Symptoms of HLA issues?

[Levi B]

Lately I've been getting a loud ticking noise in my 96 2.2l. I still have all 35 horsepower (no power loss) and the ticking seems very intermittent. It will come and go 3 times in a matter of 10 minutes of driving sometimes, others it won't happen at all, or it happens the entire drive. I haven't noticed much of a correlation between the operating temperature and the frequency of the ticking occurring. It may be slightly more common when cold, but that could just be my interpretation of it, I haven't recorded it. I have been checking my oil levels frequently due to a small leak I've recently noticed too (right onto the exhaust of course) and I've kept the oil where it should be. Anyway I was searching to see what it may be and it sounds like I have some HLA (hydraulic lash adjusters, right?) that are not adjusted correctly. I just wanted some confirmation before I do the work to adjust them. Are there other possibilities as to what this could be that I have missed? The intermittent nature of it is throwing my basic mechanical knowledge for a loop. Also, when I take the valve cover off will I need to plan on an oil change? I've never taken one off of a horizontally opposed engine before.

Edit - I forgot to add that I have about 155k miles on the motor.

Thanks!

[Wiscon_Mark]

That sure sounds like HLAs.

I ran some 15w-40 diesel synthetic oil and it fixed the issue. Basically the pockets inside the HLAs can collapse and stick causing that noise. It's not supposed to be very harmful, but it's obviously something you'd rather not have.

[anothernord]

The HLA's themselves are self-adjusting, so you probably just need to go through and adjust your valves.

You shouldn't need to do an oil change just from removing the valve cover. At least on our engines, there's less of a chance of dust and crap (tools) getting in there when the covers are off.

[Levi B]

Perfect. I will adjust the valves, and try that diesel synthetic oil. If the problem persists I will replace the HLAs. Thank you for the replies!

[Levi B]

Well I went a different route. I had a few other things going wrong that required the engine being pulled. So now that it's out of the car I was checking out the HLAs and none are squishable with a finger, or soft (which means they are good to go right?). I did read that having an oil leak can cause ticking due to low oil pressure, and that leak mentioned above got worse, quickly. It was the rear main seal (one of the reasons I pulled the engine). I will adjust the valves before it is running again, but do you guys think it is possible for ticking to be intermittent due to an oil leak and incorrect valve adjustment? Those would lead me to believe a constant tick would be present.

[wentz912]

Oil pressure can vary a lot with viscosity which is affected by all sorts of things.

[Levi B]

So the viscosity of the oil can change that quickly, like one minute or less, under normal operation? What could change the viscosity that suddenly besides heat? It's not that I don't believe you, I'm just looking for clarification. I suppose contaminates could, but short of a headgasket failure I don't know how that would be a possibility - again, under normal operation.

For now I guess I will re-use the HLAs since they appear to be in perfect shape, and hope that the valve adjustment, along with all the other things I'm doing to it while it is out of the car, will cause the ticking to go away. If not, I'll have to look into the HLAs at a later time.

[Levi B]

So I had the engine out. I don't think you can adjust the valves if you have HLAs. I could be wrong but I don't see how to do it. After re-installing the engine the ticking was 100x worse. It was constant, and sounded like every single valve was making the noise. So I took them out again, this time they were soft and I was able to re-fill them and voila, my ticking is gone.

Unfortunately my car still leaks after replacing almost every gasket, and now my (new) clutch is almost impossible to adjust/use. Oh well, solved ticking, and hopefully I'll find solutions to the other issues.