**UPDATE- Turns out to be the a/c compressor, the clutch was locking up and making the tapping noise, no belt squeal, just tapping from the compressor...***
Thanks in advance for any helpful info!

Driving the car to work tonight, came to a stop, lowered the radio and heard some unusually loud tapping, (think poker card in a bicycle wheel spoke), pulled off to the nearest place I could, popped the hood, didn't see anything loose hitting anything.

Then it stopped, for about a minute, so I barely revved the engine (1500rpms) a few times, it still didn't come back for another minute. It sounds like it's coming from the timing belt side of the engine, I can't tell anything more specific.

I've read a few possibilities-

*Bad timing tensioner? I am overdue for a timing belt job (80k miles, belts were replaced at 30k, but not tensioner/pulley)

*Spun bearing? Sounds like it could be it, but it has stopped and started several times, car has correct amount of oil, did not over rev, was cruising to work, stopped and heard it.

*Lifter issue? Stock lifters, been running HKS280/272 for 60k miles now, never an issue.

I will have to take it somewhere on Monday, I'm just trying to get an idea before hand.

Thanks EvoM!

 

Whenever I see the words tapping, ticking or clicking, the first thing that comes to mind are the lifters. Noisy lifters are very common with older evos. Not to say that I believe that's what it is, it's just a force of habit of mine. A couple more questions:

Does engine temperature affect how loud it is?
Does the tapping get quicker with RPM?
Does putting the engine under load make it go away?

 

Could not tell about the temp(had to go to work, only did 5 min of observation)

YES, gets louder/quicker with revs

I believe it was still tapping under load, I limped it into the parking lot, keeping the rpms very low.

 

My DOHC 4G15 lancer had ticky lifters, with the following characterisitcs,

Louder when cold
Matched RPM (faster ticking at higher RPM)
Went away if I put the car under load for a moment (5 or 6 seconds)

What I think happened was a bit of something in my oil got stuck in one of the oil holes (they're only 0.5mm I think) and putting the car under load at higher temp gave it enough oil pressure to push a bit of oil through to lubricate it.

 

Thanks alot for the info, and with that in mind, I'll attempt to warm up and drive the car back to my place (about 3 miles away) and see if it comes back/ goes away. Monday I'll take it to get the lifters replaced if that's the issue.

If anyone else thinks different, please chime in