Noise on startup

[1993stiva]

hey i had a question.. it seems like if i let my festiva sit for a couple of months and then go to start it, a tapping noise comes out of the top end of it. It only does it when the motor is cold and if you drive it, the noise goes away and wont come until i leave it sitting again. Its weird because it seems once the motor gets to operating temp the noise quits. It almost sounds like a rocker arm or lifter. Also its happened a couple of times when its real cold out (below 20). I didn't know if this was a common problem or if you think it could be. Its a stock injected B3 with 160,000 miles. I religiously change the oil and run synthetic 10-30. Its just weird because if i run it everyday there are no noises whatsoever and it just ticks like a watch.

[yvanlavoie20]

easy

this is you hla (hydraulic lash adjuster) i have repair many ferty-assfire with a simple method : add 2 quart of automatic transmission oil in the crank case, run the car at high rpm (4000-6000 rpm) for at least 20 minutes but do not load engine at the max..(keep throttle under half), change oil ,run at high rpm for at least 50 miles, change oil and filter.
you should have good result with this :wink:

[darkdan]

If that doesn't work try www.auto-rx.com

The ATF is an old trick, and it might work, but there are things that work better IMO.

It solved mine under winter hit.

Finally I gave up and just bought new ones. $80 isn't bad and it didn't take that long (once I figured out I had one of the rods upside down). =)

[1993stiva]

Noise on startup

oh ok thanks guys.. i will try this. I was jut unsure if this was harming anything, because the car runs so good and the valvetrain is absolutely silent 99.9% of the time