engine noises.?

Question

i have a 94 camaro stick shift trani, when the car is cold and i turn it on the engine sounds good but when i drive it for a while and the engine starts to heat up it makes a ticking sound pretty loud , is it my oil?

Answer 1

Not a lot to go on, but you may have a valve lifter that is weak. When the oil gets warmed up, it is thinned out enough that the weak lifter is not staying pumped up.
Perhpas the next heavier grade of oil would help, especially if it has a lot of miles.
You will probably need to have it checked out by someone knowledgable, they will have a mechanics stethoscope and will be able to tell exactly where the sound is coming from and what it is.
No sense tearing somethign apart on a "well it may be this", you need ot know for sure.
Good Luck with it.

Answer 2

"Loud" means different things to different people.

If you have a '94 *anything*, you had better keep it in good condition with regular oil changes, so I'll assume you've been doing that! Besides, the hardest thing a car has to do is "start", so, if it were the oil, it would have made noises as soon as you the starter kicked in.

Pinging is sometimes barely audible, especially if the radio is on. Knocking tends to be louder. Dieseling occurs when the car is turned off, but you didn't mention that, so I won't go into it.

If it's loud enough that you can hear it over your stereo playing at about level 3 or 4, then you may have a more serious problem. Hard driving, unnecessary revving, over-idling, and/or age will all contribute to valves, pistons, and rods becoming worn out. Some people try adding very thick, goopy oils or similar products to reduced the noise, but, that will make the engine work harder, and may cause anything from a slipped piston to a blown gasket.

Have you changed gas stations, recently? Sometimes, a lower grade of fuel (i.e., its octane level) will cause minor pinging, knocking, and even dieseling (octane rating is an average, and rarely constant, even for the same gas station). Try running the car as close to empty as you can, without getting stranded somewhere! Then, try using a FULL tank of premium gas for about two weeks, and see if the problem goes away (don't refill the tank during that time, if you can avoid it). If you've been doing that, then go to a different gas station. Don't bother with fuel additives, either. They're temporary, at best, so they're not worth the money.

If the problem persists, take it to your mechanic. If you're lucky, a simple tightening of the rods or a valve adjustment will be all that's needed (hopefully, they'll replace any exposed gaskets, too). It shouldn't cost more than $500, depending on what needs to be done. Anything that needs to be replaced (other than gaskets) will be more expensive.

Good luck!

P.S. For future reference, the abbreviated spelling of "transmission" is "tranny" (go ahead and snicker!). If you want to be "cool" about it, use "xmission"!

Answer 3

Its definitly a thin oil problem. Also a weak lifter as mentioned. If you want to keep the car I would buy a cam kit with lifters and replace it and then get the high volume oil pump and you should be good to go. since your pulling the heads to do all this you might as well get the valves done and new rings put in. all can be done with out pulling the motor.

Answer 4

could very well be an oil breakdown issue, especially if you haven't changed it in awhile. Change it. Worst case is that it doesn't fix the problem.
edit: it could be a leaking exhaust as well. Sometimes exhaust gaskets start to leak after they get hot. Depends on the where the tick is coming from.