For a lil over a year now I've noticed a light tapping sound under light acceleration. The tapping is not really heard while the car is in park and idling and usually goes away under moderate to heavy acceleration. I'm wondering if this is due to oil viscosity or is this normal injector ticking? I'm using the forum-renowned Mobil 1 5w30. Is it safe to use a higher viscosity oil and if it is injector tap, are there remedies to cure this? Thanks in advance.

 

Have you had the valves adjusted?

 

No I haven't. Is that a common procedure with these cars and does that mean there is something particularly wrong with my engine? I have 115k on the clock.

 

They usually don't get adjusted unless they start ticking. i bought 2002 with 125,000 on it and I remember when looking at the paperwork, they were just done a little while back at the dealer.

 

I just checked the paperwork and the valves were adjusted/shimmed at 103,000 miles. The dealer notes on the receipt stated the customer complained of a ticking like it was not getting enough oil. Notes also stated all valves on the left side were out of spec but others were within spec. It was $96 in parts (says gaskets and shims), $1,165 labor and another $100 ($79 parts $21 labor) for a synthetic oil change.

I also noticed that it had the 100,000 service done with 96,000 on it and there was no mention of any noise so 7,000 miles later it started the ticking.

 

I just saw the maintenance schedule and it looks like the first mention of checking the valve/lifter noise is at 60,000 and then again at 120,000. It states to inspect engine for excessive lifter noise and engine vibration and adjust if needed.

 

So basically $1300 if need adjustment? WOW. Lets hope i dont need it and its just my imagination. LOL
Also after futher listening, its more of a tick than a tap.

 

Injectors make a ticking sound and maybe you are just hearing something that was always there????

If it is the valves and it gets worse its best to get it taken care of sooner rather than later as there is the possibility of doing damage to the valves. If left too long you burn a valve and if that happens you can probably add another $1,000 - $2,000 on that $1,300 adjustment. The heads have to be pulled to replace a valve.