samerooo

Hello.

I just recently purchased the vehicle and have been doing alot of normal maintenance on the car. When I got the car, it was running very smoothly with VERY minor ticking in the engine....VERY minor. I just got the oil changed 4 days ago with Penzoil 5w-30 oil and the engine is now ticking at idle and can be heard when accelerating.

Looking through the vehicles service records, I noticed that a synthetic oil was used in the engine in late '06. I don't have any service records beyond that.

Could it be the engine oil that is causing the engine to tick? Should I switch to synthetic ASAP? My engine does not leak and no smoke blows from the mufflers.

What do you guys think I should do?

illcelsior

Thinner oil will make the tick more noticeable.

You should fix the problem. Not just change to a different oil.

samerooo

I'm planning on a timing belt + water pump change soon. Does that adjust the ticking problem and make it go away?

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

I think the seller added a thicker oil to hide the noise. It may have been leaking or smoking as well and as the thickener breaks down it will show up .

Lexushead

Or you were so excited about the car and didn't notice the ticking.

illcelsior

Not at all. The ticking is in the valve train. You must check and adjust shims/buckets.

However, you would normally want to do this job while doing the timing belt and water pump. (and whatever else you want while you are buried in there..)

Bill Dowd

I agree with the person talking about the valves I have been running mobil one in engine and my valves have always ticked until I had them ajusted. The ticking wont hurt anything my valves ticked for 100,000 miles then I finally had the dealer ajust them. Its expensive $888.00 it takes 8 hours to ajust them and if you have them ajusted ask the person working on the engine to cleane out the throttle body of carbon you will find the your lexus will run better. I have found out that all lexus's build up carbon in the valve body or also called air intake. Using synthetic oil won't hurt the engine in fact it helps the engine last longer. Quick tip if you are going to have the lexus smogged take it on a 10-15 mile on the freeway or interstate road and this will clean out the engine and will help the car to pass the smog test.