Valve noise.

Hi all. I have some questions concerning my son's 97 Miata. He has owned it since 2001. Durning that time he has put 30,000 miles on it. What can I say he likes computers.

I am getting a lot of top end noise from one of the cylinders in my son's Miata.

My son doesn't drive his Miata much. And he never drives it hard. The car is just now coming out of winter storage. I put stabilizer in the gas.

When I ran it yesterday I thought that it was a lifter. But the noise never went away. In fact the noise was loud enough to turn heads of some the people who were on the sidewalk.

Do I need to set the valves in this car? Could one the lifters have come loose? Would carbon buildup cause this? If so how do I get the carbon out? Do I need to pull the valve cover and have a look?

The car has 90,000 miles It doesn't use any oil.

Reply to
schaeftl1
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Very common symptom, annoying but harmless. The engine has hydraulic lash adjusters (HLAs), the DOHC equivalent to hydraulic lifters. There are a couple of things you can try:

  1. Use only genuine Mazda oil filters, which have an anti-drainback valve to keep the filter full when the engine is shut off.
  2. Experiment with different oil weights. Most people have the best results with the recommended 10W30 dino oil, but you might try a step lighter or heavier. Also, don't stretch oil changes farther than 3000 miles. Often, just changing the oil will solve the problem.
Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Adding a few ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil, or a similar product may allow the lifter to stop sticking. Basically, any decent oil compatable cleaner/lubricant will work.

Reply to
Chuck

One of mine sometimes ticks for up to 2 miles after a cold start. It very rarely did it before I filled the engine with Castrol Edge Sport

0W40 oil at the last change; I'd used Mobil 1 0W40 before. I'm going back to Mobil 1 next change, and in the meantime I've put some hydraulic lifter treatment in there. The noise really is quite loud, but fairly harmless; the valve isn't opening as far as it should be, but that's much better than a valve being unable to close.
Reply to
Zog The Undeniable

snipped-for-privacy@cybermesa.com wrote in news:1173619255.583170.145130 @t69g2000cwt.googlegroups.com:

The previous posts have already hit on what's happening, so I'll offer another temporary remedy. After running the car for a minute, turn it off and back on. The sound goes away every time for me. I'll do this when I back out of my garage. Before I pull onto the road I'll restart my car to kill the tick.

As others have basically said tho, the tick is your Miata's way of reminding you it's time for an oil change.

-Scott

Reply to
Scott Hughes

Scott,

The next time you wash the car, be sure to use a little bit of "sheep dip". That will kill the "ticks" every time! :-)

Bruce Bing '03 LS

Reply to
BRUCE HASKIN

Top end noise is usually fixed by turning up the radio....

Reply to
XS11E

I have seen one '96 miata that was making a huge racket from the valves. An oil change made no difference, and the car had a lifetime of Mazda oil filters being used.

A very trusted mechanic said that some of the valves needed to be replaced, I don't remember the exact number but is was less than half of them. It seemed to me that they should go ahead and do an entire valve job while in there, but he fixed the problem. The car still made the typical valve noise that got better at oil changes, but what was happening before was extremely loud and not acceptable.

In other words, while some noise is normal, there may be an actual problem as well. I would try the oil change, see if it makes any difference, and then get it to a mechanic if not.

Pat

Reply to
pws

The mechanic would have changed some of the HLAs. They're about 35 GBP each, probably $40 or so over there.

Reply to
Zog The Undeniable

Ahhh yes, that was it, and I do seem to remember $40.00 each on them, but it wasn't my car.

Thank ye sir,

Pat

Reply to
pws

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