was the valves and took it to a good local mechanic. They reaffirmed it was the valves but said to make sure they would have to take apart the engine to even find out what was going on. This was going to cost around $1000 if they were going to fix the problem. I decided to get a second opinion and I took it to the dealership I bought it at. They thought it might be a faulty fuel injector and said maybe cleaning the injectors would help and it would only cost $150. I cleaned them and now they still sound they same. Has anyone had this problem before. Basically my Max runs kinda loud with a tick that goes faster or slower with the throttle.


97 SE
DIABLOSE94@aol.com

 

Yea, I would've said it could be just loud injectors and try some injector cleaner in the fuel tank but I see you got around to that. Sorry man, don't no what else to say, you could try doing a compression check and see how well your engine is running.

 

That's normal. There is no need to "adjust" the valves unless you can clearly hear the ticking with the hood closed. Even then I wouldnt bother.

It's a very expensive job. The valves cannot really be adjusted. They must be removed and re-shimmed.

With low-mile VQ engines costing around $700, it would be cheaper to get a new engine than to get the valves done.

 

I bet it's just the normal injector noise, but I suggest finding another 4th gen to listen to ease your mind.

 

Yup...it's normal injector noise. My '95 with 361,000km (or over 200,000k miles), has more injector noise than valve aka tappet noise. Don't worry about it.

 

Injector noise. What octane gas are you using? If it's less than 92 then that's probably the problem. My understanding is the valves shouldn't have to be serviced for adjustment because they're hydraulic & self adjusting. Shouldn't hurt anything though. ( Although, I lost a 3rd gen because of that same problem. Human error killed it, not the ticking.)

 

Correction..as noted above, the valves are NOT hydraulic, the are mechanical, but the valve gaps are adjusted using factory shims. Not an easy job at all.
BTW..what does octane have to do with injector noise?

 

I've heard that this is because the valve lash becomes out of spec after a while. It's harmless.