Ticking Noise at Idle

Thats not "normal".Its an awful noise.

I sounds like collapsed lifter(s) to me.

A blowing exhaust can sometimes make a similar sound....

monster said:

A blowing exhaust can sometimes make a similar sound....

Click to expand...

Have you listened to the clips

me&my997 said:

monster said:

A blowing exhaust can sometimes make a similar sound....

Click to expand...

Have you listened to the clips

Click to expand...

You'd be suprised, a manifold crack can sound just like that, however I agree, it doesn't sound right.

I answered via email my thoughts on this .. to be fair ill post it here ..



I've just uploaded the videos and posted them on the forum for others to
comment on ..

For me .. that's not a tappet sticking .. it does sound more chain related
, a little louder than i would have liked .

It seems to be more bank 2 so the o/s/r of the car .. it would be worth just
making sure all the plugs are tight on that bank as was mentioned on your
post .

I do know that rebuilt engines can have a chain type noise and there isn't
anything you can really do about it .

As with all videos of noises it may well be louder or quieter in real life
than the recordings shows , as such i would like , when ever you get the
chance just to get an Indy to have a listen and confirm its not a problem .

lets put it this way .. i have in the past told one guy not to start his car
again and to get it recovered on the forum .. with you its a noise I'm not
worried about as such but would like someone to listen to the car instead of
remotely like i am.

Basically it needs to go on a ramp and confirm the noise is from the
tensioner area that side .



i've not had a reply so can't comment further and my " help " wasn't that good .. . i don't have an answer basically .

me&my997 said:

monster said:

A blowing exhaust can sometimes make a similar sound....

Click to expand...

Have you listened to the clips

Click to expand...

Yes, both clips. That is what led me to make the comment I made.

When trying to pinpoint a problem its best to consider all possibilities and I have heard similar noises in the past which initially sounded like a tapping sound but on further investigation turned out to be a blowing exhaust.

I had a good listen around mine this afternoon and it certainly doesn't sound like the video clip, i'd take it in somewhere for a looksee if I were you!

deMort said:

I answered via email my thoughts on this .. to be fair ill post it here ..



I've just uploaded the videos and posted them on the forum for others to
comment on ..

For me .. that's not a tappet sticking .. it does sound more chain related
, a little louder than i would have liked .

It seems to be more bank 2 so the o/s/r of the car .. it would be worth just
making sure all the plugs are tight on that bank as was mentioned on your
post .

I do know that rebuilt engines can have a chain type noise and there isn't
anything you can really do about it .

As with all videos of noises it may well be louder or quieter in real life
than the recordings shows , as such i would like , when ever you get the
chance just to get an Indy to have a listen and confirm its not a problem .

lets put it this way .. i have in the past told one guy not to start his car
again and to get it recovered on the forum .. with you its a noise I'm not
worried about as such but would like someone to listen to the car instead of
remotely like i am.

Basically it needs to go on a ramp and confirm the noise is from the
tensioner area that side .



i've not had a reply so can't comment further and my " help " wasn't that good .. . i don't have an answer basically .

Click to expand...

Maybe this is why the OPC replaced my timing chain when they rebuilt my engine. The master tech said, that they usually do this as a matter of course due to often finding blackness in the chain. I believe they also replaced the chain tensioners.

deMort said:

I answered via email my thoughts on this .. to be fair ill post it here ..



I've just uploaded the videos and posted them on the forum for others to
comment on ..

For me .. that's not a tappet sticking .. it does sound more chain related
, a little louder than i would have liked .

It seems to be more bank 2 so the o/s/r of the car .. it would be worth just
making sure all the plugs are tight on that bank as was mentioned on your
post .

I do know that rebuilt engines can have a chain type noise and there isn't
anything you can really do about it .

As with all videos of noises it may well be louder or quieter in real life
than the recordings shows , as such i would like , when ever you get the
chance just to get an Indy to have a listen and confirm its not a problem .

lets put it this way .. i have in the past told one guy not to start his car
again and to get it recovered on the forum .. with you its a noise I'm not
worried about as such but would like someone to listen to the car instead of
remotely like i am.

