Loud ticking sound from engine

[tonymor]

My mk1 has developed a continuous ticking sound from the engine. I've known it on start up for a second or two but now it's louder and continuas.
Any ideas?

[LordJammy]

Change the oil for something a little thicker (what do you use currently?) to stop it draining out the lifters and thrash the fk out of it. It helped mine out.

[MKnight702]

Has your wife recently taken out a large life insurance policy on you?

[anonymous-user]

If it's from the very top of the engine and more of a metallic clatter that gets faster with revs, then possibly one of the HLAs stuck or gummed up. I've had it a few times on both my old 1.6 and current 1.8, but usually after the car has been stood for a long while / and after engine rebuilds etc.. Normally a full temperature cycle frees it off, but you could always give this a try:

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluid...la-211140720964|crid:83795578084|nw:g|rnd:2843991327986926583|dvc:c|adp:1o2&gclid=CJL7lNibjtICFcLGGwodfv4CzQ

[MX-5 Lazza]

I'm not keen on additives myself.
What you need is an oil-change with a decent quality oil. The recommended oil is a 10-40 Semi Synthetic but to clear out all the gunk that gets stuck in the lifters (as well as other spots throughout the engine) I'd use a good full synth such as Mobil1 0-40.

[tonymor]

Thanks it's running on that very oil at present.

[MX-5 Lazza]

tonymor said:

Thanks it's running on that very oil at present.

New?

[Tje]

Mine had a similar noise that got worse after an oil change. I went to a fully synth 0-40, goes silent after its warmed up a bit so doesn't bother me.

[dxg]

It will be a lifter. Mine has at least one that does it. Exactly as described above - it's worse if the car hasn't been used for a while.

Take it out, get it properly warmed up and a combination of some long journeys and a good old italian tune up will sort it out for a little while by forcing some new oil in, but the gummed up stuff will still be there and the ticking will come back.

If you fancy taking the cams out, it's not that hard a job to clean out and re-prime the lifters. There are videos on youtube.

[tonymor]

I'm thankful for all the advice on the thread
I'm delighted to say that warming the engine and then applying the wynns has made it as sweet as you could ever wish for .

[anonymous-user]

Excellent

I can't recall whether you are supposed to leave that additive in the oil for just a short time or not, so worth checking the instructions as it may be advised to do an oil change to clean additive-free oil now that the lifter has been freed.

[NiceCupOfTea]

My old Eunos was a shocker for this. Nothing helped and eventually I got the HLAs changed for some known good ones. It was better but still not perfect. The next step was to drop the sump and check that it wasn't oil starvation from a blocked filter - quite possible as when I got it the oil hadn't been changed for nearly 4 years . I will never know however as at that stage I got shot!

[dxg]

NiceCupOfTea said:

My old Eunos was a shocker for this. Nothing helped and eventually I got the HLAs changed for some known good ones. It was better but still not perfect. The next step was to drop the sump and check that it wasn't oil starvation from a blocked filter - quite possible as when I got it the oil hadn't been changed for nearly 4 years . I will never know however as at that stage I got shot!

Well, I've heard of enthusiast communities taking quite extreme views when old cars are treated badly, but wasn't that a bit extreme?

I hope you've recovered...

[NiceCupOfTea]

...of the car!

[battered]

The backstreet garage quick-and-dirty fix for this is to drain off half the oil and pour in a gallon of diesel or so. They then disable the ignition (or not) and churn it over for a while before leaving it to soak. The diesel dissolves the crud, they drain it all out and put in new oil and filter. I've never done this but I wish I had when I had an old Spitfire, it came to me neglected and full of black sludge. I changed the oil, then again 6 months later, and it cleaned up a bit but the big ends failed 12 months in. I still wonder if a diesel cleanup would have shifted the crud and given me more life or just hastened the end by washing out the dirt that was keeping it together.

Same again for a Saab 9=5 with the clogged pickup problem. That one I traded in, it got one more MoT then disappeared.

[SoCalDave]

Same thing happened to my car. The Everglide EGS has solved the ticking sound. Pretty amazed by it. It uses moly-graphene known for its excellent cooling properties. No more noise on my car now and definitely smoother. Totally agree with warming it up. Good idea to DIY first before having it checked. Saves you a lot of money!

[PushedDover]

(edited as I can't read what I posted either !)

Bump


Or should I say Tick
As per the Op here - long time owner of a MK1 1.8.

Well used to ticking until a boot of revs or warm up, and tbh the car has hardly been touched for a few weeks, but today after mucho polish and waxing over the last few weeks I went to take the car to do a run to the shops...

The ticking louder than usual
Wouldn’t go with a boot of revs
On lifting the hood, puffs of smoke and the noise appears to emanating from the back end of the block and the exhaust manifold.

As it happens I also had delivered today a set of service stuff to do a home oil change & service in the days ahead.
This sounds more mechanical than the norm HLA.

Recalling that I can sometimes smell emissions .... am I looking at a problem with the manifold, leakage etc ??

Ball ache of a fix?

I’ve already been eying up a shiny new Stainless Manifold ‘in case’

Edited by PushedDover on Thursday 9th April 11:23