I have 71k on my Maxima SE with DOHC. It started to develop this clicking noise from the engine several months ago. The noise will start after about 3 miles when I come to a stop at a traffic light. It disappears when the car is moving at about 30 mph & above. the noise will not go away if I put the car in neutral and rev the engine. It will continue to do this in stop go traffic for about 3 to 5 miles. The noise will stop and the rest of the drive will be perfectly normal. If I don't do any stop go driving, I don't get the nosie at all. When I did an oil change, the noise will be lessen or disappered for 1 to 2 weeks. Thicker grade oil seems to lessen the noise too.
93 Maxima SE clicking noise
Dec 20, 2003
11 Replies
Unclear to me which one you got but usually ticking is due to 1 of 3 factors with the VE30DE engine.
1) noisy lifter(s) as with any engine could have 2) manifold studs broke (common on all of nissan's engines sharing this engine block) , but oil changes shouldn't matter at all for that noise 3) the evil VTC's (what mechanically control the variable timing) have gone which will set you back $2-3 K or can ground them ... lower viscosity might help a bit actually...usually an issue of them getting clogged up, but repair/replacement is inevitable or ground which locks the timing in place losing some power
from the engine several months ago. The noise will start after about 3 miles when I come to a stop at a traffic light. It disappears when the car is moving at about 30 mph & above. the noise will not go away if I put the car in neutral and rev the engine. It will continue to do this in stop go traffic for about 3 to 5 miles. The noise will stop and the rest of the drive will be perfectly normal. If I don't do any stop go driving, I don't get the nosie at all. When I did an oil change, the noise will be lessen or disappered for 1 to 2 weeks. Thicker grade oil seems to lessen the noise too.
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Sounds like maybe a lifter issue, if this is in the years that had hyd. lifters. The later ones had -solid- lifters and wouldn't act that way. The VTC's are more of a rattle, not a click.
I forgot to state that I have used several different oil detergents and it didn't make a difference to the clicking noise. It may not be the valve lifters.
And those detergents or -mechanic in a can- products don't always work. If they always did, no one would ever be replacing lifters!
What happens to most lifters is they get oil starved or filled with air (crappy oil filters?) and when they are clicking, it pounds their guts and no amount of cleaning is going to fix the damage. If it was my car, I'd get this resolved before it causes more damage. "Clicking" lifters will pound the ends of the valves and ruin them which requires the heads to be pulled, you don't want to know what that costs on one of those engines..
noise from the engine several months ago. The noise will start after about 3 miles when I come to a stop at a traffic light. It disappears when the car is moving at about 30 mph & above. the noise will not go away if I put the car in neutral and rev the engine. It will continue to do this in stop go traffic for about 3 to 5 miles. The noise will stop and the rest of the drive will be perfectly normal. If I don't do any stop go driving, I don't get the nosie at all. When I did an oil change, the noise will be lessen or disappered for 1 to 2 weeks. Thicker grade oil seems to lessen the noise too.
Probably the VTC system gone bad. Had it happen to a 92 SE I had at around
62k miles. It is a flaw in that engine that costs about $1,500 to fix. And, the fix won't last either. After a while it will sound like you have bad lifters.It is EXTREMELY likely to be the VTC system. Have heard of this too many times.
My 93SE developed the clicking by 60K miles, did warranty repair and all was queit for maybe another 30K miles before it got noisy again. Repair was too expensive ($2000!) so I read and read and could find no true ill effect other than the possible loss of low-end torque (which I never noticed) so I let it go until I sold the car at 200K miles. Still running strong when I let it go. Great engine.
After reading about this for years, I have yet to hear of anyone who screwed up their engine by not fixing it. Live with the noise and forget about it, I say!
By the way, somewhere on the net you can find a procedure to ground or otherwise rewire the VTC so that it shuts up completely. Of course you are disabling the whole system, but it isn't working anyway. I never tried it so I can't comment further.
P
Gents. Thanks for all the inputs. Do you have the same symptom like mine that goes away after several miles. I can drive for miles after that and the engine is totally normal and quiet. I hate to get rid of an otherwise perfectly good car.
definitely the VTCs. You can drive for a long time like that or just ground em
goes away after several miles. I can drive for miles after that and the engine is totally normal and quiet. I hate to get rid of an otherwise perfectly good car.
See here for VTC grounding
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Al Moodie.
Gents. I made the modification to ground out the VTC solenoid per the instruction. The clicking noise is gone ! You guys are absolutely right with the diagnosis. The instruction was clear and what a simple fix. I haven't noticed any change in performance so far. Thanks again.
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