Ticking Sound From The Engine

[gogoboygareth]

Hi guys,

I have had a VX Series II for close to a year now (it's a 2002 model - so it's approaching its second birthday soon). It's done 41,000km's (mostly country km's - I live on the south coast).

I noticed sometime after I bought it the engine would tick quietly after start up, but go away when it was warm...

... but more recently, over the past few months, the engine ticks loudly once the engine has warmed up! With the bonnet up the sound doesn't seem loud at all, but with the bonnet down, if you stick your head near the wheel arches, the loud high-pitched metallic constant "tick tick tick" can be heard over the sound of the idling engine.

I took it to the local Holden dealer (Glendon Motors Holden, Nowra), who said that the sound seemed to be coming from either an injector or a belt, but they couldn't tell. They said it would also be okay the way it was... they didn't fix it.

The sound is rather unsettling... the car drives perfectly and is in otherwise great condition. But the sound from the engine makes the car sound like it's 15 years old and in need of an engine transplant.

Anyone have any ideas, or have had this problem before? Was the local Holden dealer just "fobbing me off" when they should have repaired it?

Regards,

- Gareth

[MaNiac_VP]

Injectors will make a constant ticking sound, basically it sounds like tick-tick-tick-tick.
It doesn't sound disturbing thow, you haven't mentioned if its a 6 or 8

[holdenlover]

Is the ticking fast or slow? half a second or a second or more between each tick?
The fact that you can now hear it over the engine idling is a bit disturbing.

I am by no means an expert but will through out some of my thoughts......

If it was a problem with an injector, I assume you would be noticing it in the cars performance????? but you said it's running fine.

Could it be a pulley maybe?
Had a noisy one in one of my VR's

What do the rest of you guys think?

*Edit*

Sorry.....when I say guys, I mean the girls too.

[gogoboygareth]

Hi again guys (and girls, oops! I meant girls too)...

It's a V6 ecotech model.

The ticking sound isn't as noticeable with the bonnet up - i.e. the sound of the engine mostly drowns it out. With the bonnet closed, however, the tick sound seems to come straight out the wheel arches - it's really noticeable then.

The tick tick period is about a half second.... when you accelerate, the ticking gets quicker though.

You can't hear it from inside the car while driving (unless you stick your head out the window)... but the ticking can't be heard when the car is actually being driven (i.e. 60km/h) - normal engine sounds drown it out. It's really only noticable at idle and at low rpm (i.e. cruising around the car park etc, the ecotech is very quiet at low rpm).

I honestly can't comment about the performance - this is my first commodore. The local holden dealer said it drove like a semi-new car should.... they didn't see any problems with it.

- Gareth

[Troy]

My experience with holden is that there basically all arseholes who don't give a shit about you and don't want to fix anything cause they couldn't give a ####.
Sorry about the language but i've really had a bad run with them every time i go there, and there's been a few.

Want to get things done but they don't want to do anything, try this-

Talk to the service manager, get his name, tell him that if they don't want to fix the car you'll go to Ford, get them to find out what's wrong with it, get them to fix it, and tell him that you'll be sending that paperwork off to GMH in Melbourne in a letter with his name in it, asking for an explanation as to why you had to go to Ford to get the car fixed and why the boy's up here at Holden couldn't help you out.
They shit the gear when i did this, i swear it was running into his shoe's

As for the ticking noise, my VS did it, and my VX does it(82500km), I'll probably get told i'm wrong but here's my 2 cents worth. Look in the area of the lifters, there hydraulic so they need oil, i know there supposed to be sealed but anything that moves will leak sometime or another, have a listen to other commodores and i bet you'll find that they do it as well. Next time you go shopping look at other cars and have a listen. The tapping noise will go up and down with the rev's as it's valve-train related and it should be tapping at half the engine speed as the top end runs at half revs of the engine. Not a lot you can do about it unless you want to replace all your lifters, not to cheap from memory, and you'll be replacing them with the exact same part that started to rattle as before.

It's anoying yes, but what can you do?

Anyone else have any ideas?

[gogoboygareth]

My local Holden dealer thankfully isn't *too* shabby... a couple of times I've dropped the car in for a fluid check (not a service, just popped in during my lunch break) and they've topped the fluid for free.

I didn't even buy my car from these guys... but I think they're just trying to keep me a happy customer so I'd return it for proper servicing.

