Strange ticking/tapping sound

[dan88]

Hi Guys,

I'm getting a strange noise coming from the engine bay of my Starlet GT this morning... Here's a quick rundown of things...

I did an oil and filter change on Saturday, whacked in just over 3L of Penrite 10W50 as recommended by the auto shop that I went to. Cranked the engine over to fill the filter to give an accurate reading and checked the dipstick - reporting full. The spark plug leads were really worn in this car (rubber seals for the rocker cover are half broken and are not sealed properly) and I have been trying to source some down locally but Toyota has advised there's a two week wait as the part has to be imported from Japan.

Yesterday, I was driving home and it started pissing down rain on the way home. I was driving and about 5 minutes later I noticed that I was getting loss of power when I tried to accelerate. As I continued to drive, this worsened and after about 20 mins, the engine revs had dropped from ~800rpm (normally) to less than 600. I pulled over and drove this a few metres up the road to somewhere safe to look a bit further into it. Sprayed some WD40 into the distributor cap as I thought this may have had water in it as well as all the leads. This didn't help so I pulled the TMIC off, ripped out the leads and found water in the spark lead cavity closest to the distributor (underneath the scoop/TMIC). Cleared this out with some compressed air and WD40 sprayed in afterwards to ensure it was clear of water. The car was then running at optimal again (~800rpm) and I drove it home. There was no more driving done that night after the half hour run home.

Today I drove the car to work and about 10 minutes into the trip, I started getting like a ticking/tapping noise which sounded like a spark plug short but not 100% sure. The noise was consistent with the engine revs (ie. as revs increased, so did the repetition of the ticks).

I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what it might be as I would like to try and look at it tonight if I have time? I have a feeling it could be spark plug leads that I have disturbed, maybe tappets or maybe the ICV as I've read in previous posts...

Thanks!

 

[Dutchstarletdriver]

Check your oil if it looks like mokka.

 

[JasonGlanza]

could also be the injectors as they can be a bit noisy on a Starlet! check oil level etc first

 

[Jonny-GTTuning]

Check the oil as said above and the injectors can be noisey.

Unless there are flames or smoke drive her on, nothing a good reving wont sort out!! lol

 

[dan88]

Tried all the above... When I was at home I jacked the car up and was using a stethoscope to hear internal noises... I pushed up against the timing belt cover and my old man said that the noise stopped... So I tried again and sure enough it had stopped when pressure was applied.

I think either the harmonic balancer is on its way out, or the previous owner may not have bolted in the timing cover properly. Whatever it is, I'll figure it out tonight!

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[chinaone]

Dude, it could be your ICV on the end of the intake, the grey colour thingy. have your engine running and unplug it, see if you still get the ticking noise.
As its very common on starlets.

 

[dan88]

Dude, it could be your ICV on the end of the intake, the grey colour thingy. have your engine running and unplug it, see if you still get the ticking noise.
As its very common on starlets.

Thanks mate. It wasn't this. I found out that it was the timing cover rubbing up against the harmonic balancer. This was caused by a poor job of sealing the sump (done by the previous owner)... It squeezed out and pushed the timing cover out, then making the balancer and timing cover rub together.

On a separate note, does anyone know if the normal Starlet timing cover (from 4E-FE) fits the 4E-FTE? I would assume so as the engine is pretty much the same to my knowledge?

Also, I noticed the following specs on this page
Oil pump pulley to drive rotor:
27ftlb

Is this another term for the harmonic balancer?

Thanks