what could caues a small ticking noise in my car? i recently had the crank and cam seals replaced, as well as the water pump and spark plugs, along with new wires.... it just started i think, does anyone have any ideas on what this could be? i always put the highest octaine possible in my car, and ive run fuel system cleaner in it. oh yeah, this is a 93GT... thanks.... no mods.. .yet...

The ticking is your HLA's (Hydraulic Lifter Assembly), and is caused by a faulty oil pump plunger, witch it is letting air into your oil system. There is a TSB out about it. Brian has it posted on his site. 'http://members.tripod.com/~bryan_pendleton/indexp.html' It's in the help section. Things I have found to stop the noise, short of replacing the oil pump are, 1. During the warm months, use 20w50. 2. In the cold months put the normal 5w30 in, but put 6 quarts in, mot just 4. These work for my car, but your car is your car. So there worth a try, but if anything else goes awry with your engine because of my advice, its not my fault. Good Luck!, Patrick 'set@...'

Not to flame you but HLA stands for Hydralic Lash Adjuster. Also his is a GT 2.5L and the TSB is only for the 2.0L. This would not be the cause to his problem. From what I can remember from the maintenance list the noise is coming from the HLA and it is caused by carbon buildup on the lifters. Some say to run Mobil 5W30 full synthetic and the probley will disapate in a couple months. One other thing, I would be carefull using 2 extra quarts of oil in your car. More is not allways better. You could end up blowing a seal and be in the drink for $1000s. Just as a side note, my father once went to Jiffy Lube with his GMC Sonoma 2.8L 6 cyl and they put in like 3 extra quarts. He ended up blowing the rear seal and costing Jiffy Lube $2600 in repair costs. The reason for your noise going away is most likely because 2 extra quarts are either raising the oil pressure or possibly totally drounding the lifters. Kevin 95 Probe SE Pilot SS & Bosal Exhaust, Nology, K&N w/Cold Air Induction, Eibach, Test Pipe http://www.crosswinds.net/~probesvt probesvt@...

I'm afraid I am siding with Kevin here. That is pretty risky, but what ever floats your boat. I am curious though, how long have you been running it with 2 extra quarts, and how do you run/drive your car? Aggressive? Grandma? Just curious. Enjoy, Bryan >

List, O.K., Hydraulic Lash Adjuster, whatever. I also just assumed he had a 2.0L since this is a 2.0L list, but now that I read his post again, your right he does say 93 GT. Now, as far as my extra oil is concerned, I have been doing this since I made to switch from warm weather oil (20w50) back to the cold weather oil (5w30), about 2 weeks ago. I didn't even think about the possibility of seals breaking, but based on your story about the $2600 dollar JiffyLube bill, I am seriously reconsidering this 'bright' idea. My intention with the added oil IS to raise the oil pressure AND drown the lifters. A lifter drowned in oil cannot make noise right? Also I think perhaps the added pressure will unstick the oil plunger. But I must confess that I am 17 year's old, and do not in any way pretend to be a mechanic.

You need to address 2 things with your oil. First, overfilling is NOT a good idea. There is a reason for the capacity limits. You risk blowing seals and gaskets, including the head gasket which will make a real mess of things. Second, do not use 20w50 in a modern car. It is far to thick to pass through many of the passage ways and adequately lubricate an engine, even in the summer. You should never go higher than a 30 weight. In fact, some manufactures will void a warranty if even 10w40 was used in a car. You risk serious damage by running 20w50. YOu may not hear the HLA ticking, but engines are designed to operate within certain specs and with a thick oil those specs may not be met. Your car will last a long time with the correct fluids and service intervals, but more or thicker necessarily is not better. I hope this helps prolong the life of your engine. Chris

Doesn't the "W" in 10W30, 10W40 and so on stand for winter, not weight? Chad >

Yes the w stands for winter in 20w50, but we talk about oil in terms of weight as 20 weight or 50 weight. Chris

i hate to bust on ya but w stands for weight not winter i should know this because i have been dealing with car parts for the past 5 years. think about it 10 winter 40 nope, its a 10 weight oil cold and protects like a 40 weight warm chris sasso