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1G VIDEO: Let's Play "What's that noise?!?"

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Nate355RS

Proven Member
446
50
Oct 25, 2012
Salem, Virginia
BACKSTORY:
Car was running ok before I had some maintenance issues I needed to address. Mainly loose converter bolts and a crank bolt that almost backed out. And by almost backed out, I mean I could easily turn the bolt by hand when I checked it.

While the car was down, I figured I'd pull the oil pan since I hadn't done that on this motor yet. Everything looked good other than an oil jet tube in the pan, but no metal shavings. So all in all this is what I did:

• Locktite and torque the torque converter bolts
• New crank sprocket (old one was chipped and seen better days)
• New harmonic balancer (old was in rough shape)
• Replaced all oil jets with stock DSM style jets (verified they clear pistons and crank)
• Locktite and torque crank bolt
• Also threw in some HKS 272 cams to replace my BC 272s

All the timing components have a few thousand miles on them so I reused them, triple checked tensioner arm gap and verified the timing marks lined up. Cam gear dowel pins were straight up, cam gear lines were horizontal with the head, and I had 39 timing belt teeth between the outer cam gear lines.

PROBLEM:
Now I have this tapping noise and I can't for the life of me figure out what's making the sound. I changed a lot so I'm not sure where to check, but it definitely is coming from somewhere on the timing side of the motor.

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How's the power when driven? Does it hesitate/sputter under load?

I had an issue I thought was lifter tick, turned out to be bad bad exhaust leak pre stock o2 sensor which was causing incorrect a/f ratio :( fixed that and no more ticking and seems to be a/f is better now.
 
I haven't driven it yet, but light free revs don't have any hesitation. AFR seems to be inline too.

I didn't bleed the lifters, but I did change the oil. I installed the cams and then a couple days later started the car. I turned it over a few times with the fuel pump fuse pulled so I could get some oil up in the top end.
 
That doesnt appear to be lifter tick 100%, check the tension on your cam gear bolt. Often times what your hearing is the lock washers. As the belt puts tension on the cam gears, the bolts preventing the inner portion from sliding are stressed. To test this, with the engine off push in the timing belt from the top and see if it makes a noise similar to what your showing......
 
Do 1g motors use different length oil pans bolts like 2G's? Timing belt hitting oil pan bolt?
 
The lengths are the same i believe however , short bolts are used underneath the timing belt portion over the pan. If you used the longer bolts ud probably know by now as your timing belt would be shredded.....potentially.
 
True story about the shredded belt, I lost a timing belt because of a longer oil pan bolt being in the wrong spot. I double checked I had then in the right spot the time.

BUT my the bolts for my timing gears were a little loose. I tightened them up and it helped with a lot of the noise. There is still a tick, but it's quieter and sound much more like lifter tick.
 
Your always going to hear a little noise, on my Subaru my injectors were louder than the noise you posted in the video. What oil are your running? Did u mention it previously?
 
I run vp 20w 50 racing oil, they sell it at autozone/ advanced auto.... best oil I've ever run. High zinc which is required by most turbo/cam manufacturers
If "Big Oil" hadn't messed around with their formulas, we would still have ZDDP in our regular automotive oil and not have to buy the "Good Stuff"! Shame on them!
 
^^ It wasn't big oil that did this. Need to thank the government & EPA. "Big Oil" had nothing to do with this.
 
Don't remember the brand, it was the cheapest 10w30 synthetic at Wal-Mart. I've read so much on the "Bob is the Oil Guy" forums that I can't bring myself to pay extra for the name brand stuff.

so an extra $12 twice a year is too much?

The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason. I doubt it is even an actual synthetic.
 
UPDATE: The winner was lifter tick. I checked everything again, including timing belt tension and I couldn't find anything wrong. So I took it out and beat on it, and the tick is gone now. Guess the engine just needed some load and RPMs, so hopefully it's alright now.

so an extra $12 twice a year is too much?

The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason. I doubt it is even an actual synthetic.

Fair enough. It seems everyone has an different opinion on oil, even the experts. Not really looking for a debate on oil but most of my opinions come from this site. It's a long read but it points out the specs to look for in oil other than the weight. Wal-Mart brands are surprisingly not as bad as you'd think. https://bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/
 
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