Hi,

Yesterday morning when I start my car, a loud continuous "tac tac" sound come from the top of the engine, valve cover. So I take the car to workshop, we opened the valve cover to check.

The mechanic check the clearance between the cam & valve tappet and he there is a big gap at first cylinder exhaust cam & third cylinder intake cam. He said I might have to change the valve tappet. The "tac tac" sound when cam knocking on the valve tappet because of the clearance.

After re-installation of the cover, start the engine, the sound is still there. When listen carefully it came from the cam gear area. I need to make sure what is the real problem, the valve tappet or the cam gear.

The mechanic said that the probable cause is the lube oil I am using is to thin. 0w-40 M1 Fully-syntethic, and summer temp here in Doha is 40-48 degC. Lack of cooling & lubrication cause the valve tappet to wear-out.

Hope that anyone who has experienced this or similar can help.

Thanks.

 

I don't think your oil would cause that. 0w-40 seems fine for you temps

 

Lifter tick its normal. All 4g motors do it and the 4b isnt any different.

 

I dont think it's the lifter tick.. Its not a normal tick a heard every day.. this way louder then the normal tick sound..

 

My "lifter" sound got very noticeable after the first oil change. Others have reported getting really loud at different mileage from new all the way to 60,000 + miles.

You may have hit that point with your car.

After I took it to the dealer and they checked everything and said nothing is wrong I learned to live with it. As long as you don't feel anything different in terms of driveability you should be ok too.

 

I havent drive the car since it made the noise.. I afraid I'm going to make it worse.. it is very uncomfortable sound.. as drive faster the "tac" sound faster.. Is there anything I can do to fix it? make the sound go away...

 

Maybe a video would help some of the guru's on here.

 

Hard to diagnose when not in-person. Make sure you check for an external source... something loose or an exhaust leak will make a similar noise. If you parked the car the night before, and it started making this sound the next time you started it, it probably isn't cam/lifter related.

 

.....and...........what are the specs the expert found on the clearances

 

Well when I heard it the first time it was at night coming home from being out the day of the oil change.

Had the car towed to the dealer for safety so you can imagine my surprise when I got the car back after being checked out and a fresh oil fill to find that its making the same exact sound and that everything has been tested as being OK.

My sound is also ticking sound that seems to go with the revs but then disappears at over 2500 rpm. Does yours do that? Also youtube is full of videos of people reporting ticking, clicking, or tacking sounds from the car and they all sound the same. you should look there too and compare.

 

the tick sound does not disappear.. it sound faster as I drive faster.. I did check the video on youtube about the knocking evo.. I think my tick is louder then in the video.. I'll post video later to show you guys how it sound..

 

here is the video.. sorry for quality, taken with iphone..

 

wow thats loud.

 

yeah thats def not normal, sorry i cant give you an answer as to what it is but its certainly not normal

 

Valves? Mid you over rev the motor
Lifter?
Pull the cover to see if you can detect any FOD in there.