tick-tick-tick under hood

[rrs814]

rythmic ticking noise that's intermittent (like the valve/tappet sounds of '50's-'60's engines) but it won't do it for the mechanics. ANY thoughts?

[Ronnie]

Could be a lifter sticking and not pumping up completely all the time. Good time to try some Sea Foam or similar additive.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

I always use a quart of trany fluid for 5 to ten right before a oil change. Usally works to clean gunk issues. Also I always do a second oil change 500 to 1k miles after, just to ensure I have gotten all the tranny fluid out of the system.

[Roadster90]

Just a thought, but check for noisy belt driven assemblies and ALSO check for loose components around the pulleys such as a loose crankshaft sensor .

[Guest Squire Tom]

you sure it isn't tick - tock -tick ?

if you are nyc or jersey ...

i suggest you have your wife start the car while you watch from a safe distance

[Richard S]

Noisy fuel injectors?

[Guest F14CRAZY]

Harmonic balancer?

[Guest Mike_s]

Bad belt?, does it only do it when the car is just warming up?

[Richard S]

Mike, would that be the belt or the tensioner? You can watch the tensioner and if it is moving in concert with the ticking, the bearing is probably getting ready to seize. Had that happen to my Allante. A siezed tensioner only takes a few seconds at highway speeds to destory the belt.

[Guest Ranger]

Hope you didn't upset someone with the last name Corleone.

Jim Too

[Guest Mike_s]

Richard, I was referring to the belt, probably a long shot but I think worth considering, I think your senario is more likely than mine, that and as you and others have said, either a lifter or injector.

[Richard S]

I have a fair lifter chatter on my 90 red, but that's because it has run almost 50k now without a cam bearing [the documented block tolerance problem. The Slick 50 I added ws just slippery enough to get under the cam bearing and allow it to work out. Took it out of the pan more than a year ago]. The gauge reads almost no oil pressure, and I susptect there is very little oil getting to the top end. Even so, the car starts and runs, albeit with less power than my others. Still, a backhanded testament to the resilience of the 3.8. When the engine is finally too weak for my taste, I will use the car for the supercharge conversion [telling my neighbors to complain directly to the guys who have done it].