Beginner's question on ticking noise

aopisa · Post by **aopisa** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:36 am

I have not had a chance to drive my bus for a few days. I just moved it around the driveway. When I start it, I am hearing a loud ticking noise. It did this once before during the winter, but it was gone when I started it up this spring. I recently performed a valve adjustment (with Colin) and changed the oil. The noise appears to be coming from the right side but hard to tell if it is emanating from the valve cover or exhaust.

I took it for about a 5 minute drive and let it idle in the driveway for a few more minutes and it has become noticeably quieter. Can this be caused by the hydraulic lifter(s) not being pumped up after sitting for a few days? The oil filter I installed is a Mahle which apparently does not have an anti-drainback feature.

I pulled the no. 1 and 2 spark plug wires and the noise did not go away just slowed down as the idle dropped from one of the cylinders not firing.

I wanted to get some opinions before I started in on a valve adjustment.

Should I drive it to see if the noise dimnishes as the engine warms?

vwlover77 · Post by **vwlover77** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:00 am

I'm 99.997% sure it's bleed down of the hydraulic lifters. Drive it and get it good and warm. If it stops or gets noticeably quieter, that's the cause.

Even a filter with an anti-drainback feature can't completely prevent this. When your engine stops with a cam lobe holding a valve open, the spring pressure of the valve spring gradually compresses the lifter squeezing out its oil. When you start again, it ticks until the lifter pumps back up again.

This happens to my engine almost every time I start it and run it for only a few minutes (to move it around in the driveway, for example.) After being good and warm, it can sit for days and start up without noise.

If you and Colin adjusted the valves recently, I'd say you're good to go!

static · Post by **static** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 2:09 pm

Drive on, Brother. You're good to go.

aopisa · Post by **aopisa** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:28 pm

Thanks for the replies. Yes indeed, it did quiet down completely. I was pretty sure it was the lifter that needed pumping up, but a metal on metal hammering sound made me pretty anxious.

On a completely different note; I went for a drive into town and got caught in a torrential thunderstorm. I was surprised at how well the anemic wipers worked. I realized it was because the steep angle of the windshield shed a lot of the rain without wiping.

I was also surprised at all the places that water made its way into the interior.

vwlover77: I grew up in Parma and went to school at Kent State. I spent a lot of time in the Akron/Canton area.

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:06 pm

aopisa wrote:vwlover77: I grew up in Parma and went to school at Kent State. I spent a lot of time in the Akron/Canton area.

I had a girlfriend in Marshallville long ago.

vwlover77 · Post by **vwlover77** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:16 pm

Marshallville.... I see it on the signs on Rt 21 all the time, but I've never been there!

I got my undergrad degree at the U of Akron, and took some follow-up Computer Science courses at Kent State a few years later.

Y'all need to come back "home" to Ohio and meet up with the LEAKOIL gang http://www.leakoil.net

Just like Chrissie Hynde said, "The farms of Ohio have been replaced by shopping malls, with Muzak in the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls...."

aopisa · Post by **aopisa** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:34 pm

vwlover77 wrote: Just like Chrissie Hynde said, "The farms of Ohio have been replaced by shopping malls, with Muzak in the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls...."

I used to see The Pretenders (and Devo) play at the local bars in Kent back in the day. Hey ho way to go Ohio!

Post by **Amskeptic** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:47 am

This is a Technical Forum, not a Ladies Auxiliary Koffee Klatch.
Where's the damn moderator?
Colin

Gypsie · Post by **Gypsie** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:24 am

could you pass the scones, please?...

Bleyseng · Post by **Bleyseng** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:58 am

This is one of the problems of using hydro lifters. yes they are quiet when pumped up but....quite noisey when they bleed out. I guess I want to know if there is a better oil filter that has a better bleed down valve out there.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:24 am

Bleyseng wrote:This is one of the problems of using hydro lifters. yes they are quiet when pumped up but....quite noisey when they bleed out. I guess I want to know if there is a better oil filter that has a better bleed down valve out there.

There is no relationship between oil filters and hydraulic lifter bleed down.
Once the engine is off, the lifter is on its own as far as maintaining oil in its chambers. A sloppy lifter will bleed down and clatter, but as long as it pumps up again, it is functional. A decent filter helps keep the galleries primed, that's it.
Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:13 am

On the subject of filters. I spent the day under the bus yesterday doing the yearly maintenance during which I changed the filter. I discovered why I've had trouble getting instant oil pressure on a cold start. Absolutely no anti drain back valve in the Mann filters anymore. Replaced it with a NAPA Gold made by Wix. Nice looking filter with the proper anti drain back valve.

daninghram · Post by **daninghram** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:16 am

Westy78 wrote:On the subject of filters. I spent the day under the bus yesterday doing the yearly maintenance during which I changed the filter. I discovered why I've had trouble getting instant oil pressure on a cold start. Absolutely no anti drain back valve in the Mann filters anymore. Replaced it with a NAPA Gold made by Wix. Nice looking filter with the proper anti drain back valve.

I had switched from napa to Mann cuz I heard they were better.
now i amrunning boshe filters I wonder if I should just go back to napa filters?

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Beginner's question on ticking noise

Beginner's question on ticking noise