ticking sound...help
 

there is some type of ticking sound in my engine. its not a loud sound but it seems to be something unordinary. my transmission went out on me close to three months ago and i wasnt able to change until now. i just finished it about two hours ago and have done some tests drives. it runs good and it sounds good except for that ticking sound. when i heard it i remembered that it was in there before but i figured that it would go away. it never did. does anyone know what this may be?

the ticking might be coming from your fuel injectors. those bosch injectors (if that's what you have) are notorious for being kind of noisy. another source that the sound might be coming from is the valvetrain. when was the last time you adjusted the valves? remember that it is an overhead cam engine, and they always tend to make some valve noise -- especially if you have some mileage built up on that thing.

i have ticking also, but the shop narrowed it down to a blown exhaust gasket. my '89 Maxima had the same problem on the donut (y-pipe/catalytic gasket.) & yes the inj.s are mechanical i believe, so they shuold be noisy, but not loud.

It could be the fuel pressure regulator. I have a small ticking in my engine and that's what I narrowed it down to. It's normal, nothing that is going to hinder your performance.

I noticed the same thing when I got my '82 up and running and then I remembered and my dad confirmed it that my '80 that I had back in high school did the same thing. We never did narrow it down, its annoying as heck, but doesn't seem to reallly cause any problems or indicate an oncoming problem. Maybe one of the z doctors on the site can come up with a more definate answer to this one.

As for me, I really have no clue. My OHC clicks a bit all the time. Its not high pitched like tapping metal, its a bit of a muffled tick as the rockers are all properly gapped and have good oil on them.

If your rockers are wearing through and going bad then they may tick more. I had one 280Z with a junk yard head and it kinda had a bad cam in it but it ran good. That one ticked a lot. N47 head I think...

I'm still trying to figure out a way to quiet down my alternator belt! New belts, old belts, loose, tight... nothing works! It's louder than my exhaust....

Heh, I got it Bleach, it's the perfect excuse to convince the wife that your just going to have to go out and get that new 350z you've been talking about cause its just not worth the effort to keep up the old rag tag 280, of course you couldn't sell the 280 due to sentimental reasons, but the 350z would be so much better and safer for the family with all of its new "safety features". And if you win that argument, please send me a transcription of the conversation so I can do it word for word with my wife :D

Well, it sounds like something I like to call "The Nissan Tick". My SE-V6 4x4 has it, my '84 300ZX AE has it, and my '83 280ZX n/a has it. Sounds like a valve rapping or maybe a rocker arm, but all is well with them. Unless you've done all the correct checks, there's not a whole lot you can do with it. Just love it and call it a custom valve gap...........:D