Engine is ticking. Need some help

[black beauty]

I was told not to worry about it but it bothers me. I like things perfect. I recently sold my yellowish green festy to a buddy then got it back. When I got it back it had a bad ticking noise when running. I drained the oil and put a quart of lucas and 3 quarts of max life in it. It helped the ticking some but not to my expectations. I was told it was the lifters??????? is this a easy fix? or should I find a different engine and swap em out? There is a lack of power but not to much. any help will be appreciated!

[grey]

you can fix or replace the lifters...no need to junk an engine.

I think the miata site had an Aussie guy showing how he cleans them (big how-to article). He goes into taking them completely apart down to pieces you would need a microscope to see. I am not so sure all that is required.


I think you can just use wd-40 to clean them. Pull them out and as a unit, spray and loosen them up. Squeeze/compress a few times and make sure they spring back. Spray into the rocker arms to clean the tiny oil passage. Put them back. Cheap.

[JohnGunn]

I used to notice what I call "valve clatter" sometimes after a fast run on the Interstate. As soon as I exited the Interstate, stopped, and the engine began to idle I would hear the noise. I didn't give it much thought. Maybe I should have.

Last year in trying to stop an engine seal leak I went from using Valvoline Max Life 5w-30 to Mobile 1 High Mileage 10w-30. Since then that clattering has completely stopped. Until that decision I had used nothing but 5w-30 in the 15 years I had owned my Festiva. I now think the noise I was hearing was because the 5w-30 oil, after being heated by a fast run, became too thin to fully cushion the impact of the the lifters on the ends of the valve stems and the clicking I heard was caused by metal on metal contact. Seen in that light, not such a good thing, in principle, at least, if not in fact.

I'm not sure whether the improvement was due to the characteristics of the Mobil 1 oil, or to the extra cleaning additives in Mobil 1 High Mileage formulation, or to the higher viscosity of the Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-30 oil.

The reason I changed to Mobil 1 was because of a video I saw on their web site. A Las Vegas cab company switched to Mobil 1 and had some mechanics disassemble one of their engines to evaluate the results. They found that it was remarkably clean and showed much less wear than they had expected. When I changed my valve cover gasket a couple of years ago I was appalled by the amount of brown sludge I found coating the whole of the inside of the valve cover. That in spite of the fact that I had always changed oil every 3,000 miles. I was hoping Mobil 1 would make my engine as clean as that Las Vegas taxi engine.

I figure my clatter was due to either

1) slightly restricted oil flow through the lifters due to oil residue build up, or
2) oil viscosity too low for the heat generated by my high speed runs or
3) both of the above.

I've been using the Mobil oil for a little over a year and can't say how long it took for the clatter problem to go away -- as I said I wasn't worried about it. If the improvement was the result of improved oil circulation through the lifters due to the cleaning properties of the oil, that would have taken some time. Maybe, leaving the Max Life oil in your engine for a few thousand more miles will gradually correct the problem, I can't say. But I can say that the change I made did bring results and eliminated completely my valve clatter. If I were you I would go to Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-30 now and give it a while to work, before turning to thoughts of replacing your engine or even of taking the lifters out for a good, thorough cleaning.

For a long while, I didn't give the noise much thought, but now I think you are right to be concerned. Now I view that clattering as my engine's trying to tell me that all was not well and that something should be done. I don't think I would spend hundreds of dollars to fix it, but I would spend a little more for oil if I knew that would take care of the problem.

I hope you will let us know how you end up solving your problem. Too often threads like this just stop without our ever knowing what, if anything, worked.

John Gunn
Coronado, CA

[blkfordsedan]

The ticking is caused by the lash adjusters loosing their prime and becoming spongy or collapsing. If working correctly, they have a small check ball that lets oil pressure in but not out. The pressure causes the adjuster to expand, taking up any clearance between the valve stem and rocker arm tip. Any small piece of dirt, carbon, etc. can get trapped in them and cause them to bleed down. Problems with the oil feed passages in the rocker arms can also cause them to not get adequate oil pressure, but most of the time the problem is the check ball in the adjuster itself. You can take them out and clean them but it's almost impossible to get more than a temporary fix. It's easier to just put new ones in. The best thing you can do to prevent future problems is change the oil often and on a regular basis. Here's a link to a set on Ebay, keeping in mind that this auction is for a 16V motor so you'll get twice as many as you need

[blkfordsedan]

Sorry, bad link. Just search for Mazda 1.6 L lash adjusters on EBay.
I think you can also get them from AutoZone.

[GenevaDirt]

^^^ummmmmm....the link is missing.....lol

[resuwrecked]

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/search.php?searchid=297463

Check it out ^

[92festie]

yea it sounds like the lifters, had this happen in my festy but neglected to change the head gasket an lifters....hhmmmm perfect excuse to the parentals to do a motor swap?? lol

[Studebaker]

Sea foam in the oil for no more than 300 miles may help. It worked mine loose.

David

[black beauty]

Sorry, bad link. Just search for Mazda 1.6 L lash adjusters on EBay.
I think you can also get them from AutoZone.

So I can just go to auto zone and get some lash adjusters and that will fix my problem? Are they simple to replace?

here's another thing, When I get on the throttle, the noise coming out of the exhaust isnt a "smoothe" sound like it use to be. It kinda goes along with the ticking. its hard to explain.

[blkfordsedan]

So I can just go to auto zone and get some lash adjusters and that will fix my problem? Are they simple to replace?

here's another thing, When I get on the throttle, the noise coming out of the exhaust isnt a "smoothe" sound like it use to be. It kinda goes along with the ticking. its hard to explain.

Yes, Auto Zone carries Melling part#JB-2254. They are $23.00 each which is about 10X what they're worth. Like I said, there's some on EBay right now for about $70 for a set of 16 (listed under Mazda 1.6L 16V). That would give you an extra set for spares. If they are cheap Chinese imports, you may need 16 to find 8 good ones. You may not need to replace all 8 since you may only have 1 or 2 that are bad. Once you get the valve cover off you'll be able to tell the bad ones because the rocker arms will feel loose when the follower end of the rocker arm is on the base circle of the cam. Get a Haynes manual and follow the directions carefully for proper torque values and bolt sequence for the rocker shaft removal/install. You can change all of them out in about an hour. You may want to try the Seafoam treatment first to see if it helps.

Yes, when you have a bad lash adjuster you are losing a significant amount of lift on the respective valve. If the adjuster is collapsed (or close to it), it will have a miss on that cylinder....much like a sticking valve or bad plug or wire. I had a couple that got so bad the engine had a dead miss and would barely run until the oil got warm. It also had a nasty knock sound like it had a rod out.