Knocking....

[Danbob]

My 95 Legacy L Wagon with 106k on the clock has been knocking a bit during cold starts the past few days. It goes away when the car has been running for a bit, but there is a ticking sound that remains...I know it's not valve or lifter tick either because I know subarus well enough to know that this is more of a pronounced knock than I am used to with the wrx.....I am goingto be changing the oil soon, but I am sure that this will not do anything for my problem....Any ideas what it could be???? Sounds when I open the hood with the car running like it's coming from the back/central part of the engine near the throttle body....Hope it's nothing bad.....Yikes....

PS - has anyone's car ever dont this if it's been low on oil??? Probably not, but I just thought I might ask....

[shazapple]

The valve tick in my car gets very loud if its low on oil or if the oil is old. I suggest 5w-30. It will make the ticking go away quicker

[blackgtbeauty]

low on oil or if the oil is low.

:?:

i agree nontheless, check your oil :grin:

[GrassyKnoll]

low on oil or if the oil is low.

:?:

i agree nontheless, check your oil :grin:

I think what he means is your oil is probably low... or your level of oil is low.

....maybe your oil is low?

I would suggest possibly checking your oil.

[ooberdoob]

odds are you are just dealing with owning a subaru, but your EJ22 has hyd lifters i think, if so, then low oil would cause issues.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Yes, it's likely the hydraulic lash adjusters. PWT should chime in with a link to his writeup on fixing them. It's not that expensive actually.

Mine were making a lot of noise, I did some oil stabilizer and it hasn't been back for 20,000 miles...running strong :smile:

[Danbob]

thanks guys! I will change the oil...I was using 10w30 and I guess it's not as good to use as 5w30....I did check the oil and it was lower than the L on the dipstick....I was very surprised because when I checked it about a thousand miles ago it was in the middle of F and L

[Plays_with_Toys]

If you have hydraulic lash adjusters, if you are even a little low on oil they clack like crazy, compounded moreso in the colder weather. I used a 5w-30 for a while which seemed to help with cold weather ticking, but I've since switched back to 10w-30.

[shazapple]

lol, in my original post I mean "if its low on oil or if the oil is old"

Cold weather tick would persist for several mintues after startup with 10w30, while it goes away within a minute of starting with 5w30

[Danbob]

Hey guys - It worked! I added 1.5 quarts of 10w30 dyno that I had left over from a previous oil change and the ticking/knocking went away for the most part. I was low on oil, and it's been cold latley. I just did this to stop the knocking until the weekend because I am going to switch to 5w30 for the winter like I always do. So since the car is getting an oil change this weekend I just dumped the rest of my 10w30 in to hold it over since I commute on the highway and don't want to damage anything by having low oil. This car burns more oil than my damn wrx does! I think it might need a seal or two replaced and that might be part of the problem but i will get to that later on because I dont have the money or the time right now. UNless the car is really leaking oil I will leave it be until at least the spring. Sorry to ramble, I just love bs-ing aboutcar stuff after a long, crappy work week. I will feel better when I get to rev the wrx up to 16.5 psi and 6500 this weekend :-)

[Plays_with_Toys]

an older car is naturally going to consume more oil than a new one, and turbo cars definately will burn off oil if you don't let it sit idling before you shut it off.

Keeping the early 2.2's filled with oil is the key to keeping those HLA's inflated. They can be very picky, if mine gets even the least bit low it'll tick, luckily it's easier to cure on our cars than alot of the newer subies. If one ever does indeed collapse, you can read my post here:

http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=406

:grin:

[2.5GT]

I heard my tick tick tick for the first time this morning, and its like the low 30s! :eek:

[ooberdoob]

it was 20 this morning, my car was PISSED OFF...

bah well, it'll live. oil change tonight at school anyhow. 5w30 GTX and pureONE to go please

[Wiscon_Mark]

10* and no ticking for me :smile:

[d1giPhux]

^ Same here.. no tick for me.. thank god! *knock on wood*! :grin: