OK I think I have posted this before but no replies....

Whenever its warm out, theres a ticking from my engine compartment. The last 2 weeks it has been around 70-85 degrees here and there was no ticking. But then the last 2 days its been over 90 degrees and the ticking is back.

Its not a rythmic ticking, its like a, well its hard to explain its just a loud ticking, you hear it most at idle or LOW RPMS.

Just wondering if you guys have any ideas.....

 

Injectors (Normal) - or Valve Clearance (Also probably Normal) - or Both. Piston Slap - does it have a butt load of miles on it??

Ticking is different from Knocking. Knocking is bad.

 

Ticking is normal for the 3.0...its just a noisy engine. You could get a valve adjustment done but I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

He asked a good question, how many miles are on it? If there are a lot then it could be piston slap (bad)...but I would imagine its just the regular old ticking that all 3.0's do.

Fink

 

Thinking outside the square,check all your spark plug leads ,on my be damaged or melted & could be arching somwhere.but you will also notice the engine miss slightly when this happens.
just a thought.

 

The Runner has 224K miles on it, the guy I bought it from said it has 120K after the rebuild...

I don't think its a normal noise because its no rythmic, meaning it doesn't happen on a tap tap tap basis, its like tap second tap second second second tap second second tap secondsecondsecondsecond tap with the "second" being like a second.

And it only happens when it gets hot outside, doesn't happen below 85 Degrees outside.

does that help you guys a litle bit better?

 

224k -- jeezus - if it still runs good and doesn't miss or burn oil, I'd definetly start pulling plug wires - one at a time and see if the tick goes away - then concentrate on the cylinder that is tapping. definetely look at the wires for shorting.

 

My 3.slow did the same thing in extreme heat. Usually all I had to do was top-off the oil to the full mark. Also, topping it off or putting in the next higher viscosity may help.

 

HAHA Thats not even that much, my 1985 4Runner had 354K Miles on it. I wish I never got rid of that.

Thanx for the info, Ill try adding some oil and stuff to it see if that help. It doesn't burn oil, as in i don't see any smoke, it does leak from the rear main seal. I checked in the dark for arking of the plug wires but couldn't find anything because it wasn't hot enough to make the noise...

 

THe 90 I have ticks all the time. But nothing unlike my brother's 95 did with 50K on it back in the day. Something about the 3.0's just make a ticking noise that you can hear inside the cabin all the time.