I've been hearing an annoying ticking/clicking sound at idle coming from my engine lately. It used to occur occassionally, but it seems to be there all the time now.
My thoughts are that it is a valve/valve spring or something related. I don't know if anyone would be able to shed some light on this, but I'd like to get an idea of what it might be and what it might take to fix it.
I use Mobil 1 every 3000-4000 miles, and I have checked to make sure I'm not low on oil, which I'm not.

Thanks for any help/info you guys can give.


-Tony

 

Does the sound change with engine speed?

 

water pump maybe.. do u have high milage on the car?

 

Sometimes the ticking gets faster with engine speed and sometimes it just goes disappears. Sounds like metal on metal clicking together.

Car has 89k miles on it.

-Tony

 

Tony can be many things, very hard to detect without looking at it, best thing is to take a drive to Jeff and see what he thinks, at 90k miles it could be the water pump like Ange said.

 

Too bad I work so much and have no time to get my car to Jeff's. I'll have to wait til after April 15th I guess. It's driving me nuts.

I can't see how this sound could be the water pump, really sounds like a valve spring or something.


-Tony

 

is it when the car is cold in the morning? I only have 28k miles and I get the same noise occasionally

 

It used to make the sound when the car was cold but now it seems to be making it all the time. Sometimes when the car is warmed up, the sound isn't there, but most of the time it is. How would you describe the sound you are hearing?

Tony

 

its either the lifters or the injectors, i posted this in the 4th gen forums about a week ago, peole think its injectors or the lifters, but its a trait of our cars to have that clicking noise, i started being aware of it when i chgned my oil and started the car with the hood up

 

Yea like I said its difficult without hearing it or seeing the car. I had a noise and I thought **** I got the VTC noise known on my motor, but I took it to my mechanic and the water pump was leaking, replaced the water pump and that was the cause of my noise. But it can also be like a lifter, and stuff but those noises are not very common on the VQ30DE, those thing usually happen to Honda's and stuff where they need their valve lash adjusted. Tax seasson is keeping you busy then I guess wait till you get to go to Jeff.

 

its not a steady tick as if the valve springs are broken. Its more of a delayed but constant tick during the mornings on a cold engine. It comes from the engine bay usually at low speeds when i'm coming out of the parking lot

at first I thought it was my axle or wheel bearing cause i've heard that it ticks when its about to give out

 

Mine does that too. Its coming from the rear head and sounds like a clock only when idle. It doesn't matter if its cold or hot. I was talking to Iron Long and he looked at my car and said it was the valves. Mine also started at around 88-90K miles. I'm now at 94 and the sound is still there.
The sound is not very loud since I can't hear it when the hood is closed or when I'm idleding on traffic. You can only hear it by getting close to the intake manifold and paying attention to it.
sounds like it goes in the same passe with the cams

 

Yup, exactly....

 

Well my buddies 96 seems to have what your describing. A ticking noise coming from the rear of the motor and we think its his injectors.


Pretty much narrows it down to valves/injectors. Both probably have very simlary ticking noises...




Eric

 

try a slightly thicker oil to see if that solves it... if it does, maybe it's the lifters not getting enough oil. Mine does that too when it's cold, especially cold, it'll tick. But when it warms up, it stops. Increased tolerances

 

Hmmmm....now that you mention it, I use 5W-30 Mobil 1. I will use 10W-30 and see if that solves the problem. If it does, I thank you in advance


-Tony

 

Could also be the timing chain tensioner, but that would probably get louder. It's known to go away when the car warms up tho. If you can find a mechanics stethescope, you can listen to the cover on the left side of the engine to see if it's that.

 

IACV, I have read about that ticking noise that is intermeadiate. Clean your IACV. Also have you messed with your ecu lately?(The moderator with an I30 had is ecu in diagnostics mode when he had this problem)

 

tony/ it's your lifters/ when time takes toll on your engine/ at about 75k-100k start using thicker oil. the ticking will go away. try 10w30 or even 10w40.

 

ok, this sunday i'll put in some 10w-30 Mobil 1 and see if it works.
Thanks guys


-Tony

 

Does the VQ have HLVA like the SR20? It will tick and that is normal. You may also be hearing timing chain clatter...or it could be you're hearing the injectors (that is normal)

 

It's the power brake check valve. When your rpms speed up, it goes away. As the motor comes back to idle, the clicking comes back gradually. Nissan had a TSB on it way back when. There was someone on this forum who downloaded every TSB and it was there. Not sure if the link is a sticky or what, but I've seen it here somewhere. Don't worry, I've lived with it 6 years and it does nothing more than annoy the owner.

 

I get this ticking sound when its cold also. I think the heavy weight oil is a good suggestion. I might try that out as well. It does sound like the lifters clacking around in there tho.

 

http://www.geocities.com/civix1991/Tips_tricks.html

Search for "vq30de"...Good reading

 

Update? did the ticking noise go away? I have a spare engine in my garage and it was making a loud ticking noise. I am going to break it down because it is in the way.

 

Could you post pics of the teardown? And also say if anything is broken, I'm also getting the ticking noise.

 

No update. I finished making my custom front LED turn signals today and installed them instead of doing the oil change. I didnt have a chance to pick up some 10W-30 Mobil 1, hopefully during the week I will.


Tony

 

Wow some good info on there. Nice find!

 

My car makes a Ticking noise. That's when I have the Hood I can hear mild ticking noise. I don't know if that's normal with all cars. It is not really loud. I might also have a bad Knock sensor. I am going to see jeff tommarow, he reset the code told me to come back a week from now see if the code is back. I am going to ask him what the ticking noise could be.

 

Changed my oil yesterday to Mobil 1 10W-30 (rather than 5W-30).

The ticking noise coming from the valves/lifters is gone. Havn't heard it a single time.

I guess thicker oil was the trick. Thanks guys...


-Tony