Ticking Noise -- Cold/Yes & Hot/No

[mohawk]

Hello All,

I've got a 2002 Trooper with ~47K miles. Love my Trooper and want to keep in for many years...so I've got a little problem that I need help in diagnosing.

The truck has always had a little ticking sound that I thought was the valves sticking. So my mission was to try and reduce or eliminate the annoying tick. I recently did the following:

1. Added Seafoam and ran the truck for 20 or so miles
2. Drained the oil and added full synthetic Mobil 1 5W-30 oil (switching from straight 5W30 Dino oil)
3. New air filter
4. Added Chevron fuel additive

The ticking has not disappeared. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse. But this is only noticeable in the morning when I go to work. The Trooper sleeps in the garage...I usually open the garage door, start the Trooper and let it start warming up while I retrieve the newspaper. The noise is really loud and is rather troublesome.

However, when I arrive at work, the engine purrs like a kitten.

I've done a search and found some having trouble with valves, while others seem to have an issue with the timing belt tensor.

So what do you guys think? Valves....Tensor...Other????

Many thanks!!!

[rodeo02]

Sticking valves or lifters is not possible with the 1998+ 3.2/3.5L. The cams ride directly on buckets that are attached to the valve stems. It's called a direct acting or direct attack valvetrain. A slight clickedy-clickedy rythem is normal. A loud tick from one cylinder or area, but not the rest of the engine could be a valve clearance issue. This is VERY uncommon for these engines. It is possible to adjust the clearance between the buckets and cam lobes, but you have to have an isuzu manual, a $$$ shim kit, the tools and time to do it. I dunno of anyone who's done, or needed to do this procedure.

G/luck
Joel

[mohawk]

Originally Posted by rodeo02

Sticking valves or lifters is not possible with the 1998+ 3.2/3.5L. The cams ride directly on buckets that are attached to the valve stems. It's called a direct acting or direct attack valvetrain. A slight clickedy-clickedy rythem is normal. A loud tick from one cylinder or area, but not the rest of the engine could be a valve clearance issue. This is VERY uncommon for these engines. It is possible to adjust the clearance between the buckets and cam lobes, but you have to have an isuzu manual, a $$$ shim kit, the tools and time to do it. I dunno of anyone who's done, or needed to do this procedure.

G/luck
Joel

Good stuff as always Joel!

Does anyone out there notice the same thing? Again, it very noisey when you start up cold...once the vehicle warms up, it seems to go away.

It seems to have gotten worse AFTER the switch to Mobil 1 synt. and Seafoam flush. I thought this would only help to reduce the ticking....?

[corning_d3]

A cold tick that disappears when warm is a cam lobe to valve clearance issue. This tick happens only when cold because metal expands when heated, which reduces the clearance. A cold tick usually isn't an issue unless it is very loud, which would call for shimming up the valve bucket.

[rodeo02]

mohawk- Have you experimented with other oils/filters? You might want to scrap the M1 and go with a conventional 5w or 10w-30 especially if you change your oil every 3-5K miles. M1 is awesome stuff, but a complete waste of $ if you don't drag your oil changes out to 7K or beyond with it. Isuzu says (depending on ambient temps) anything between 5w-30 and 20w-50 is okay to use! You might want to try a different oil filter as well. I like napa or carquest premium filters made by WIX.

G/luck
Joel

[corning_d3]

Yeah, stay away from Fram filters, they're bad mmmkay? My personal choice is the K&N Performance Gold> It's about $13.00 per filter, but well worth the money...