"Ticking" sound from engine

[stateofidleness]

Gents,
I've had a nagging exhaust leak for some time, but yesterday, I changed my oil and while I had my car in the air, I wanted to see if I could figure out where the "ticking" sound was coming from (the ticking that I thought was the exhaust leak)

With the top engine cover off, I tried to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from and it sounds like it's on both sides of the engine right where the intake manifold tubes connect.

Now, I'm gonna show my engine illiteracy here, but I know only the term "lifters". I believe we have "hydraulic" lifters, but I don't exactly know what that means. Do these "tick"? The exhaust leak "tick" gets louder with RPM and I didn't figure out where it was just from a visual/listening inspection.

The one by the intake manifold didn't sound like an exhaust leak though and has me a little nervous.

I'm at 70k on a '00 base.

[papasmurf]

67k on 2000 base. At idle you can hear the ticking sound but it goes away if you rev the engine to 1200-1500 and hold it there briefly. If you let off the gas and let it idle for a moment again, the sound comes back....most noticeable under really light throttle application like when I leave a stop or am backing out of the drive. I am pretty sure it is the lifters. They are hydraulically actuated. I am not sure what to do to fix the problem as the car has always been this way since I have had it. Perhaps changing to a different grade of oil may help some...I am still running 0W40 M1.

[stateofidleness]

You know, I thought about oil AS I WAS FILLING IT WITH $70 worth of new oil!! ugh..

The whole time I was wondering If I should have gone with a higher valued viscosity like a 40w or even 50w. I'm running 5w30 Mobil 1 Extended Performance.

[Jake D]

Originally Posted by stateofidleness

You know, I thought about oil AS I WAS FILLING IT WITH $70 worth of new oil!! ugh..

The whole time I was wondering If I should have gone with a higher valued viscosity like a 40w or even 50w. I'm running 5w30 Mobil 1 Extended Performance.

Do a search on the oils that are recommended, but I'm pretty sure you aren't suppose to run 30 weight. I believe I've read that 30 doesn't provide enough protection, and that you should always run 40 weight

[jmatta]

I am certainly no expert, but I would put money on an oil change to a different weight, such as 5W40 or 10W40, will solve your issues. 0W40 is too thin, let alone 5W30. I've run 10W40 Castrol Syntec for the last few years and 5W40 Royal Purple before that...no ticking from my lifters.

[thstone]

A hydraulic lifter takes the place of the older valve tappet where a small space was left between the valve and the camshaft (or rocker arm). The tappets were noisy and required adjustment to maintain the correct clearance due to temperature and wear.

A hydraulic lifter works by filling the space between the valve and lifter with pressurized oil. This provides zero valve clearance which is quiter and performs like a solid lifter because the oil is incompressible.

Drawbacks are that the oil can drain down while the engine is off and then the lifters rattle for a few seconds at startup until the oil fills the space and the pressure comes up. This normally isn't an issue but a permanently rattling lifter typically indicates that the oil passage is blocked or there is some other mechcanical problem with the lifter and should be investigated.

Wayne over at Pelican Parts has a very nice write up on what it takes to get to those noisy lifters and Fig. 13 shows a very nice picture of the lifters:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/16-ENGINE-Camshaft_Swap_and_Chain_Tensioner/16-ENGINE-Camshaft_Swap_and_Chain_Tensioner.htm