I know the engines in these cars make some strange noises that we just have to live with but a new noise that wasn't present before has shown up. its a "tick tick tick" sound that is pronounced. You only can notice it at idle and up to about 2000 rpm at which point it either goes away or blends into the rest of the noise the engine makes. It does not seem to make this noise on cold start but only after it has warmed up. The sound is only heard on the drivers side. I searched the archives but nothing else sounds quite the same. Here is some info for you about the car. It is an '01 with 55k miles. Currently running Mobile 1 0W40 that has about 3k miles on it. The only performance mod on the car is an ECU flash. This car does not have a LWFW. Depressing the clutch makes no difference and it will make the sound with the clutch engaged rolling as well so I'm guessing its not a clutch issue. I still need to hook up the durametric and check the car for any codes that might be there so I'll post that later if there are any. I just noticed this sound yesterday. I pay pretty close attention to this car so I know this sound hasn't always been there. The video clip actually makes it sound louder than it actually is for some reason. Maybe because the car is in the garage. Any ideas or experience would be appreciated.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ttidletick.mp4

 

Just a wild-*** guess... water pump.

 

Yeah -- our cars make a lot of noise and chatter, but that doesn't sound like a normal sound. When you rev the engine up from idle to 2000 RPMs, does the frequency of the ticking change with the RPMs?

 

Sticking lifter?

 

Would a water pump make that kind of noise? I'm not sure how these water pumps function differently

The ticking increases with increasing RPM. The noise is definitely different but the audio in my clip seems louder than it actually is. The walls in the garage amplify it quite a bit. But you are right deffinitely not normal

I thought about that but it doesn't make the noise at cold start which is where I would figure a lifter would still stick cold as well as warm but maybe that is incorrect thinking. The noise only presents once the engine has warmed up.

 

check your oilfilter at first...if its clean (no metal particles) then change your oil and rev the engine high with hot oil..may be the lifter noise goes away

 

Well, the reason that I guessed water pump is that the noise sounds rotational and it's on the driver's side. Usually, though, they make more noise when they are cold than when they are hot.

This might help locate the sound... Take a tube, such as from the middle of a roll of paper towels - longer is better. Let the engine run, stick the tube down in various places (watch out for the belts) and listen at the end. That should help you localize it.

If it does turn out to be your water pump, be sure to get the update on the fittings that replaces the glue-in ones at the same time. See Sharkwerks post on this.

Jon

 

The water pump noise I've had before was more of a high-pitched whistle -- which I can slightly hear at idle and/or low rpms. I usually had to be next to another car, or some structure -- so the sound would reflect back. It wasn't leaking, but I went ahead and got it replaced.

Unfortunately, I don't believe a water pump replacement gives sufficient access to all of the coolant hose connections.

 

Forgot to update this thread, but a few weeks ago I finally figured out what was wrong with the car. After checking a few different things to no avail, I decided to look at things that I had done to the car as a possible source of error and turns out that was where the problem lied. A simple spark plug was loose. Apparently when I installed my new plugs last spring I forgot to torque one of them and over time it backed its way out just enough to make a little chirping sound. Wasn't loose enough to cause any fault codes or make a difference I could tell in performance although I'm sure it was. Glad it was only something simple. Car runs great now minus the chirp