Basically it needs to go on a ramp and confirm the noise is from the
tensioner area that side .



i've not had a reply so can't comment further and my " help " wasn't that good .. . i don't have an answer basically .

Click to expand...

Apologies for the delay in my response.

Thanks for the support and feedback, really appreciated.

I'll get the car booked into the Indy I use and may also consider gaining the opinion of my local OPC.

My Indy had previously mentioned the chain tensioners but no immediate concern.

The noise is annoying and something I've lived with too long without really getting to the source. I had read Hartech comments previously and thanks to Baz for commenting again but I still hope it's something that can be sorted.

With the contributions from all on this great forum it will help me decide the next steps I take. Could be a good few weeks before I get the car looked at.

Thanks again!!

My 996 has developed the exact same noise as yours on the same side - offside rear.

Noticed it a few weeks back when on idle and on low revs. Seems to disappear at higher revs or just not noticeable as much.

Mine is booked with my local Indy next week for plug change and investigation.

Probably the most difficult to analyse from a recording and you really need to take the car somewhere they are more familiar with the noises and their consequences.

The fact that the noise rises with revs is odd if it is related to a tensioner because the oil pressure soon rises with revs and usually provides enough pressure to dampen out and chain snatch - unless there is something else out of balance between cylinder firings that causes a drop in revs every time that cylinder fires and a consequent snatch when the tickover is automatically raised to compensate.

Anything that unbalances the tickover on one cylinder can be a cause and this includes exhaust manifold connections, loose plug, burnt or bent valve, sticky or weak tappet, sticky fuel injector or a fuel injector out of delivery scale on tickover, inlet manifold leak, exhaust leaks, ignition coil damage, loose valve seat, bent or burnt or coked up valve and some sound metallic even though they are the result of exhaust leaks or plug leaks (list not exhaustive by any means).

A big end on its way out sounds similar and noises rise with revs - but you should be able to see evidence of that in the oil filter.

A damaged piston can also make similar noises but if the engine had 6 Nikasil liners that is highly unlikely unless something fell into a cylinder.

We would be happy to listen to it if you want to bring it up to us by appointment.

It may also be just one of those that some engines have as a result of general wear. This is because the tickover control is set from new as low as possible to just avoid a ticking noise - but as parts wear a bit (like hydraulic tensioners and really all the parts I have listed above) it sometimes unbalances the tickover which needs to be higher.

Sometimes a rebuilt engine with Nikasil cylinders runs with slightly better compression at low revs and results in the tickover control hunting a bit and as it does so the tick can come and go but as I mentioned above it usually goes away as revs rise when there is more oil pressure to the tensioners.

I agree it can be very irritating but having spent hours and a lot of money changing just about everything you could ever think of on some of our own engines without either sourcing the cause or eliminating it - you may have to try and ignore it.

Just one final point - has the car had an oil change and is it presently running with a lower viscosity oil (as per original handbook recommendations)?

Baz

bazhart said:

Just one final point - has the car had an oil change and is it presently running with a lower viscosity oil (as per original handbook recommendations)?

Baz

Click to expand...

We recommend 10W50 Nanodrive be interesting to try it but it's takes a while to purge the thinner oil from some of the tensioner.

Baz

bazhart said:

We recommend 10W50 Nanodrive be interesting to try it but it's takes a while to purge the thinner oil from some of the tensioner.

Baz

Click to expand...

I've been running Millers Nanodrive since the rebuild, best part of 5 years ago now. Gets an oil change every year and is due for a service. It'll get another dose of 10W50.

same!

My 997.1 3.8S melty edition does exactly this, bore scoped and no score, interesting it can be loose plug, exhaust leak, tandem pump etc, at leas they are easy, if a little labour intensive wins.

Given me something to take apart on the weekend now!

Beers!