Which I have...

I've only had one other warranty issue so far - my engine stopped once while I was taking a corner. They hooked it up to their computer, and said it was a PCM error 008 (speed sensor I believe it was). Never happened again thankfully... but they said it would be replaced if it started to play up.

The noise is annoying as all hell... but I've never really driven other commodores - so I didn't know it was normal. As long as it's not actually doing any damage, I don't mind that much.

However... I'm moving to Canberra soon. So I'll go harass one of the dealers there next month and see what they can do.

- Gareth

[Grantis1976]

Power steer, or a/c !

My HZ had the same thing with the power steer pump. I know theres afew yrs diff. between the 2, but at the end of the day, they are the same thing !

A/C was a tick in the VN calais. My only other thought is possibly a fuel pump.

Good Luck !!!

[Boeing777]

I had the same problem in my last car (JR Vectra) the sound started just after the 30,000 service and got louder until around the 45,000 mark I had all sorts of problems, wouldn't accelerate, had to change gears manually, hardly any power etc etc and the ticking noise was accompanied by a squealing noise. Turned out that a bearing on one of the pulleys in the timing kit was seized...the car was out of warranty but Holden still paid for the new kit anyway saying that the technician should have investigated the sound at its 30,000 service... its the great service I got from Holden that led me buy a VY Commodore!

[Garth]

my mate bought a vx s2 from the dealer also, it was one of those holden certified used car's, cost him 27k, it had 30,000 on the clock to the dot. he had the clicking sound, would just sit there at idle and tick, accelerate and it would increase with rev's, holden at springwood got a hold of it, and he didnt get the car back for 4 day's, completly new engine required, he was having oil flow problems, and starving the bottom end of his engine. pushrods were causing problems. jump on this one quickly, and get it looked at. check the grade of the oil


cheers
garth

[gogoboygareth]

I've been trying, but the local dealer simply says there's nothing wrong with it, and they all do that in some way or another. Some are just louder than others.

I'm moving to Canberra in a few weeks time, so I'll take it to a dealer and get them to check it out.

I might actually sell it when I get to Canberra - depending on what I can get for it.

- Gareth

[EddieLawson]

Had the exact same problem and had all these terrible thoughts about what it could be....took it to the local dealer for a service and ask him to look into it. He called me back and told me I had an exhaust leak!
sure enough when I checked, there was one manifold bolt which had sheared off. (they are only about 6-8mm bolts from memory.) It had been gone for a while judging by the fracture marks on it.
I replaced the gasket and the bolt and all is now sweet.
BTW the dealer wanted to replace the whole manifold as he claimed it was warped (he didnt notice the bolt missing) But he diagnosed the problem correctly and my symptons were exactly as you described.
Worth a look.

Regards
Eddie

[VXWAGMAN]

I have that ticking sound on my old VR.. possibly this problem is common to all of the V6 models back sonce the VR? Dosen't seem to effect performance..

[gogoboygareth]

Sorry for the delay guys.... have been packing the house for the move to Canberra (house is bare, and I'm driving there permanently tomorrow afternoon)...

Eddie - your comments are actually prety interesting. I warped the exhaust manifold in my old skyline once (and ended up putting on extractors rather than fixing it) and it too made a similar sound with the broken manifold (though not as "metallic" sounding... but in the Commodore, the nuts are still in place, and I can't see any damage. It still looks very clean. In all honesty, I'm hoping this is the cause! I don't want to think about the possibility of internal engine damage.

I've heard stories of piston's being replaced after similar sounds... mind you, the stories were about the LS1 engines though.

It's something that will be fixed *hopefully* next service, provided I can find a decent Holden dealer in Canberra.

- Gareth

[Troy]

Have a look at the exhaust flange where the headers meet the pipe, there is a compression flange fitting there. If you see any black soot type markings you could have a small leak, have seen this happen once before.

Also, is the ticking noise at half the engine speed? Another posibility it could be is your lifters, as the valve-train runs at 1/2 the engine speed. Just another thought, thats all, i had this problem on my ecotech VS.

[bilbo117]

We got a 2000 supercharged vx and had the same problem at about 50 000 k's, the problem ended up being a pulley that was out of alignment and a tensioner. the ticking gradually got worse and in the beginning was only noticable at when cold and idleing. the problem got worse however and it took our holden dealers about 3 months and 4 belts to fix it. been goin spot on for the last 20 thousand though, mayb u should check the alignment of your pulleys???

