engine making a clickin noise

i have a 1999 z24 cavalier and its making a clicking noise in the engine. some people have told me that i might have collapsed a lifter or possibly broke one. is it hard to replace a lifter? or should it be done professionaly?? any help will be great thanks...

How long has it been doing it for? Its most likely "piston slap"
Welcome to cavaliers. :)

yeah its been doing it for a few weeks now. i put in high grade gas and drove it for a few days but it didnt help it.

Yeah its quite common in the cavaliers. It doesent do any harm though, just annoying :)

u sure because my car is really lacking in performance now. i cant accelerate fast and if i do then it like bogs out and shoots out smoke from the exhaust.

Hmm thats weird? The bogging down could be a bad fuel pump or clogged filter. As for the clicking its usually the timing chain/lifters. Maybe you should get it checked out, it shouldnt be bogging and blowing out smoke..

I had a 98 Cavalier a few years ago that did the same thing. I had it for almost two years when the thing started making a weird sound inside the engine and soon lost some power. It sounded like there was a steady clunking noise in the engine after the second day. Mechanic said there was internal damage that they couldn't fix. I would get the clicking sound checked out just to be sure.

I also had a new 93 cavy that made that clicking noise. Everyone swore there was something wrong with it back then because of it.

alright thanks alot i think my best bet would be to take it in and get it looked at. a lil off the topic but i have a subwoofer up for sale u can look at my aother thread. i was just wondering if you new anyone that would be interested thanks.

ok they dont know what there talking about... two things... oil, and oil filter.... not hard to replace either... if your oil is crap/... wait let me ask what kind of oil are you running, 5w-30 10w-30.... it really matters, see what happens if you have some higher compound oil, its so thick that its like pushing sludge through the engine, sometimes backing up the oil filter, and if thats backed up, your not getting enough oil and it will start to click or tick, its not hard at all to replace either... the oil filter will be a solid color cylinder shaped object usually with an octogonal shaped head on it.... yours is prolly where mine is and that is in the back left, like right to the left of your fuel rail.... and the oil comes out of the bottom of the car, its pretty much the only screw that is in the middle of nowhere, and holding nothing together, so you should notice it right away.... other reasons that it could be ticking is your alternator belt is old, or something is wrong in your cylinders.... but i doubt it... if i were you, seriously redo the oil... if you need anything else just ask. oh and i was reading the other posts and if there is smoke, your prolly burning the oil, thats a sure sign if there is smoke, and the bogging is caused by the clogged filter.... but yea ive seen so many times the exhaust blowing out smoke/ blowing out oil, and that is cause by something in the oil system... oil filter, or actual oil...

hey thanks alot for all that info. umm the ticking is coming from the vavle cover closet to the firewall. it really seems like its one of the lifters. do u think changing the oil will make a difference in that???

hey thanks alot for all that info. umm the ticking is coming from the vavle cover closet to the firewall. it really seems like its one of the lifters. do u think changing the oil will make a difference in that???

It might. I had a 95 camaro that I was horrible at in taking care of. Two years after I bought it I had changed the oil maybe two times and one day it sounded like a train. I out some of that stuff that makes noisey lifters quiet along with some oil and it worked. Needless to say though that the Camaros engine didn't last long and I let GM take it back on a chapter 7.

ok they dont know what there talking about...
First of all who are you talking about?

I am 99% sure that it is a valvetrain problem (could be a lifter, could just be misadjusted valvelash). As for the smoke, white means you are burning coolant, black means you are burning oil (both of these problems would most likely be unrelated to the clicking noise). Chances are you won't be able to fix this yourself, so you should definitely get it checked out.

alright thanks. i'm definatly gonna get it checked out cuz im sick of driving it like this.

My engine is also ticking, it's like a high pitched tick, almost like an electrical tick, like a spark plug or something, i checked the oil and it wasn't dark so im thinking i can rule that out, possible lifter problem? What ending up happening with yours 99?

yeah i originally thought it was one of the lifter maybe but got it looked at by 2 guys and said it was a connector rod for one of the pistons. did you run it low on oil?

Nope, i've only had the car for about a month now and when i checked the oil it was fine.

Nope, i've only had the car for about a month now and when i checked the oil it was fine.ook gotcha. umm does it sound like it coming from the altenator? cuz sometimes the bearing i think inside get all messed up. all i know is my car is now officially screwed up. i should make a sound clip of what the engine sounds like to show you how bad mine is lol