engine tick/tap/knocks...
 

My motor has recently started making this noise, only I dunno what it is or how bad of a problem it is.

what is this sound?!

As you can hear it's the worst when the car initially starts up, then it quiets down a bit, but still ticks. What does it sound like to you? Thanks.

I haven't heard the noise (I can't get to that site from work for some reason), but the fact that it mostly happens when it is cold reminds me of this notice from subaru a few years ago:

Dang, well my car is MY96, so I guess that doesn't really apply to me. But it does it all the time. The video is in Quicktime format, don't ask me why, I don't even use that program, so that may be why it won't work.

I can't listen at work, but my guess is lifters. Time to desludge the engine...

I can't listen to it either, but since everyone else is throwing out wild ass guesses... piston slap.

Desludge? Well I'm finishing up replacing a wheel bearing and replacing an axle tonight after work. I'll let you give a listen when I bring your HD back Dean. And I'll try to make that video a different format when I get home.

I can hear it... that shit is *loud*. Doesn't sound like valve-train noise... more like "bad-things" noise. :( I wouldn't drive it if you can help it until you get someone that knows more than we do about motors to look at it.

I had a 1996 Impreza brighton with a 1.8L (kept outdoors in tahoe) (had up to 90K miles on it ) never heard noises like that . (mine did develop some issue with the valve cover but a different noise, and only while the engine was under load)
Sorry to hear about your engine noises :(

LOL, that shit is loud. Yeah for sure it is.

That sounds like terminal rod knock, man. Mine never got that bad, but I definiteley recognize the sound. For what it's worth, I swapped out my motor so I didn't have it seize on me when i wasn't expecting it :|

Have you let it run low on oil recently? How long has it been making that sound?

It's been making that sound for about a month or so.

:eek:

Mine have been knocking since I graduated from Michigan. :p

JC your car still drives right? I don't remember it making a sound when we went up Old Clear Creek that one time.

DUDE! That sounds like a rod knocking, or a piston slapping. Never have I heard valve train chatter that loud! Either way, NOT GOOD!

Use a stick or long screwdriver against the motor, and the other end at your ear, (cheap stethoscope) and try to see if it's more in the top of the motor, (by the valve covers) or the bottom end (more centered, like by the oil pan). If it's the valve cover area, I'd say piston slap, if it's in the bottom end, rod knock.

It was, it's just that my exhaust and intake are loud. You could hear it at cruise. It wasn't real bad though. Ya it drives fine, just down on powah.

dont worry about a tapping.. that's normal haha ryan's wrx has it all the time.. and with the new clutch, and all that chattering, the motor feels like it's going to jump out of the engine bay when the light turns green!

Listen to the sound in the movie... that's *not* normal.

How bout I just use a real stethoscope? :lol: I shouldn't be laughing this sucks!

most people don't have a real stethoscope just lying around...

I use the screwdriver trick all the time!

No need for a steth/screwdriver, start looking for an engine. When was the last time you checked the oil?

Sp00lns guess.........

duhn duhn da-naaaaaa....


Exhaust leak. I think there is a broken gasket somewhere and as it warms up, the metals expand and it somewhat seals. Does it get faster the higher the RPMs are?

I dont think its your lifters... DSM lifters tick all the time and its not that loud... but mine came from the factory :P

Yeah it gets faster, and it's coming from the top of the motor, so I think it's a fatal rod knock =(

Rod knock comes from the "bottom" of the motor, which on a Subaru is more like "the middle". Piston slap would come from "top" of the motor, which is on either side nearer the heads.

Funny... I think I just said this... :?:

Oh oopsy. I'm not a motor head, I try to be but I'm not really. Engines baffle me. I know what most stuff is but not all. Obviously. I'm all freakin confused now. I'll go do it again after work. It sounded like it was coming from where the valve covers are, I think.

I dont think it would be drivable if that was the case. Or, it would be extremely weak. Honestley, from the video I think its an exhaust leak. If its not coming from the top left part of the car, then im wrong I guess. But arnt your guyses manifold near the top left? Or am I just thinking of a WRX?

The motor's a flat 4... there are two "top ends", one on either side of the block.

http://www.myevo.com/WRX_motor_getr.jpg

Oh, and normally aspirated Subaru motors are incredible in durability... even with failures that would have killed most cars, Subarus just keep going. I've seen 20 year old GL wagons with two dead cylinders driving by that sound like a coffecan full of rocks... but the owners don't even bother to take 'em 'cause "oh it's sounded like that for years, I didn't think there was anything wrong". :lol:

So, the "ticking" sound he's hearing isnt coming from the top of the engine on the front, left hand corner? I think if it was anything internal, it would be a higher ticking sound... almost like bells (with no ring). sounds too deep to me.

I can't tell where the sound is coming from on the video... but it certainly sounds like it's coming from the motor and not the exhaust. The exhaust manifold is completely under the motor... a leak wouldn't be that noticable from outside and above the car. At least that's what I've noticed from all the uppipe leaks I delt with a while back.

I meant back left hand corner. If his car isn't turbo, then Im probably wrong.

Well I would have taken a video, but I was busy with some stuff yesterday. I topped it off with some thicker weight oil then what was in there and the ticking decreased signifigantly. And it chugged down a quart quick style. I know it was fairly low because my oil light would come on periodically starting last week. I put the oil in at like 10:30a and I got on it at like 9p last night and it seemed accelerate normally with no loss of power that I could tell. So the oil helped a bunch.

Oh and I have a 96 L, soooo it's not turbo =(

oil light=bad things.

Very bad things.

Did you even check the level when you started hearing noises? ALWAYS....ALWAYS Check your oil!!! when that light comes on, you are usually more than a quart low! now check for metal shavings in the remaining oil. Even better change the oil and look closely for sparkly oil.

Yeah I checked it, but it only came on a like 3 or 4 times when I would come to a quick stop. So it was low enough to trip the whatever sensor when it sloshed but not low enough to stay on.

The problem is, most newer cars have a VERY low pressure switch, like 2lbs, and should have, let's say, 40lbs of pressure! When that light comes on, it's almost too late!

I'm not sure about exact spec. on Subis, (anyone?) but I know for ex. a 350z should be between 60 and 90 lbs of oil pressure, and the stinkin light doesn't come on until you're all the way down to 2 lbs!!! Way too late IMO!

Jonny, in case you didn't know, it's an oil pressure light, not an oil level light. If the level gets so low that the pressure drops...like I said, bad things.

Ohhhh. Damn.

Yeah, if the light comes on because of oil slosh, that means you've sloshed so much oil off the bottom of the pan that the pickup is sucking air. :eek:

The only car I've had that problem with was my T-Bird after Jiffy Lube decided 1 qt of synthetic was enough instead of putting in the 5 qts I paid for. Luckily it had a factory oil pressure gauge as well as an idiot light, so I saw the pressure drop as I went around a freeway on ramp... when it got down to 0, thats when the light popped on. :roll:

That was the last time I ever let someone else change my oil.