Thread: My engine tapping noise with Video

Heres the tapping noise im getting every cold startup. Goes on for about 3 minutes. This vid was taken right after i started the car after it sat for the night so its revving high. you can still here the tapping though. what do you guys think this is??

Do any of those 2 links work for you guys? I'm trying to do this on my girlfriends Macintrash.

The links to the site work, but the video would not load for me. The ticking sound you are getting could be the rockers/lifters making some noise from the oil not fully reaching them until the engine is warmed up.

I couldnt get the video to load either.

ahhh, I have failed. Not sure whats going on. Can I email one of you guys this vid so you can post it up for me?

Ya video would not load.
if it goes away after car has been running for a few. Most of the time points to a lifter not getting primed ( oil not getting to it )

Syn might want to help me with this. But i had this happen on my first gp and i added a can of sea foam to oil changed my oil but subed a qt with lucas oil stabilizer. After a couple driving cycles it went away.

What kind of oil /filter your are you using. A bad oil filter can hinder correct oil pressure (syn?)

You are correct, I have run across countless numbers of vehicles in which the oil filter caused an issue with oil flow. Ive seen it more with fram filters than anything, but there have been others.

im using amsoil 5w-30 and an amsoil filter. It started happening right after I switched to synthetic. Can I send you this vid so you can have a shot at uploading it? its a windows media player file i dont know what its not uploading for me...

my car also did this when using a wix filter.

Well I run Amsoil motor oil and an Amsoil oil filter with a by-pass filter system and Ive not had that issue. Im not a huge fan of Seafoam, I much prefer to use Auto-RX which will do an excellent job of cleaning out junk in the engine if that is the cause of any lifter pump up issues.

I dont know where else to host your video other than maybe try setting up an account on Photobucket and upload it there and link to it. Putfile has always seemed a hit or miss proposition to me in my experience with it.

Got it on!

That doesnt sound at all like lifter noise. Its too inconsistent. Lifter noise is usually very consistent, steady and sometimes will go away as the engine warms up and the oil thins out some.

That sounded more like, to me anyway, like something vibration, like something was loose and shaking around

hmm, I think sunday I'm going to have to cold start it and get under there and see if I can find/see something. It sounds like its coming from the bottom driver side.

Bottom drivers side huh? The only think on that side Ive known to rattle is the flex plate, but that didnt sound like that either, at least not like any I have heard.

Thanks for the help. I'm getting my plog installed very soon so i'll have my friend check it out when its up on the lift and see if we can spot anything.

Yeah x2 on something being loose. It doesn't make since that it goes away after the car warms up tho.

Ok now that the vid is up that is not lifter tick.

Sounds like a lose flex plate.
Other causes that make that sound:
-Piston slap
-bearings

I would check flex plate first.
Under car there is a plastic shield on tranny between starter and tranny. Take that off you now have access to flex plate. Make sure there are no lose bolts. May have to have some one quickly crankt he car so you can get to allt he bolts or take plugs out and should make it easy to turn engine with flex plate since there is no pressure in engine.