SR making noises

[vangj]

I just got my new S13 SR20DET blacktop dropped into my 1990 240sx. Everything works fine: Car starts up, oil light goes out, idling is ok, etc. Only problem is that the motor is making loud ticking/tacking noises at idle and gets faster as motor is revved. I was told it may be the lifters. I've started the car everyday, for the past 3 days, for about 15-20 minutes each time, and it's still there. I haven't drove the car yet, because I don't know what this can cause. It never goes away. Any ideas/comments would be appreciated.

Currently I have 20W50 generic oil in the motor. I was told to use this for 500 miles then put in synthetic. Any suggestions on this?

Thanks.

[quiksilvia]

if its not ur injector tick, then it could be the lifters, in order to fix it u have to get to the lifters and do this

[vangj]

Thanks for the info. The noise is quite loud, I don't think injectors can get that loud. I think it's the lifters, but I don't want to have to bleed the lifters unless it's my last resort.

Are there any alternatives?

Thanks.

[912.0turbo]

Check and make sure your getting oil.Dont trust the lights.

[rudee023]

Are you sure it's a tick? I had what I thought was a timing chain rattle and it turned out to be the alternator bolt was loose and rattling like crazy.

[vangj]

When the car is started, if I open the oil cap, oil does come out from there. I guess there's oil. Any other good way of checking to make sure there is oil?I will check my alternator, but it sounds like it's coming from inside the motor. It doesn't really sound like a rattling noise either. Sounds more like tacking/tacking noises. Thanks.

[compression]

First, do a compression check, its quick and easy. If everything is OK, then it is probably the lifters. THey are not hard to bleed, just a pain to get at because you have to remove the cams, which means removing the cam gears, which means you run the risk of putting in back together wrong if your timing chain jumps a tooth or something.Make sure you know all the torque specs for when you reassemble it and organize everything so you put it back together correctly. It shouldnt take you more than an afternoon if you have a slight clue what you are doing. Having the FSM handy helps too.

[SpeedRacer1]

If it sounds like its coming from the center of the engine and not the head and it sounds like a bad metal on metal sound you may need to replace your main bearings or connecting rod bearings.

This is usually a rare, bad thing that has been known to engines. That may be the reason the engine was pulled from the car in Japan in the first place.

[vangj]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'll just have to try bleeding the lifters first to see if that solves the problem. Will it be ok to drive the car if the lifters are making these noises? I've taken it for a spin once, and it seems to drive okay, it's just the noise is loud.

I hope it's not the bearings. It sounds like it's coming from the head area, towards the intake camshaft.

[SpeedRacer1]

Its fine to drive the car with the adjusters ticking. It doesnt harm anything, its just annoying.

[vangj]

Yeah, it is pretty annoying. It's kind of embarrassing too when you are driving around in a nice looking car with a motor making ticking noises.If it's ok to drive the car with the lifters making noises, then I guess I'll just have to drive it the way it is for now. Has anyone ever driven their car with the lifters making noises before? Any issues?

[kota2240]

I have the same problem, very annoying loud ticking noise. But i am not getting oil into the valve cover. Im not hijacking your thread but one question.. To manualy prime the pump, how would i do that exactly

[stumpz]

that's not your problem kota..even if you have looked at your oil pan and it looks like there are no dents..take it off and check from the inside..unless you have already done so..

[kota2240]

Hey STUMPZ , I banged out the center of the pan and the loud noises are gone!!!! It runs so good THANKS!!!!! Maybe we can meet up some time..

[vangj]

Kota2240, so that solved your ticking noises from the motor? Maybe I should check my oil pan also... Why would the oil pan cause the ticking noises?

[912.0turbo]

Because the pan will block the oil pickup.Happened to me once also and I swear I didnt hit anything I think the shop that took it off screwed it up.

[kota2240]

My oil pan looked perfect, but sitting on a pallet the whole pan must have been pushed upwards and the oil pickup is like mm above the pan. I took it off and noticed marks on the bottom from the pickup. So i banged it out and everything is good. But my problem was i was not getting oil into the motor. Vangi you said that you are getting oil into the valves right? you might not be getting enough oil

[vangj]

I'm pretty much guessing that I am getting oil because my oil light goes out and when I start the car and open the oil-cap, I get some oil jumping out. This doesn't mean that I am fully getting alot of oil. What's the best way to check?Should I just take the pan out and hit it down from the inside? What is needed to put the oil pan back in If I were to take it out?

[kota2240]

Bang it out from the inside of the pan, use some liqued gasket when done, make sure it can handle heat. thats basically it.

[vangj]

Simple enough. I guess I'll check my oil pan first before I try bleeding the lifters.

What is the best way to check for good oil pressure?

[vangj]

Oh yeah, should I only bang out areas that I see is dented or just bang the whole thing from the inside?

[kota2240]

I only banged out the center where the oil pick up line is. Mine had a mark on the pan from being dented slightly

[vangj]

I tried pushing down on my rocker arms, by the lifters last night and they don't seem to move. I might of did it wrong. Am I suppose to apply alot of pressure? I just kind of tried pushing it down and left-to-right a couple of times. They didn't seem to move. Any ideas?

I will probably check my pan this weekend.

[S13240]

Those days when you drove the car. Did it boost fine or felt like not much boost was going? Could just be a cracked exhaust manifold gasket. A cracked gasket can make it sound like the ticking is from inside the motor but it's not.

[vangj]

I haven't drove it much because of the noise. It kind of scares me to drive it because I don't want anything bad to happen to the motor. When I did drive it, I didn't really push it (only up to about 4k rpm). It does feel like the turbo is kicking in. I only have 2 bolts bolted up on the downpipe. I couldn't get the 3rd bolt to go up. Can this be causing it? It doesn't sound like an exhaust leak though.

[SpeedRacer1]

When you have bolts missing, the metal can slam together and make pretty harsh sounds at certain RPM's. Get that third bolt on there.

[S13240]

I haven't drove it much because of the noise. It kind of scares me to drive it because I don't want anything bad to happen to the motor. When I did drive it, I didn't really push it (only up to about 4k rpm). It does feel like the turbo is kicking in. I only have 2 bolts bolted up on the downpipe. I couldn't get the 3rd bolt to go up. Can this be causing it? It doesn't sound like an exhaust leak though.

No that wouldn't cause the noise that you're explaining. I say take off your exhaust manifold and check the gasket to see if it's cracked or leaking anywhere. Even if you had 2 bolts holding the dp up to the stock 02 extension it would leak but not noises like you explained. It would just quickly burn up and tear away your gasket on your dp without that third bolt.

Since you're scared to drive and seems like not much progress is being done on the car. I would have it towed to a respected local mechanic to take a look at it.

[vangj]

Last night I took the oil pan off and banged out the center of the oil pan and some other little dents around the pan. Now the pan looks pretty good. It didn't help the problem though. Still making ticking noises. At least now I now that I am getting good oil pressure, so I won't be as afraid to drive the car.

I guess this leaves me with two options: to bleed the lifters, or the bearings are messed up. If the bearings were messed up, would I see any type of smoke coming from anywhere, or would the compression be different?

[SpeedRacer1]

If the bearings are messed up there are no other symptoms that you can detect other than sound, or measuring them. You'll know they've gone really bad when they launch a connecting rod out the side of your block.