loud ticking;KA24E;tried everything;

[deltaboy72076]

Ok guys, My wife has a 1990 nissan axxess van with a KA24E engine. Its got a loud ticking noise. Sound like its coming from the head. I have tried everything. Changed the oil and used a heavier weight oil. That didn't work. I finally bought a rebuilt head thinking that would take care of it. Not!! Spent the whole weekend changing the head. It does seem to run better but still ticks loudly. Now the oil light is coming on and going off from time to time. Could the problem be the oil pump? Also, the ticking is constant at all rpm's, while its idleing and driving down the road. Help me please. I am ready to shoot this damn thing.

Thanks in advance

ps..Timing is set perfect.

[deltaboy72076]

Hey I have an update. You may have read about this in my other post. I idled the engine at 2500 rpm for about 5 minutes and the ticking went away. Thats the quietest I have heard this engine since I bought the thing. I drove it around for a while and my oil light started coming on and the ticking came back. Oh well, I am encouraged that I finally got the ticking to stop if only for a while.

[C-Kwik]

Sounds like an oil pressure problem. The valves in the SOHC KA use hydraulic lifters. The ticking is probably the vlaves hitting the heads as they close as the valve lash is probably too high. once you get the oil pressure propblem corrected, expect to hear it up to 20 minutes after as the oil has to slowly purge the air out of the lifters.

[deltaboy72076]

Hey guys, I forgot to mention that the oil pan is dented pretty bad. Looks like someone ran over something. The entire front bottom edge is smashed back. So instead of the front/side of the oil pan going straight down to the bottom side, it heads down about half way then slants pretty drastically to the bottom side. Hope that makes sense. Could this affect the oil pick-up? I am not sure where the pick-up is in relation to the front side of the pan so it was just an idea.

Thanks

[C-Kwik]

It would be worth it to check it out. This is a problem that occurs on a lot of SR's that get shipped here as the oil pans tend to get a bit banged up on the way over. It's certainly feasible that the same thing can occur on the KA.

[deltaboy72076]

Thanks C-KWIK. I'm gonna drop the oil pan and try to beat it out.I also thought of something else. The oil light seems to only do its thing after the engine gets good and warm,which is when the oil is thinnest. When I installed the rebuilt head last weekend, I sent my wife to the store for oil and she came back with 5w 30. I went ahead and used it but this is alot thinner than what I was using.Was using 20w50. Could this be the problem? Now that I think about it, this problem started after I changed the head and used the thinner oil. Just an idea,what are your thoughts?

Thanks

[C-Kwik]

Either oil will lubricate and should fill the hydraulic lifters. Depending on the condition of the motor, and the environment your motor is in, one of these oils wil probably work better than the other. Though 20w50 seems high unless you run in a hot climate and/or your motor's tolerances are too high. But it should not cause an oil pressure problem. At least not to that extent.