Hi

In my quest to diagnose my cars ticking-noise under load (from 3000 rpms) I started reading about knocking, pinging ect - things I werent paying attention to previously.

Will someone here be so kind to evaluate the recording I made of my engine fully warmed up at idle?

http://soundcloud.com/appeardk/993-engine-idle

The sounds are rather exaggerated as the mic is all the way under the car next to the engine. During the clip I move from left wheel arc to the right and the back to the left side again. The left side seems more noisy than the right.

What do you guys think?

Thank you!

 

I would start with inspection of the hydraulic lifters. The audio is pretty dramatic to say the least. A collapsed lifter can sound pretty bad. Hopefully your problems stop there and do not lead to the valves. You can also do a leak down.

 

I have just changed all lifters to solve a low ticking for the first 3-4 minutes when the car is cold. That did however not solve the ticking.

So are you saying this sounds 'bad'?

 

Have you verified that you don't have any exhaust leaks?

 

No, but I have recently changed both exhaust (RSR from Gert) and sports catalytic converter (200Cell) and they used new gaskets when remounting these on my car.

 

Well, now you know where to start looking. Put the car up in the air, start it up, get under there and carefully feel around the various joints of the exhaust system for leaks. Don't burn yourself.

 

I agree with the exhaust as a starting point since the lifters are replaced. You can get some real mechanical sounding noises out of an exhaust leak.

 

It sounds quite "ticky" so yes it does not sound that great. However, I have had cases in my shop that it took a long time for all the new lifters to pressurize, even if they were primed before. Once car took almost 30 minutes to quiet up.

How long did you run in the next lifters?

Cheers,

mike

 

Thank you - I will add exhaust leaks to the top of the list!

Could someone here be persuaded to make a small recording of their car in idle, preferably from inside or next to the left wheel arch. Just so I have a reference to a perfectly healthy sounding engine. All I can find on youtube are recordings from 1-2 meters from the car which sound pretty much just like mine does.

 

The ticking noise can be heard inside the cabin and it goes away after just 3-4 minutes of driving below 3.000 rpms - just like it did before I replaced all lifters. I have driven almost 300 Kms since the lifter replacements, and both ticking sound and symptoms are the same as before. Stays quiet until the next day when the car is cold.

I actually do not hear 'ticking' at all (tiny metallic clicking sound) in this recording, but rather that metallic rythmic sound (dare I say tractor'ish) which I do not know if is normal for a 993 once you get really up close to the engine. That is why a recording from the wheel arch would be very interesting for comparison.

 

I'm putting my money on an exhaust leak. The reason it's loud when the engine is cold and then quiets down after a few minutes is because the exhaust components expand and close off the leak (or make it less noticeable) when they heat up. Common behavior for an exhaust leak.

 

Thanks.

So would an exhaust leak both make a very low volume ticking sound (heard from inside the cabin) that follows the egine revs and the sound in my wheel arch recording in this post. Never seen that mention on here before, but I will check it out asap!

 

I recently experienced a loud ticking and assumed it was lifter related as did the Indy. It was however a spark plug cap not fully attached and the ticking sound was the arching between plug and cap. Maybe worth checking out? Good luck

 

Hi

You do have a bit of a tick/clack going on there on the left hand side. Sadly it does not sound electrical to me, not quite staccato enough. Could be exhaust though possibly. Apart from the tick/clack sounds great!

You are going to have to get some garden hose up against your ear and the other end around and about the underneath of the engine. At least hat way you will be able to track any exhaust leaks down. Include the head to heat exchanger joints if you can.

Berni

 

I have quite the same noise on the left side of my engine, following revs and similar to a diesel engine typical noise. I went into lifters replacement, done both intake and exhaust but nothing changed.

I thought it could be a bended valve or even worth a bended rod but after hearing at 993's engine of two friends I found out they make the same noise...

So I'm just trying to live with it...
I was wondering if it could come from the distributor ?