Tick tick tick tick tick grrrrrr

When i start up my baby she makes a very quiet, but incredibly annoying sound. Tick tick tick tick tick tick. It makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a pen. I think it might be a lifter, any ideas, experince anything simaliar?


p.s, it's a 1990 jeep cherokee sport :) inline 6 automatic 4.0

Does it tick all the time or just for a couple of seconds after starting and then go away. If it goes away after just a couple of seconds my 92 sport does the same thing it's where the oil settles back down into the oil pan after it's shut off and when you go to start it back it takes just a couple of seconds to get the oil back up to the rocker arms and then goes away.

Does the speed of the ticking change with engine speed? Does it lessen or worsen once the engine's hot?

It could be mechanical or even an exhaust leak.

Remember, old buckets like ours (mine's an '88) will make noises from the lifters, injectors and maybe a bit of piston slap, rod knocking, etc.

(No offense meant by "bucket") :)

When I bought my '98 from the Government Surplus Auction it sounded fine when I brought it home. The next morning it had a loud tick to it. It took it to a local mechanic that said it was "piston slap" and it is a common noise these engine make. He said it sounded like only one was slapping and that he has heard them with all six slapping. One of the contributing factors is carbon in the rings, some carbon gets wedged in on one side and offsets the piston just enough to make noise. He suggested Synthetic oil to help clean out the carbon. After changing to Mobile 1, the noise went away in about 1000 miles and has never returned. This solved my "tick", I am only relaying my experience, I am not saying that is what is wrong with yours. BTW I use only Mobile 1 in all of my vehicles, if I would have just changed my oil as I usually do, I would have saved the effort of going to the Mechanic in the first place.

It has a louder ticking when i start it up and it gets A Little better after warming up, but not much and it does kinda come and go. You think it could be a lifter?

That ticking noice is normal. all the 4.0 engine threw 96 i beleve. that noise is more notice able b/c you have headers. they got rid of the ticking noice in the 97 jeeps w/ the 3.7L engine and lost 10hp. That noise is normal. we have a 95 with the same problem. In 95 when we got it now, the machanic said it was normal, and a few others said the same.

That wouldn't make any sense, it never did it before and now its getting harder for the engine to shift and warming up quick, nope, i honestly don't belive that it is "normal" for the engine to make a noise like that out of nowhere when it never did it before Any other ideas?

Mine makes a ticking noise all the time. I just ignore it, on mine is is a cracked exaust manifold, as what I'm told. It dosn't really bother me enough to fix...

Go to a jeep dealership, and let them tell you whats wrong then. Tried to help!

I took your advise and took it the the chrysler dealership and spend 80 bucks for them to take a look at it, An i'm sorry but it's definatly not normal, It's a cracked exhaust manifold (damn your good 95xjsport) Thank you for all that helped me, and next time just because someone doesn't think your right, you don't have to get angrey about it, you can only guess anyways because you can't see or hear the car, so try not to take things so persoanlly when someone tells you that your wrong.

Hey, I said exhaust leak first!! ;)

Good time to install a aftermarket header and down pipe. Probably cheaper and better aftermarket than Dealer, now that you know what is wrong.

Thanks everyone. My 93, has the same tick. I just thought it was because of 181K miles on it. I did notice a cracked exhaust manifold a few months ago, and I never figured it would be causing a tick. I'm off to the parts house to buy some sealer!

Sorry saudade! You both rock :)