# 03 2.5L ENG slight ticking



## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

30K ml on my 03 Altima 2.5SL. 

W/ radio off a few months ago, started to notice a light ticking of the engine from inside the car while idling and it almost has the impression of a bad lifter but know that this is OHC no hyd lifter engine. You can barely hear the tick with a different tone when accelerate very gently from stop light. Frequency pick up w/ RPM of course. It is none of the oil change kind o fissue. Once on cruising, of course it is not audible/overtaken by other noise because the ticking is NOT as loud as a real bad lifter in a hyd lifter engine. 

Never go away even on a warn engine or hot day.

More noticeable when starting a freezing cold engine and before the warm up.

Will not rule out one valve clearance being on the high end of spec ex-factory and now deteriorate to noticeable click after 30k miles. 

Have stopped to see a dealer and of course, the tech adviser hears it but has no answer and want to see the vehicle in the shop on warranty visit. One has learnt to disregard tech adviser's comments anyway because they are not hand on experienced as the real technician. I am doing my homework here in the mean time. 

Any one notice the same or it is a sign of some inherent problem?


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## Alti9 (Apr 13, 2005)

Just because its OHC doesnt mean it cant have hydraulic lifters. Some engines use a small hydraulic lifter in the rocker arm tip, like the mid 90's Isuzu 3.2 L for example.

I had one, and it ticked, it was OHC, and it was a valve lifter.


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## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Alti9 said:


> Just because its OHC doesnt mean it cant have hydraulic lifters. Some engines use a small hydraulic lifter in the rocker arm tip, like the mid 90's Isuzu 3.2 L for example.
> 
> I had one, and it ticked, it was OHC, and it was a valve lifter.



I know what you are talking about in the Isuzu 3.2L especailly the single OHC per head version with the material issue or heat treat issue leading to softer material on the rocker shaft wearing out after 50K eventually leaking too much around the worn out shaft dropping the pressure to collapse the small lifters one after another causing these ticks. It costed me $2500 plus to do a 80% fix wihtout factory recall so as to sell it without feeling bad.

This one per the dealer tech is no lifter type. I have not research into it but hoping some forum members have same experience and has better knowledge. Thanks.


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## Alti9 (Apr 13, 2005)

I didnt know there was a rocker shaft problem that led to the lifter collapse. I replaced one in mine that was frozen (you have to buy the whole rocker arm, they dont sell the lifter independantly) and it was $50 for one, then I cleaned the other ones on that head and pumped them up and re-installed. All was good, then the other head starting ticking..lol. I eventually unloaded it.

As to your problem, I dont know how you could get that noise if there is just a camshaft riding straight on the valve stem?

Worn valve springs maybe?

You can usually find out anything like this on the net, but i havent found to many good nissan forums where people have a lot of mechanical experience. Hopefully that means they dont break often... Altimas.net is a bunch of teenage idiots with neon lights, no good tech info there.

This is my first Nissan, and I opted for the world class v6.


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## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Alti9 said:


> I didnt know there was a rocker shaft problem that led to the lifter collapse. I replaced one in mine that was frozen (you have to buy the whole rocker arm, they dont sell the lifter independantly) and it was $50 for one, then I cleaned the other ones on that head and pumped them up and re-installed. All was good, then the other head starting ticking..lol. I eventually unloaded it.
> 
> As to your problem, I dont know how you could get that noise if there is just a camshaft riding straight on the valve stem?
> 
> ...


Good for you with the V6. 

This is really a quiet forum. Recall some Nissan forum I was on to research the reliabilty of the this Altima before I bought it. That one was quite good and I thought it was a 'factory' forum. 

Anyway, will eventually let the dealer look at it. Nowadays, it does not hurt to ask around before letting a dealer mechanic play with it. These days, they are often learning with your car, too overwhelmed with all the electronics and follwoign codes and procedures...fixing all the nuisance created by the electronics and controllers.....while very weak on mechanical experience and aptitude. Information age and e-controls have taken over as the more important thing than the real machine because they are so numerous and frequent. A tech go to a trade school, most of the time is in electronics related stuff and they don't even overhaul an engine, I heard, the last mechanic I talked to. What a pity. zHowever, you can let them screw around with e-suff without major damage except lousy performance but just can't trust anyone these days screwing up leading to premature mechanical wear or damage. Most dealer in non-metropolitan areas will usually have a one man do all Nissan mechanic.


