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Thought I had problems before Now I have a HUGE one (LONG)
So here I am driving my car around with this little ticking noise that is only audible in mid to high range RPM's. I don't know exact numbers because I don't have a tach, as many of you know. Anyhow, I hear this ticking, almost like a clock, and it ticks faster when I speed up the engine, dies off when I press the clutch, and comes on loud in the mornings and at lunch time when the car is warming up. So today, thinking it is a heat shield, just like last time, I decide that I am going to do some investigative work, and if I can't find the source of the rattle, I will take it to my old shop and have my buddy hoist it up. I pop the hood, and give the engine a little rev by hand. Tick tick tick... hmmm, sounds like the left side, right under the engine. I move over to the left side, rev it up again, hmmm sounds more like the middle now. Back over to the centre, rev, weird, sounds like it is right under the valve cover. *OH SHIT* I kill the engine, pull out the dipstick, uh oh..... Now who's the dipstick. NO OIL!!! ZERO, NADA DRY!!! I am surprised that the engine didn't keel over and DIE. Now I panic a little. But I'm confused. I know that the car isn't the best on oil, I need to refill a little before my next oil change now and then, but I just put 3/4 of a bottle in there not more than 4-5 days ago, and now it is gone?? There are no puddles under the car. No black smoke that I can see, and I know I'm not using it to fry eggs while stuck in traffic. So I go over to Canadian Tire, and I buy 2 bottles of 10W40 and 1 big jug of 10W30, and a filter, I plan on the oil change tomorrow after work. I drop in the two smaller bottles, give it a minute, check the level. Half full. I crank over the engine. The sound is definately quieter, but is still there. So I put in half the jug of 10W30, now it is full again, too little too late. I can still hear the ticking, and I had no choice but to drive home with it like that, as I had no tools and no light to work under. I plan on going out in the morning and pulling the plugs, re-gapping them and put them back in. I PRAY that works. The ticking got worse as I got closer to home.
Do you know what it could be?
Knock?
Pinging?
Bent valves?
Bent Piston?
If you need me to better explain the sound it is making, just let me know.
I hope someone with expertise out there can help!
I really don't know what to do.
But this does give me a reason to do a 4G613 Swap!
Thanks in advance
~Dennis - Soon to be former Colt owner....

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~Drive it like ya stole it!
UserName A.K.A. Dennis
GTRacing
username@gtracing.ca

Well, I went out at lunch and pulled all the plugs, the measurement on all of them are decent, but I regapped them all to 0.045" anyway. One question though. Like 2-3 weeks ago I replaced the plugs, brand new, but now when I pulled them out, they looked like they were starting to rust. What is that? Why are they like that?
Anyone know?
It wasn't black, and there was no sludge build-up on them either.
Just looked like they were beginning to rust.
They are NGK plugs, I can't remember if I got the Platnum or the Copper ones.
ARG,
I overfilled the oil (a friend told me I should in order to lubricate the lifters more), and the noise got a little quieter, but is still there. When I am in 2nd gear holding 60KM/h (37.5MP/h), the noise is the loudest. 1st gear isn't so bad, cause I shift now at around 30 (18), and there is nowhere around my work where I can speed up over 60 (37.5).
I don't know what else to do... Should I pull off the valve cover and take a look inside? If so, how do I do it?
What should I do?
HELLLLLLLLLLLLP
~Dennis

_________________
~Drive it like ya stole it!
UserName A.K.A. Dennis
GTRacing
username@gtracing.ca

Dennis:

Depends there are different types rust. Sometimes something that looks like rust is the actual aditives in the gasoline that give it a rusty sort of look.... sometimes you do have nasty scaley rusty plugs So it might be just normal scuff them with sandpaper and reinstall...

dennis:

for your plugs, if the rusty color your taking about is like light brown chocolate its only because you have a perfect air fuel ratio. this is the color it gives when the engine runs properly, if its black then its to rich, white means lean.

for the noise, if your suspect pinging would be the cause then check your timing. the other option is some mecanic wear on piston or valve system.
if the second option is what causes you this noise the only advise i can give is kill your engine and put a nice turbo engine in it.

oh yeah, try to put 92 octane (or higher) fuel to reduce chance of pigning.

My 4g15 have a little clicking noise on the valves, only 140000 km the engine runs great and the rest is quiet, so dont bother trying to fix that noise if its not to loud.

another option to see if its pigning is to retard the ignition, youll have no power but it wont pign for sure (only for test purpose and put it back to good timing after)

Hope it will help you.

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Mirage Turbo 1989 11.323 @ 130.25 mph
Pics and Vids -> http://coltmax.monchar.com <-
Nissan Maxima 2002 3.5 Manual Winter Beater

My 4G15 lifter ticks at about the same revs your talking about. It sort of flutters as I load and unload the engine - it occurs only at light load.

I have solid lifters in the X2 and I have toleranced and retoleranced them several times and it wont go away. Its more noticable when cold and does it at idle until warm. It sure sounds like lifter tick which means that Ive probably got a slightly sticking valve.

When I get the X1 on the road, I might take the head off relap the valves and check the valve to stem clearances (should have done it last time but the noise only appeared after I refit the head - blown HG). That will probably fix it.

BTW - the valve train probably suffers the worst from oil starvation. Everything else gets oil before the head does. Plus, the head relys alot on oil for cooling.

Ive ran my 88 g32b motor a couple times to no oil, but not for long, i just had a gut feeling those couple of times to check the dipsticks' dipstick!! DRY those couple of times.

Normally, most motors will seize up with no oil, but not the retarded Mitsu motors!!

The ticking is most likely worn out valves and lifters, try using some of the Bardhall Honey, found at Crappy tire. If that quites it down, they congrats, if not, well, live with it.
OR, if the 4g15 has adjustable lifters, then get your mechanic to adjust the lifters for you. If they are not adjustable, then thicker oil is your next best solution.

Spark plugs rusty, well, probably cause your car is running a perfect fuel mixture as mentioned above.

well the g15 seems to leak oil from the oil sender....thats where my friends motor was leaking from until it went dry all of a sudden and spun a bearing...mine leaks from the same spot...its a common problem...

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89 Colt GL, no power anything, $10K invested and shes still not running yet.

85.5 Porsche 944, Gaurds Red, 70K original miles

"I'm Rick James, bitch."