Annoying clicking sound

[redfastiva]

1990 1.3L FI
5 speed

I've got a clicking sound coming from somewhere in front of the driver, possibly tranny area. Its not too loud. I can only hear it when the radio is off. I lubed the speedo cable and that didn't fix it. It only clicks when in gear and the clutch pedal out. It stops when i push the clutch in and when i slow down to below 1500 rpms while in gear. I can't notice a lot of change in the clicking with vehicle speed or engine speed. Any Suggestions?

[fastivaca]

Is it worse when you're turning?

[redfastiva]

No, no changes when i turn.

[fishgoddess]

Is it your fuel pump relay? Mine makes a clicking sound...when it's running. I don't know if it is supposed to make a clicking sound or not, but it comes from the driver's side front.

[88FestivaLX]

I've been getting some noise from my throwout bearing

[redfastiva]

I've been getting some noise from my throwout bearing

That's what i was afraid of.

[gdawgs]

On all the Festivas I have driven(two of my own, and my dad's) I get the exact clicking noise you describe when the weather turns cold. Mine started doing it this past week(this year, it does it every winter) and it hasn't been all that cold, low 30s. When it gets below zero, the clicking gets a bit louder, but it never gets real loud. The clicking goes away when the engine/tranny warm up. When you say it goes away when the clutch pedal is in, do you mean all the way in, or does it go away if you just slightly press the pedal(an inch or two) but still have the clutch engaged. Mine goes away if I just touch the clutch. I've never been able to figure out what this is. But I wouldn't worry about it. My first Festiva has over 320,000 miles on it, and still going(I don't own it anymore though), and that has always clicked when cold.

[FestYboy]

it's just a throw out bearing clearance issue, not a big deal, normal wear. the pressure plate fingers are in constant contact with the t/o bearing and it wears over time. you may want to consider a new clutch kit depending on the milage of you festy, but personaly (unless you beat on it) i'd leave it alone as it won't leave you stranded (at least not for a long time)

[funky technician]

mine clicks like that, it is the little solinoid mounted on the firewall beside the ignition coil that regulates that vacuum line thats hooked up to it, I forget where that goes, anyhow you can hear i when you push the gas pedel down and goes away after you let it up, and it stays at the same speed, not reving up and and down with the engine, if it is changes speed with engine speed then its a drivetrain component

[redfastiva]

mine clicks like that, it is the little solinoid mounted on the firewall beside the ignition coil that regulates that vacuum line thats hooked up to it, I forget where that goes, anyhow you can hear i when you push the gas pedel down and goes away after you let it up, and it stays at the same speed, not reving up and and down with the engine, if it is changes speed with engine speed then its a drivetrain component

I did more research and funky technician is right. Its my purge control valve. It stops when i disconnect it. I read about it in my service manual and it sounds like its an emission thing and isn't really necessary. Can any harm be done besides pollution by leaving it unplugged?

[FestYboy]

that valve shouldn't "click" repeatedly, it's supposed to open once and stay that way untill the engine is turned off. what is does is allow the fuel fumes that were collected by the charcoal canister to be drawn back into the intake to be burnt (saves gas).

[FB71]

no, its supposed to cycle on and off in response to throttle position and EGO voltage. Its not to improve fuel economy, its to regulate evaporative emissions.

[FestYboy]

as stated earlier, it's a purge valve and as i understand it, they're supposed to allow the collected fuel fumes to be drawn back into the intake (as explained to me by Ford FACT). and by "saves gas" i mean that it doesn't let it out into the air (emissions), but rather puts the fumes to use. deffinately NOT a fuel economizer (unlike the EGR which DOES save fuel durring light load cruise situations).

please explain the theory as to why it cycles (save for a check-valve opperation)

[FB71]

oh no....FACT training, huh? UTI in Exton? Did you have Mark Williams for any classes? Homecheese, I hate to tell you, FACT is being scrutinized right now because of instructional quality issues. Cliff Baumgardner (head of Ford Service Training) is trying to get FACT yanked, because it was discovered that the former FST cheif (Dave McClain) made some questionable deals with UTI... Did you ever venture down the hall and meet Mike Bonneau, the Ford Service Training Instructor? He has nothing to do with UTI, Ford just leases classroom space from UTI.

Now, to clarify your above statements, its partially wrong. Mostly correct, but the reason for fuel vapor recovery is not economy (as you said), but soley emissions. Burning the vapor is the only on-board means to process the vapor. The canister will purge its collected vapor relatively quickly, then the incoming gas is primarly atmospheric air. That will send the system lean, so the PCM will turn off the purge solenoid. By the way, the solenoid is only active during steady-state cruise, so if it turns off during cruise, then the throttle closes then reopens, the PCM will attempt to actuate the purge solenoid again, while watching the mixture via the O2 sensor, and turn off purge if it goes lean. BTW, I was Ford STI for 7 years, in the Philadelphia and Wash D.C. regions....

[FestYboy]

yeah, i was supposed to meet you during my instruction there but things didn't pan out.

ok, so i can see the emissions thing, but once the canister is purged, what would be the point of purging it again durring a run cycle if there's no longer vapors being stored in the canister? (assuming that the canister is only used during dead time to capture vapors from a tank that has pressure in it not effecient enough to push out the cap.) or is it allowing tank pressure to be bleed through it constantly?