[ZenArcher]

I now have the same problem in my VX SS LS1. Sounds like it could be the pulley bearing as well. The ticking is shockingly loud at idle and goes away after about 5 minutes warm up. But then sometimes comes back (you can hear it from inside the car) when I drive the car hard, but not all the time. It is coming from the passenger side of the motor at the front where the idler pulley sits. Will let you all know what it is as I have it booked into Rolfe Holden here in Canberra on Tuesday to get it fixed as well as getting the A/C serviced.

[ZenArcher]

Well, for those who may be interested, the ticking sound was found to be the idler pulley bearing. None too cheap to replace at nearly $80 for the bearing and $28 for labour. At least Rolfe Holden were better than Gerald Slaven, where I bought the car. They (G/S) just kept on telling me that the ticking sound was normal. Yeah Right. I stgart to wonder if they just didn't want to fix it under warranty as now it has been fixed, my warranty was finished so paid Rolfe Holden to fix it. At least now I can drive my car without this embarrassingly loud ticking sound coming out of the engine bay.

Though, it obviously depends on who you see. As another time before, my battery died and I wasn't sure if it was the battery or if something was wrong with the electronics of the car. So I phoned George Patton at Gerald Slaven (salesman I bought the car from) and he sent one of his guys around to fix everything for me. Ended up being the battery so I walked into Autobarn and bought a new one (thats where the car stopped - luckily) and the G/S guy fitted it up for me straight away. Very impressed with customer service then. Just a pity the other guys in the workshop aren't the same.

[aa23]

Thanks for filling us in on what your problem ended up being. I've been reading this thread with interest, as I may have a similiar problem, and now i've got better ideas of where to start looking. Much appreciated.

[Coolvx]

Hi gogoboygareth

If your car is under new car warrantee, the problem must be repaired for free..

When you take your car to the new dealer, tell them ( dont ask ) you want the noise fixed..
They have to fix it because it is not a standard factory noise

Ron aka Coolvx

[gogoboygareth]

Hi everyone...

I'm now settled down in my new place in Canberra. Well Queanbeyan actually, but close enough!

My car is due for it's usual 5000km oil change (probably not needed, but oh well) - so I'll give Rolfe Holden a call and book in in. Fingers crossed they can find the source of the noise and finally put a stop to it!

- Gareth

[Hillbilly]

Ive had problems with the Idler Pulleys(V6) on my VX. Ive been told (C.B.C bearings in Perth) that Holden stuffed up with thier choice of idler pully bearings(from factory). Apparently it's got the wrong seal and they have used incorrect type of grease in all of these bearings(2 idlers and tensioner bearings).CBC have made replacement bearings for them. It was making a ticking noise from Idle and the noise incresed as rpm went up..... Easy to diagnose with a stethescope or, if you don't have a stethescope, get a length of hose, place one side of the hose near your ear and the other side near the pully in Question. Then with the engine running compare the noise to the other pulleys.

[bizzo]

it will tick if your engine oil is low

[bizzo]

Check your oil
it will tick if your engine oil is low

[duaine]

I had what sounded like tappet clicking in my VX HSV R8 and was mucked around by dealers. One day I parked it across their service bay and told them to ring me once they had it sorted. Sure enough 4 days later, new engine and new warranty... I'm happy.

[gogoboygareth]

As an update, I STILL haven't got this sorted. I gave up and decided to wait till the next 50,000km service was due - which is this month.

But my car has just turned two years old - so I believe it also needs a coolant flush and new brake fluid (and new disc pads all round, as mine are almost worn out - waaah).

My commodore now has a few problems - the ticking problem (damn I hope I don't need a new engine! But it does explain why they keep stuffing me around!), and my engine sometimes switches off when I'm driving really slowly - only done it maybe 4 or 5 times since I've had the car. The Nowra dealer (Glendon Motors Holden) said it was my speed sensor malfunctioning, and they'd fix it if it did it again - and it still ain't fixed! Of course, if I end up crashing because of it (when the engine cuts out, you lose power braking & steering! Not fun!), I'l be suing them.

But I'm taking the car to Rolfe (Canberra) for the next service, so hopefully they can fix it all up then!

[update, the car is booked in for the 25th. I'll let everyone know how it goes!]

- Gareth