RL911

I have a ticking noise coming from the engine. Never noticed it until the weather turned colder. Noise can be heard until car warms up and it's only heard at idle, sounds normal after warm up. Two trains of thought: Lifters or something going on with the variocam. My mechanic did some research and seems that if it is related to the variocam, could be the pads or possibly the chain. Anyone have any experience with this? Removing engine cover would tell for sure, but before doing that, wanted to see what I might find here on the forum.

Car has 136k miles on it.

Thanks

User 41221

How loud is it, and how rhythmic?

RL911

It's not loud, but it's clearly noticeable. Seems pretty steady and not intermittent.

Shamus

Can you isolate it to the variocam (screwdriver stethoscope)? Does it change with the rpms as you engage and disengage the variocam? have you disconnected the variocam?

odurandina

i'm guessing you're getting a lean flow to the heads at startup, but once it happens, the sound may persist.... but, it should first appear as a "come and go" issue. if that's what it is, it might be related to a pressure drop after bearings due to normal wear in combination with the particular oil you're running.

if you're not running a synthetic, try it... any of the "winter" oils like Mobil 1 0w-40, 5w-50 or 0w-50 "racing" oil. the racing oil is expensive stuff, but it's loaded with the ZDDP, (not that the ZDDP is going to quiet anything), but your heads will be getting oil quickly during cold startups. i had a noise back in the early winter of 2008 and i switched to the 0w-40 and the "ticking" intantly, stopped.


Mobil 1 10w-40 high mileage oil, which i saw at Walmart for only $6.26, could also quiet the noise -- if lean oil is the problem.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKtxq...layer_embedded

RL911

I run Mobil 1, 15w-50. This is a track car.

Lemming

Sounds like lifter tick, add a half quart of atf or marvel mystery oil

FraMac

I had a noise that sounded siilar to your description - it went after I had the cam buckets changed. Let us know how you get on with it, but as others have said it sounds like it's lifter related.

RL911

Changed the oil to 0w-40 from 15w-50 and fired it up this morning after it had been sitting a few days. Ticking is gone, quietest I've heard this car since I've had it. These cars must be very sensitive to oil weight. I'm still going to crack open the valve cover to take a peek, but appears this is no longer an issue.

FRporscheman

From my experience and a lot of what I've read, Porsches are very particular with oil weights and temperatures. I always switch to lighter oil for the winter, and this is the west coast, the car rarely (if ever) sees anything below freezing. Glad you figured it out!

968workaholic

15-50 in the summer and 10-40 in the colder months is the best weights for the cars from what I have seen. Glad to hear you got it all figured out!