[TokyoJoe]

Took the car for a drive the other day, nothing fancy, just to the store and back. On the way home going up the hill to my house I heard a clicking sound. Popped the hood and the noise seems to be coming from under the front left cam cover, kind of hard to tell for sure though. It is pretty loud and sounds metal on metal. You can only hear it during idle though, if you rev anywhere past 1200 it goes away or fades. I plan on having it towed to the shop on Tuesday to pull the cover and have a look. Anything I need to pay special attention to? Any high failure items like springs or bearings or anything? Hopefully nothing major is messed up and I can just use this as an excuse to throw some new cams in.

If I can get an audio file hosted do you guys think that might help?

 

[R33_GTS-t]

If I can get an audio file hosted do you guys think that might help?

Audio file may help. A clicking could be anything. How loud is it relative to ambient engine noise? Frequency of clicking?

 

[TokyoJoe]

VERY loud at idle and fades as the revs increase. Much louder that general engine noise. Seems the frequency is with...say the lope of the cam opening a valve, it's that fast.

 

[G.A.T FEAST]

Id like to think that the lifters are in need of a change and are rattling in there bores, which may be the sound your hearing now.

Or there is a possibility that a retainer that holds the valve spring in place has broken, but not common on 26 motors.

All in all, once the rocker covers are pulled off, youll have a good chance on seeing whats going on.

Best of luck~!

 

[R33_GTS-t]

VERY loud at idle and fades as the revs increase. Much louder that general engine noise. Seems the frequency is with...say the lope of the cam opening a valve, it's that fast.

I'm clutching at straws here but large leaks in the exhaust gasket can sound like that.

It looks like a trip to a specialist.

 

[TokyoJoe]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I was hoping it was somthing such as lifters and nothing any more major than that. Pretty sure it's not an exhaust leak, maybe if I just put a new set of turbo's on but this isn't that type of sound.

Here is a short video file

tokyojoe - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I'll be towing the car tomorrow to the garage and having a look. I'm still pretty new to this motor and OHC motors in general (I'm a pushrod guy) so any help is appreciated.

 

[EvolutionVI]

Had the same noise after my engine rebuild,it sounds like something like a washer is inside the valvecover,sounds like tiktiktik,very loud,it was making me very angry,because i cant find the problem and did not want to take the engine out again,after i removed both camcovers a few times without finding a problem,i did it the hard way,i was sure everything i did in the rebuild was fine,so i drove the car with the noise,after 300meters,the noise was away,drove it a little bit more,seems fine,then it came back after around 50km´s for 5 sek @ idle and since then(8000km´s) it never showed up again:bowdown1:

 

[TokyoJoe]

Whew, well I pulled the front of the motor apart today down to the timing belt and found that the tensioner bearing was beyond fubar'd. Check out the what's left of it.

The one that was jacked up was the left one under the water pump, which looked semi new. My guess is there was a leak from the pump previously in the car's life which lead to the demise of the bearing judging by the rust.

Guess I can put some adjustable cam gears on now and an N1 pump along with all new belts while I'm in there. I'm just really relieved it wasn't something inside the block making that noise :clap:

 

[EvolutionVI]

Looks pretty fuc*ed

 

[kismetcapitan]

Had the same noise after my engine rebuild,it sounds like something like a washer is inside the valvecover,sounds like tiktiktik,very loud,it was making me very angry,because i cant find the problem and did not want to take the engine out again,after i removed both camcovers a few times without finding a problem,i did it the hard way,i was sure everything i did in the rebuild was fine,so i drove the car with the noise,after 300meters,the noise was away,drove it a little bit more,seems fine,then it came back after around 50km´s for 5 sek @ idle and since then(8000km´s) it never showed up again:bowdown1:

I'm now having this exact same problem. And it can't be the idlers, I just put brand new ones in...unless I've been cheated and they just took my new ones and left the old ones in - which I seriously doubt. In fact, although my idlers (both) only had 12,000km on them, I suspected them as the source of the noise and had them replaced. Nope, still making that tiktiktik sound.

It is affecting my ability to correctly measure knock while I'm remapping off-boost (the sound goes away when on boost). I'm trying to optimize ignition/fueling so that I get better spool and hotter EGT and a better transition into on-boost. But I can't hear knock on my detcans, and my knock graph is choppy...tiktiktiktiktik :chairshot

 

[TheD]

This is exactly the same ting that has happened to mine!!!

This is exactly the same ting that has happened to mine!!!

I am not so lucky though mate...

My tensioner has completely gone and the engine died. It did so at idle so hopefully - the valves aren't bent up!

I ordered the full cambelt kit and am going to change the whole lot. I also ordered a new spring, washers studs. If i'm lucky I just need to pop the new bits on - if not i'm rebuilding my head at very least

On the downside, it means money and time with my toy off the road but I guess it's a good excuse to do some other bits and bobs!

This is a warning to anyone who has experienced a drop of power and perhaps a slight rattle at high revs under acceleration - i could be your tensioner... Mine skipped a tooth and lost compression then it finally went later in the week on the way to my brother in laws house. It had the exact same rattle. DONT drive it if this sounds like yours. Take 30 mins out to whip the top cover off and check for play in the tensioner...

I have quite possible lern't the hard way...

J.

 

[gices]

Those pictures surely shows that the part is pretty messed up ...
An instant replacement would be a better option for the care

Anyways any idea what might have made it look as it is looking now ?? I woudln't want that to happen to my baby ...

 

[kismetcapitan]

Maybe it is the buckets. A cam could be completely within clearances, but have sideways play I guess.

The sound is gradually fading with 500km on the new-new engine, to the point where I can now read my knock graphs and map ignition. But it still sucks, and it's still unnerving.