Ticking noise coming from engine

[98sunfirecanada]

Hey guys,

For the past few months my sunfire has begun to make a ticking noise. At first i thought it was the tensioner on the belt, but now i am convinced it's coming from the area of the first cylinder.

The tick seems to be even louder when you get underneath the car. By taking a screwdriver and holding it onto the valve cover i was able to listen and pin point the sound to that area of the first cylinder.

the car has roughly 250,000 kms & since i have owned it (for over 2 years) I have done synthetic oil changes religiously. As well, I use a bit of Lucas oil stabilizer as well at each change.

Somebody recommended that i should try switching back to dino oil for a bit and see if the ticking noise goes away.

What do you guys think?


Thanks

 

[melsg5]

could be a worn timing chain/tensioner, see if the noise is coming from the timing chain cover. Other thing you can try is going up in oil viscosity, for instance go from 5w30 to 10w40.

 

[98sunfirecanada]

Looks like it is my timing chain tensioner. I have a mechanic replacing it this week. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Jeffh62]

Looks like it is my timing chain tensioner. I have a mechanic replacing it this week. Thanks for the suggestion.

did this solve the problem? I have a 2001 with a 2.2 and same thing. Does not tick/rattle when first start car but once warmed up is very loud at idle. I took my belt off all the pulleys and ran car for a short time and noise still there so not one of the tensioners or pulleys?