Weird Ticking....Grrr

hexadec0079 · #1 12-21-2006, 06:05 PM

So I go to get in my car to go home from a friends house. Start her up, and there is a weird ticking that starts at 2000rpm and will continue down to idle, then go away. Rev to about 2k, and it does it again. I check everything, put in a bottle of MMO and some PS stop leak (unrelated). Then do an Italian tune-up on the way home (average about 3k rpms). Turn off car and start again, 2k and it still does it....

An hour with an engine stethoscope and nothing... Sound is coming from near the firewall.... Also they idle is a bit surging, but probably a vacuum leak, or TPS, if that helps...

Top Choices:
Lash Adjuster
Flesplate

Please help..............

SVXRide · #2 12-21-2006, 07:37 PM

try jacking the front end up (put it on jackstands) and start the car up. Get under the car - right under the flexplate - and see if the sound isn't comming from right above you. If it is, you can bet it's your flexplate (sounds like someone hitting the back of the engine with a hammer). The sound goes away at higher rpms because the plate flattens out under load. Are you missing either one of the alignment pins that come out of the rear of the engine and line the trans up? If you are, you might as well start unbolting the trans

-Bill (broken flexplate collector

)

hexadec0079 · #3 12-21-2006, 08:44 PM

tried that... no its not that loud... I double checked everything, it looks good. When I drive and I hear it in gear, I pop it into neutral and it remains. It sounds like a injector, but louder. Like a tapping. Almost like a front diff starting to fail. But is engine rpm related...

Also, it only happens when revs drop. When revving up, nothing. Drop the rpms, and it happens down to idle, then suddenly goes away...

SVXRide · #4 12-21-2006, 09:07 PM

my $$ is still on the flexplate....what you've described is how flexplate #2 went on me....hope this isn't the case, but I can't think of anything else around the firewall area that could be making the noise you're describing....
-Bill
p.s. have you checked the flexplate bolts to make sure they're tight?

Manarius · #5 12-21-2006, 10:58 PM

My vote goes to a back piston lash adjuster.

hexadec0079 · #6 12-21-2006, 11:25 PM

yeah, I think its a stuck lash adjuster.
My friends and I were in the garage guessing and we narrowed it down to hydraulic lash adjusters or a stuck/bent valve.

Go back inside/upstairs *smack my forehead* Dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

My friends ask whats up?

Non-interference engine, I forgot the EG33 was unable to bend valves.

Probably Lash adjuster, but I have a pal who is a SOA employee=free labor

crotchrocketony · #7 12-21-2006, 11:43 PM

one quick question before I say flex plate.. what weight oil do you have in the car? unles you have some heavy oil in it im going to have to go with the flex plate. thats just how my flex plate sounded when it was going....it worsened from a valve tap noise to a rod knock type noise. (once I pulled it, I dont think I was going to make it all the way home that night if i hadnt pulled it in the shop) I would change the oil with some 5w30 and MMO run it for about 200 miles like this. if the problem doesnt get better go buy your self a flexplate

hexadec0079 · #8 12-22-2006, 08:35 AM

it is probably a stuck lash adjuster, I am using 10-30 and I checked the flexplate and bolts... all seems ok.

SVXRide · #9 12-22-2006, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexadec0079

it is probably a stuck lash adjuster, I am using 10-30 and I checked the flexplate and bolts... all seems ok.

The EG33 has hydraulic lifters, not solid lifters, so there are no lash adjusters. As far as the flex plate goes, if it is cracked then you won't see the crack until you take the trans out and unbolt the flexplate, as the crack is under the circular plate that mounts against the flexplate. The crack will be an almost perfect circle.

-Bill

hexadec0079 · #10 12-22-2006, 09:08 AM

I am aware that the EG33 has hydraulic lifters, but there are lash adjusters, they are also Hydraulic and may be clogged with oil....

