oil light on and loud knocking??

[osofasts13]

just recently my car started to knock, well it will knock when you start it up and then when it gets warmed up it will go away. sometimes on cold starts the car will start up and the oil light will be on and the knocking will be horrendous. what is going on with my car. i could only pin point it to the lifters, oil pump, or timing chain. the only reason i think it is not my oil pump is because the oil problem is a on and off thing, depending on the weather, cold or hot. could the lifters be causing this?? if so how hard is it to replace it and how much does it usually cost for new lifters? is it worth it, my motor has 178,000 miles on it??? this is on a 91 ka24de.

[deviousKA]

check your timing chain, guides, and tensioner. I highly doubt it is your bucket/shim lifters in the de.

[osofasts13]

do you just remove the cover. and tighten the tensioner or maybe loosen it, or is there a certain procedure to it?? how do u check if it;s set right??

[llamabeta]

osofass13,Take off the valve cover and the upper front cover. There is no adjustment to the tensioner. You should be able to tell there is tension being applied. Check to see if there is play in the chain.

[tonynalli]

check you oil. also on some 240sx engines the oil cant make it up to the lifters because the lines are blocked. and the only way to fix that is rebuild.