re the Isuzu, I also learnt my lesson. I did not investigate enough. It was a smaller Dealer w/ a one Isuzu mechanic kidn of set up. He was in the blind and had never seen this symptom before. The Isuzu factory bulletin for ticking recommended going to Mobile 1 as the first step to weed out sticky lifter due to scum whcih I actually found for him but there is no bulletin on the shaft because the factory was hiding it. I actually find that story by calling a major city which I mail order parts to save some money and they have seen so much of these problems and have done a few dozen of this failure and I also learnt of the a part number change for my seial number range. Anyway, I took that Mobile 1 prescription and within 200 miles of driving, ticking was drastically increased and I later concluded that the thinner Mobile 1 is allowing more leakage than the regular thinker oil on the mildly worn shaft to really accelerate in wear and junk more 3/4 of the lifters, rockers and shft for me in both banks. 

I am just a little better off this time. It is still in warranty to handle the financial burden. 

Enjoy chatting with someone with some common experience.


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## Alti9 (Apr 13, 2005)

I do all my own maintenance. Most mechanics are clueless, not to mention they charge way to much. I am a technician (aircraft by profession, but do a lot of autos too, and i can speak from experience that they let any idiot work on these things, even planes)

If your in warrenty, you should be good to go.

I also tried the mobil 1 fix per the service bulletin, but it did me no good at all. The noise came and went until finally it was permanant on the one bank when the lifter totally froze closed. then the other side was doing the same thing, on and off. Too bad, was a solid truck other than that engine problem. well, the brakes sucked and it liked to detonate frequently as well. 

by the way, i have the factory manual for the 05 on CD Rom. The engine was the same in 03, so if your interested, shoot me an e-mail and i can burn you a copy for a nominal fee.


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## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Alti9 said:


> I do all my own maintenance. Most mechanics are clueless, not to mention they charge way to much. I am a technician (aircraft by profession, but do a lot of autos too, and i can speak from experience that they let any idiot work on these things, even planes)
> 
> If your in warrenty, you should be good to go.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the offer. Not yet. 

I have done some research. The engine model is QR25DE. I am pretty sure it does not have hyd lifter but rather bucket and shim design (classic!!). Now, is that wear and tear rather than warranty??? Not a good sign that there is this much wear at 30k on this kind of design.

Will see.


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## Alti9 (Apr 13, 2005)

I just did a quick look in my manual, and you have a valve lifter, but it doesnt apear to be hydraulic. Looks just like a shim basically.

I dont know if thats bucket and shim or not, but i would guess thats what your talking about. The shim adjustment apears to be accomplished by changing the thickness of the lifter(bucket?)


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## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Alti9 said:


> I just did a quick look in my manual, and you have a valve lifter, but it doesnt apear to be hydraulic. Looks just like a shim basically.
> 
> I dont know if thats bucket and shim or not, but i would guess thats what your talking about. The shim adjustment apears to be accomplished by changing the thickness of the lifter(bucket?)


Look at http://www.trademotion.com/partloca...2003&graphicID=F600225&callout=12&catalogid=1. 

I have not checked with the dealer parts counter but looking at this grey market 'disguised' Nissan Part Catalog page I manage to find for me to leverage on, I don't see any option for different lifter sizes or shims. In OHC engine like those in AlfaRomeo's or Fiat's I saw many years ago, I recall there are shim disks one will insert in between the inside bottom of the lifter and the tip of the valve stem. What shock me this morning when I 'tested' the dealer service adviser asking if it was warrantable when the problem was really one of valve clearance. His reply was, he had not seen one Nissan engine having valve adj in his 4 years. To me, it is not unconceivable that one will need that and there is no 'long life' way to make lifter/cam/stem wear to last forever nomatter how much bigger wear surface and rotation together. Now, how will this 'green' dealer going to do the repair if the ticking is indeed an excessive vavle lash issue - it will be a waste of time, turt hunt calling Nissan hot line and I may be given a 'it is normal and within specs' reply finally!!!


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

does it continue when you turn the car off? my initial inclination would be this are your heat shields expanding and contracting. the TB makes a clicking noise as well when the car is turned off.


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## DatsunZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Zac said:


> does it continue when you turn the car off? my initial inclination would be this are your heat shields expanding and contracting. the TB makes a clicking noise as well when the car is turned off.


Thnaks for the comment. It goes with the RPM. It is not what you suspect.


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