What would cause loud lifter ticking??
 

Hey last night I came home and left my car running to move some stuff out of my way and realized that my car sounded like my dads antique ford tempo :D Anyways, I opened up the hood and I'm quite sure that its the lifters, or something in the head. My car just passed 3000 kms on friday. The dealership says oil change intervals are 7000 kms so why would the oil be doing this already?? Any ideas???

Of course I checked the oil. Actually I checked it yesterday morning and than again this morning and its still fine. Could it be that the oil is just dirty after 3000 kms??

It doesn't have anything to do with the oil being dirty or not. On a brand-new engine, there's no way that they would have worn out enough to cause extra noise unless the car has been run low on oil.

It's possible that one or more of them is out of adjustment. You could take it to the dealer and have them take a look; your car should still be within the "Service Adjustment" period of the warranty, so it will be covered. However, the 1.8L and 2.0L 3rd-gen Protege engines have solid lifters that are inherently noisy, and the car's relative lack of underhood sound deadening makes it more noticeable. My car has always been a little noisy, but I've checked the valve clearances at 15k, 30k and 60k miles, and not only have they always been within spec, they've hardly even changed. :D

Ya, my engine is pretty noisy too... and I have 150k miles. So do the valves ever need adjusted or are they self adjustable?

Our solid lifters are noisy as hell.

There is procedure for adjusting lifters (see ugly.net)

honestly, most people mistake the ticking of the injectors with noisy lifters...it's probably just injectors

You think so? That loud? Hm. Well when i step on the gas and rev it up on idle, it sounds normal, the ticking doesnt get louder.... So just use injector cleaner in the fuel tank to clean the injectors?

you can, but just live with it for the most part...you cant just silence the injectors

No kidding...I've had this car for 3 and a half years and still learn something every day.
How ya doin' Mike? It's been a while...

cna't we just retrofit Hydroulic lifter from 93 626s?

must be fun!

gotta get them new tho, otheriwse..it'll tick like crazy

The VTCS system used in the intake manifold to reduce cold start emissions (makes the car warm up faster and such) it noisy. To remedy that, you can pull the vacuum line between the solenoid and the actuator, remove the system, get a Protege MP3 ECU, or any mixture of the previous options :)