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Ticking Coming From Engine

By greddy2race, February 5, 2012



I have a 2002 corolla S and earlier today a ticking sound started coming from my engine. It was very rhythmic and increased in speed as the engine did. It was less noticeable under light engine load but if I accelerated harder it got louder. Just curious as to what this could be so I can fix it and/or get it repaired before it becomes a major issue.

Some more info on the noise.... It only happens after the car has warmed up. Please any ideas as to what this may be would be helpful.

Hmmm. Doesn't sound like a mechanical tolerance issue, as parts which make a bit of noise when cold tend to quiet down as the engine temp goes up.

Could it be an injector? Or maybe an exhaust leak?

If you could record the sound and post it, that would be helpful to the mechanics who visit this site.

A number of things can cause this noise when the car is warmed up - corollamike mentioned one of the most common issues - injector tick and exhaust leak. Another possibility is a mechanical issue - piston touching plug, bad bearings (rod knock), piston slap, etc. Hard to say for sure without hearing it first hand. Make sure oil level is good - the 1ZZ-FE is pretty noisy from the start, gets a lot worse when oil levels start to drop.

If possible a sound clip would be best, otherwise, could you describe the noise in more detail? Metallic ticking, dull ticking, pitch high or low, etc.

Well I found out some more info....

I went to a small shop and was told that I have top and bottom end noise coming from my engine. The bottom they said is most likely the rod bearings, and the top could be from the lifters.

Obviously the rod bearings would concern me the most but The oil was changed about 3 weeks before the noise appeared. The top end noise was like a dull ticking very in sync with the engine speed. he bottom end noice was more of a metallic rattle that would only show up after I stopped accelerating. I was told to add some Lucas oil additive and it should help some with the noise. But that is what I have so far, and it was only an auditory inspection they did not open the engine.

Hope that helps with the diagnosing.

Noises right after an oil change are not a super good sign. Being three weeks away, could just be a coincidence. Lifter tick is coming from possible oil pressure issues (clogged oil passages). Hopefully the shop has experience with the 1ZZ-FE engine, as even in good running condition, they are pretty noisy engines. Lots of valvetrain chatter and thrashing from the timing chain.

You are right to be concerned about the rod knock. The metallic thrashing noise after you lift off the gas pedal definitely sounds like rod knock - you can double check by running the car up to 3000 RPM or so, then very slightly feather the throttle (drop RPMs 500 or so), if you get that back rattle noise, almost sure to be rod knock (assuming you discounted all other possibility for noises).

Lucas and other oil additives like it, change the viscosity and possibly boost your additive pack. Some use moly or zinc in suspension to hope that it sticks to the bearing surfaces to cut down on direct metal to metal contact. This will only be a temporary solution, as the bearing is continue to deteriorate. I'd definitely recommend getting used oil analysis done on the car ASAP, with the oil that is in it now. Find out if there are elevated wear metals and/or coolant in the oil. If it comes back clean - dump the oil and filter and use a fresh OEM filter and spec'd oil viscosity for the engine (no additives). You want to find out if the noise was caused by oil starvation (collapsed or damaged oil filter) or if the car doesn't like the oil you are currently using.

Ok thanks, should any oil change place be able to do the analysis or should I, god forbid, take it to the Stealer-ship?

Blackstone labs are the ones that I use - they'll even send you a sample container for free. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Unsure if this new information I found over at Toyota's Facebook page will help. Mentions '03 Corollas, and you said yours is an '02, but thought I'd pass it along:

"Has there been any recalls or anything I should know about the vacuum switching valve on the 03-08 corollas? A lot of my friends (who drive corollas) all have a annoying ticking sound coming from it. When we disconnect the sensor I'm assuming it goes away. I replaced mine but cost me over $50! Sound went away but yikes."

Cheers,

corollamike

friendly_jacek

Unsure if this new information I found over at Toyota's Facebook page will help. Mentions '03 Corollas, and you said yours is an '02, but thought I'd pass it along:

 

"Has there been any recalls or anything I should know about the vacuum switching valve on the 03-08 corollas? A lot of my friends (who drive corollas) all have a annoying ticking sound coming from it. When we disconnect the sensor I'm assuming it goes away. I replaced mine but cost me over $50! Sound went away but yikes."

Cheers,

corollamike

I have that noisy vacuum valve in my 3.5L V6 engine in RAV4 (2GR-FE). The noise is like sawing machine and would not be confused with rod knock. The OP's description sounds like a serious problem. I would be curious if the car consumes oil and if the oil level was allowed to go down.

The only hope is carbon knock that can sometimes mimic a rod knock. I would personally decarb the combustion chambers and change oil with OEM filter and a robust oil like Maxlife or other quality high milage oil.

Howdy,

As others mentioned, there's a number of possibliities, but in my experience, one 1ZZFE that I have that has a lifter that's a bit loose and when cold, doesn't make much noise, but when the engine and oil is hot (this is in a newly rebuilt engine), the ticking becomes audible and matches rpm changes. If you are at all handy with tools, Harbor Freight sells cheap mechanic stethescopes. You take the end of the long rod that's attached to the ear piece, and put it on different locations around the valve cover as well as on the side and bottom of the engine. If it's a lifter (valve clearance issues), the tick will be easily noticeable on and around the valve cover and you may be able to identify the valve location and lifter that is consistent with the ticking noise. If there's a significant crank or rod knock, the knock sensor on the side of the engine should set off a code and light up the engine check light, but if it gets that bad, it's usually pretty bad. If when doing the 2,000 rpms and slowly letting off the rpms (have a buddy do that while under with the stethascope), if you get a bottom or side engine block noise that is consistent with knocking/thrashing you hear, you should be able to get close to figuring where it's coming from. The timing chain makes a lot of noise, but that's a steady grind/growl that will be very noticeable when testing around the timing chain cover and not consistent with a ticking or rod knock.

Just some thoughts...

Cheers



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