First986NJ

Yesterday I fired up my car after keeping her in the nice warm garage for the winter. I am a little unnerved by what I heard...a slight, but clearly audible, ticking sound emanating from inboard of the drivers side rear wheel area. The sound raises and lowers in speed with rpm changes, but gets no louder or softer. Car seemed to rev and respond fine to mild revving. Car was almost fully warmed up. There is no smoking or CEL light. Car is an '03 base and was last serviced 12k miles ago by the dealer (15k service). Oil 0-50W, is full, and is just due for a change. I was going to switch to Castrol Syntec during this change.

Now, I know it is likely this is just an exhaust leak, since I haven't re-torqued anything since I installed the headers and Fabspeed muffler at the start of last summer, but I know it can be a few other things as well - some not so good.

I also know that a lot of you guys say the light ticking sound is normal with your cars, and mine IS just getting to the point of being "broken in," as it just hit 28k miles before I put it away for the winter. Is it likely that this is just a "normal" Boxster engine trait that I am just starting to hear ? I can't swear that it wasn't doing this before I garaged it for the winter last year.......

So, if checking out the exhaust situation stop the ticking, what else should I check out , and in what order of likelihood ? All opinions are appreciated.

stumpjumper

I've tracked down a bunch of ticking and rattles in my car, so here's been my experiences, I have a 2002 S so the exhaust may be a little different, but I don't remember off hand

my first ticking/rattle was on the secondary catalytic converter's removable heat shields, they're held on with simple hardware and while the cat and shield are stainless the hardware isn't, so it dies quickly, removing those shields was quiet for awhile, they've been removed since 2005 or so

the second ticking/rattle came from the secondary cats as well, this time in the welded on heat shielding where the pipe bends before the cat, one of the welds had cracked so I removed each cat and cut the shield off with a grinder, these shields didn't appear to serve any structural purpose but did have the nasty side effect of holding dirt and water in them... bad news for very hot steel, I've had them removed for 2 or 3 years now and it's been fine

my third rattle was the most infuriating to locate, it took me months, I couldn't hear it in the car unless I was next to a wall or fence, then the sound would reflect and I could hear it, I couldn't hear it in neutral while revving, the engine needed load on it before it would make the rattle, it started quiet but after a series of hill climb runs on some back roads in vermont (the app gap) it got much, much worse

when I got home from that trip I put the car up and started banging on the exhaust with a rubber mallet till I found it, it turns out the primary cat element had broken loose inside both units! thankfully the car was under warranty (80k miles for emissions, yay!) and they replaced both cats for free, no more rattle since

coincidentally, when my car was in for the primary cats another had come in with the same symptoms, and a 3rd had been done the week before

First986NJ

Lots of great information there stumpjumper. Thanks.

Primary cats are gone. Headers in their place. Main cats are still on though, and one of the clamps could have slipped a bit also. Sounds like it might be coming from the headers - gasket leak maybe.

I will get under there this weekend, but wanted to get some more ideas from the board in case it doesn't turn out to be the exhaust.

Thanks again for your reply. I will be sure to check those things out.

Macster

that time my guess would be a lifter has bled down and is not quite pumped up nice and hard again, yet.

While sometimes they pump up idling not always.

First thing i'd advise is changing oil/filter. Then take car out for a good drive. No need to go crazy. But it needs to be driven. Driven enough the lifters turn in their respective lifter bores. This turning/rotation very gentle. But it does result in each lifter obaining a position that best helps purge it of any air and replace this with fresh oil absence any entrained air. Once this occurs lifter will quiet down.

If noise gets louder, worse or engine exhibits any other odd or bad behavior return to the barn quick.

Next time you put car away for winter change oil/filter *before* you put car away.

Sincerely,

Macster.

First986NJ

Thanks Macster, That's pretty much what I decided to do next...see below.


Update:

First a correction: Car has whatever oil the dealer put in at the 15k service. Probably 5w-40 Mobil 1. Don't know why I typed 0w-50 that's what is in my MB.

Anyway, started the car and let it run for abouut 25 mins last night...only at an idle, did not drive it. If it is a lifter, it didn't pump up. However, I did notice a couple of things.

1) You can not hear the tick through the intake as someone had suggested I listen for.

2) It could still be a lifter I guess, but it doesn't really sound like one. The tick is more like an electric arcing sound. Sharp and crisp, not really a "rap" or "clack" sound. Then again, I don't know what Porsche engines sound like when a lifter is collapsed. I can say that this doesn't sound like a bad lifter in a big 6 or a small block V-8 sounds...that much I know.

3) The sound pitch or loudness does not change with the rpms rising or falling, however the frequency of the ticking follows rpms.

I did double check the oil level with the dip stick and bothe the dip stick and the computer show it is full. Am going to try changing the oil (am going to change from Mobil 1 to Castrol Syntec as well) and drive it around a bit to see if it quiets down.

Macster

through intake manifold.

Also, could be noisy injector. A dose of Techron in tank, maybe two treatments, then an oil change wouldn't hurt. Use Techron according to instructions.

Lastly, check for loose spark plug or a bad coil pack. Generally engine runs different when either of these occur but it may not be bad enough to really affect engine just yet.

Another possibility though slim at this point is during winter combustion chamber deposits came loose and a piece is caught between exhaust or intake valve, holding it open just enough for the valve to leak and make a noise.

Generally if this happens there's a bunch of noise at start up but the stuff gets pounded to dust and blown out of exhaust pronto.

In a real bad case engine can lock cause there's so much engine can't compress it at top dead center.

Sincerely,

Macster.

First986NJ

Got under the car and did find some evidense of minor exhaust leaks. Tightened clamps and changed oil and filter. Changed over to Castrol Syntec 5w-40. Mobil 1 that came out was quite dark but still exibited good viscosity as it clung to the drain pan pretty well.

In any event, the noise was absolutely gone when I started the engine after the oil change. Not even a few seconds of clicking...totally gone.