s14 sr20det ticking... somewhat different then other...

[smg944]

ok so i have had this ticking in my s14 sr for a long while now. it seems to be coming from the "nissan" writing on the valve cover. it has gotten no quieter or louder in nearly 2 years. but i dont drive it everyday so lets say 5-7k miles. the vtc works fine. yesterday i pulled off the valve cover to give it a 2nd look. i had pulled the cover off last summer and found nothing. well this time all i noticed was that the oil squirters for the cams were a little clogged but oil was still passing through all of them. so i cleaned them out good and re installed. i also checked the lifters again. me and a buddy tried pushing as hard as we could on them and they didnt move at all. so there should be no air in the lifters. i checked the cam tq. and they were all at about 8-9lbs. so at this point it is basicly ticking for no reason. i tell everyone its a diesel sr20 lol. anyway i would like to fix it eventually. i have just tried all that i can think of and it still ticks.

here is a vid to help you guys here the sound. click in high quality on the bottom right it sounds much clearer.

YouTube - s14 sr20det engine ticking. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U2H68ZdORk)

[nxpoweredsr20]

have u tried unplugging the variable cam timing actuator? mine was ticking like that but not as loud and i unplugged it and the ticking stopped....all it does is advance/retard the cams at high rpms to up the torque so it wont hurt anything until it gets replaced....
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj25/nxpoweredsr20/vct-1.jpg

[smg944]

yea i removed the connector and the tick was still there. im pretty stumped on what it could be. since the sound has been the same for a good while.

[smg944]

i just noticed i posted in the wrong section. just corrected and posted in engine tech talk.

[djcobra]

smg944,

it's your VTC Sprocket, replace it with a new one and that diesel type noise at idle will go away. I've replaced mine with a used one, worked for great for few days then it started to make that diesel sound again; eventually it will be so bad that your car will be running rich like a mad whore. Anyways, this time i've bought a brand spanking new one (expect to pay a good dollar for it) and i'll be installing it tonight along with new rocker arms and lifters. I'm sick and tired of opening this S14 Valve cover! If the sound comes back again, then i'm going to ditch the VTC all together and install adjustable HKS cam gears which will go very will with my HKS step 2 cams **note you will need a S13 cam bolt if installing Adjustable cam gears or S13 sprocket. For now i'll give this VTC one more shot.

nxpoweredsr20,

what did you do with your current setup? did you ditch the VTC or replaced the VTC sprocket with a new one? based on your setup, with that huge top mount turbo, your more of a drag racer, so the VTC wouldn't be an ideal setup for you especially if your just want pure top end power. Then again I could be wrong.

Please keep some of the posts up to date, there are other guys on the forum that are having this lame VTC issue and would be nice if some of you can keep posts updated.

Thanks.

Steve.

[obsolete]

how bad is it to keep driving like that?