ClubRoadster.net banner

NA Valves ticking, any adive?

1K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  salvi 
#1 ·
I have a 92 NA that I've had for about a year. It's all stock, except for an exhaust, and it has 142k miles. Recently I had been hearing valves ticking when I would turn it on in the morning, but it would quickly go away after a few seconds.

Today, after installing the stock hearder and cat, stupid CA smog laws, the car would not turn on. It would just crank over continuously but nothing. After disconnecting/reconnecting the Air Flow Sensor plug, it started up, but with the valves ticking noise.

This time, the noise didn't go away and it's still there. Drove it around the block and still ticking. What should I do? I change the oil on the car every 3k miles and it has just recently been changed. I only use the car to go to/from work so it doesn't get driven too many miles.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.


Wil
 
#4 ·
Essentially the lifters get get clogged over time and cant receive oil fast enough hence the tick. Think of them like a clogged heart. You can temporarily reduce the symptoms with 3qts atf 1 heavy qt oil. Let run for a while. Flush and follow with a standard oil change. It worked for a bit on mine but it will come back. Some folks have also tried cleaning with a kerosene flush.

Some additional info

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=193131
http://www.miata.net/garage/hla/cleaning.html
 
#5 ·
I used to run a little atf right before an oil change and it helped keep the ticking down till the next one. I have since switched to mobil 1 full synthetic 5w-30 (from 5w-20) and the ticking is almost non-existent.
 
#15 ·
#8 ·
automatic trans fluid. run 5w30 synthetic motor oil in the winter.... but yeah the ticking is just the nature of an old hydraulic lifter, nothing really wrong with it... i believe mazda swithed to solid lifters on the nb because of customer complaints.
 
#10 ·
I live in San Diego, so it rarely gets really really cold here even during winter. What oil do you guys suggest?
ive used mobil 1 synthetic my whole mitty life even when boosted... no complaints.

please update your location!! :mrgreen:

order a whole bunch of nippon oil filters too.
 
#12 ·
Holy crap dude 10w-40? It's winter now so you should be doing a lot less, i don't even run past 10-30 in the summer here and it gets over 110 degrees. First thing is try lower weight oil. I run 5w30 in winter and 10w30 in summer and only ticking is normal start up. Closer to oil change point it will get more pronounced. Thats normal.
 
#19 ·
Almost all 1.6s will have the HLA tick some are just more severe than others. Theres also like a billion threads on this.

I used the zmax engine treatment maybe 1,000 miles after my last oil change. It really helped diminish it. I think basically it comes down to any sort of way to clean it; whether that be seafoam, oil treatments, or an ATF fluid rinse will help out your issue.
 
#24 ·
I'll try some of the things and go down to 30 weight oil and a new better oil filter. The thing that is weird is that the noise was not there until after I tried to start the engine for multiple times without starting. Once it started up, the noise was there and didn't go away.
 
#26 ·
How much are new lifters? About how many miles was this heard in this cars? Did the noise start up even when the car was new or did it start happening later in life of the car? How hard is it to replace the valve step seals and is it necessary?
 
#29 ·
i know your questions have been answered but i'll add some.

my 90 started ticking towards the end of a 3500mi period with castrol synthetic (first oil change when i bought the car)

the second oil change and thereafter was 10-30 mobil 1, no ticking. but i also seafoamed and the combination yielded great results.

any updates?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top