concor

Hi guys, I have a 928s 1984.

This morning I went to the store and I heard a metal ticking sound from the engine. 5 Minutes later I arrived and the salesmen (car supplies) said it might be thick oil as I used 20w50. He explained it might be a valve not getting oil. He advised 15w50. When I drove home the ticking sound disappeared in about 20 seconds.

What do you think? Should I get 15w50? I had this ticking sound about a year ago too only once, and only for a couple minutes. It's not cold today, 15C (59F), and in the winter it usually gets not lower than -5C (23F) here in Holland.

Thanks in advance!

Oh, before I forget, the oil is 15 months old and I drove 7000km mostly 15 minute drives.

Leon Speed

If your car stood a long time before driving and the ticking sound happed with a cold engine, it could be the oil. However if 20w50 is warm the hydraulic lifter should get enough oil. I think 20w50 is too thick for Holland, but that's personal preference.

Maleficio

Your oil is 15 months old? Short drives for 15 months? You are causing your engine to sludge up. Your hydraulic lifters need to be clean and clear to allow oil pressure to fully pump them up so they can operate properly.

Running your oil that long, and only doing super short drives, will slowly destroy your engine.

Run a couple doses of Auto Rx as soon as possible. Follow the instructions to the T.

Take your car on long runs once a week. Switch to a quality synthetic.

http://www.auto-rx.com/

concor

@Aryan: Thanks for confirming it could be oil related.

@Maleficio: Okay, 15 months is bad for short drives I'll keep it at 12 in the future. I'll chance the oil today.

Sorry, what I forgot to mention is that I also do about 5 touring drives each year. That's a 4-6 hour drive over small roads which I like to do reasonably fast. That means lots of breaking and lots of accelerating.

I read that 20w50 protects the engine better under these conditions than 15w50. So I'll just leave it at that. The manual says 20w50 shouldn't be run under -15C (5F) , I'll keep that in mind.

Hopefully a fresh oil chance of 20w50 will fix the ticking sound. As I said I heard it only once before a year ago. If I hear it again, I'll chance to 15w50 to see if that fixes it.

I'm a bit anxious about cleaning fluids and synthetic oils. I want my 25 year old gaskets not to get too clean to prevent any leaks.

Maleficio

You fear cleaning solutions for your engine, yet the way you treat your car CREATES the proper environment for sludge buildup.

Auto Rx will not harm seals. It will remove sludge from the seal surfaces which will allow the additives in your oil to penetrate the seal material and help it to snap back to it's original state, and stop oil leakage.

Use dyno oil all you want. Nothing wrong with it. Just change it more often than synthetic because it is not as resilient.

riviera455

hydrolic lifters can loose some oil after a few days without driving,
then when you start the engine it can take a few minutes before they are back filled up with oil.
especialy when the oil is cold, thick and lost viscocity.
the oil must go trough a verry verry smal hole to fill the lifters, this may take some time.


change oil filter and oil, after a warm up
if a lifter would be realy bad or clogged , your engine would tick so hard you would not drive it , and it would not stop ticking.

start the engine a day after a drive, it shall not make that noise,,,,start it a week later,,,,tttttttttt

have you ever heard an engine running for the first time after the lifters are cleaned or replaced?
it rattles like a few big marbles in a tin can,,,for some time
the first time i did that i thought i had killed the engine.

Mrmerlin

Concor it might be a good idea to add about 1qt of marvel mystery oil to the oil and drive the car just the way you have been driving it.
drive it like this for about 500 miles then change the oil/filter and add another qt of marvel to the oil with the fresh oil .
The marvel will free up the lifters and in general assist in keeping the engine working better.
Lifter tapping is sometimes part of the how the engine works drive it easy till the lifters stop tapping. the 20W50 should be OK for summer

concor

Thanks Merlin, I'll add that special oil if I ever hear it again. I just changed the oil and no noise whatsoever. And if I hear it again I'll keep off the gas.

@Riviera. Good to know it is not a huge problem if it ticks once. And no, I haven't heard a clean motor start for the first time

Well, the problem seems gone. I know what to do if it comes up again. Add special Merlin oil first. If that doesn't help, switch to 15w50 instead of 20w50. Thanks a lot for the advice guys!! Super forum.

Mrmerlin

Ahh you can add the Marvel Mystery oil now,
it will work to clean out the lifters they will tap less but it takes some time for the MMO to work