SOA mechanic said it was a timing belt tensioner..... at the back of the engine

Manarius · #11 12-22-2006, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexadec0079

I am aware that the EG33 has hydraulic lifters, but there are lash adjusters, they are also Hydraulic and may be clogged with oil....

This type of tick is very common for the EG33 and EJ22. Far more common than a broken flexplate I would think.

Dza · #12 12-22-2006, 12:37 PM

I have a horrible, embarassing ticking noise too. I have had it for so long, and I am finally getting sick of it. It starts when I start the car, increases with rpm, and sometimes SOMETIMES dulls to a barely audible click if I drive a long time at standard operating temp but is always there.

I took it to my local Subaru jerks (I hate them so much), and they took a *LOT* of my money to fix a "valve lash adjuster" and it didn't change anything. When I started it up afterward when I picked it up it was still ticking but they basically said "Not our problem. You said do a valve lash adjuster, and we did. Sorry it didn't fix your ticking. If you pay us more, we can look into it further."

I can't keep spending $100s of dollars guessing at wtf this is. My local "professionals" are stumped, so what can I do from here?

Edit: checking flexplate ASAP based on this threads suggestion. I'll upload an audio clip of just how bad it is tonight or tomorrow.

Edit2: Also, I have had a knock sensor CEL on for a while. I have 2 new knock sensors to go in (which I am having done for 0.7 hours time per the TSB

). If this horrible tick is still there, then I should still have the CEL even with new sensors, right?

Trevor · #13 12-22-2006, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dza

I have a horrible, embarassing ticking noise too. I have had it for so long, and I am finally getting sick of it. It starts when I start the car, increases with rpm, and sometimes SOMETIMES dulls to a barely audible click if I drive a long time at standard operating temp but is always there.

I took it to my local Subaru jerks (I hate them so much), and they took a *LOT* of my money to fix a "valve lash adjuster" and it didn't change anything. When I started it up afterward when I picked it up it was still ticking but they basically said "Not our problem. You said do a valve lash adjuster, and we did. Sorry it didn't fix your ticking. If you pay us more, we can look into it further."

I can't keep spending $100s of dollars guessing at wtf this is. My local "professionals" are stumped, so what can I do from here?

Edit: checking flexplate ASAP based on this threads suggestion. I'll upload an audio clip of just how bad it is tonight or tomorrow.

Edit2: Also, I have had a knock sensor CEL on for a while. I have 2 new knock sensors to go in (which I am having done for 0.7 hours time per the TSB

). If this horrible tick is still there, then I should still have the CEL even with new sensors, right?

I gather that you are thinking that the knock sensors will pick up the ticking noise and record a code. This is very unlikely as the sensors are quite sophisticated devices, which will only pick up a noise/vibration direct from the engine block.

SVXRide · #14 12-22-2006, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexadec0079

I am aware that the EG33 has hydraulic lifters, but there are lash adjusters, they are also Hydraulic and may be clogged with oil....

SOA mechanic said it was a timing belt tensioner..... at the back of the engine

Interesting, as I've got an EG33 almost completely apart in my garage right now and there isn't a timing belt tensioner at the back of the engine (it's bolted to the front of the engine - slightly to the right of the engine centerline) and the only thing between the cams and the valves are the hydraulic lifters - there is no allowance for lash adjustment. Now, this said, the hydraulic lifters have been know to "tick", which is where the MMO suggestions from several folks come from.
-Bill
p.s. don't take this the wrong way, but has your SOA mechanic ever worked on a EG33?

hexadec0079 · #15 12-22-2006, 03:14 PM

he owns a SVX, so yeah...

I know the belt tensioners are at the front also, hence the

But the Lash adjusters are hydraulic to change the lash and can be clogged with gummed up oil, right???

For a comparison:
It does NOT sound like this http://videos.streetfire.net/video/7...9300fa2e75.htm

It is localized, not a rotational scrape, but more like a baseball in the spoke sound, one spot hitting something repeatedly almost, not a off balance flexplate rotating...