[Panameno]

good afternoon: i have this tiki tiki tiki sound only at idle.

when i start the car from cold the sound doesn´t come out, but when the car are warn that the temp pass the little box in the gage the car start to make that noise.

the weird thing is that when you push the pedal the sound disapears so when you drive hard or normal tha motor sound are good, but when you put the car on idle the tiki sounds return

i can heard the sound on the oil pan, in the crankcase not in the head (lifter or inyector)

i put a bottle of CD2 detergent and the sound still the same

last month i was using mobil 1 (5w30) and the sound start, so i put ELF MOLYGRAF 15W50 and the sound decrease a little bit but still there only when the car are warm.

another question can i change the rods and maybe the main bearing without taking out the motor???? and the tranny?????

i´m looking for a cheap remedy because i want to buy a ZX2 escort.

please any advise????

 

[denisond3]

I think it is possible to change the bearings on the crankshaft and the connecting rod bearings, with the engine in the car. You would need to lower the exhaust system, then unbolt the oil pan, both from the bottom of the engine block, and from the two large bolts that connect it to the bell housing of the transmission. (And when you put the oil pan back on, dont tighten the small bolts holding it up -- until you put the two large bolts in, and tighten them partly. This is pull the oil pan so it is contact with the transmission, as it should be.
However; if the bearings are bad enough to be making a noise you can hear at a warm idle, I think the crankshaft may already be damaged, and the journals would be out of round.
Perhaps the noise is something else, like loose nuts on the torque converter, or something rattling between the exhaust system and the bottom of the motor.
Good Luck....

 

[Panameno]

thank you very much

when you start the car at the morning sounds normal, the sound that we are talking about don´t come out (low or high RPM), but when the temp gauge needle pass the little box you can hear it (if you rise the RPM the sound disapears)

so my question is, if i have problem in the rod of the crankshaft i can hear the noise with the car on any temp, also at low or high RPM????

yesterday i notice something, i stop at a red light and theres no tiki sound, really weird so i open the hood and look at the crankcase and everything sounds normal, i drive again but when i stop at my house the noise are back.

last week i re-tight the nuts (exhaust manifol) and notice that the gasket are very thin, so i´m going to replace it with a new one.

any suggest?

 

[denisond3]

Normally by the time you can hear the clack noise of a bad rod bearing, its already past the point where replacing bearings will help. I would suspect the tiki tiki noise is something else.
Try a couple of tests:
Get the engine warmed up. Then take the serpentine belt off. You need to hold the tensioner to take the tension off of the belt. A 3/8 inch drive ratchet wrench is what fits in that square hole in the tensioner arm. Then start the car up and run it a bit, to see if the noise is gone. It wont hurt the car to run without the belt, since the water pump is turned by the timing belt, not by the serpentine belt. Your power steering wont work however.
If the noise is gone, it could be a bad bearing in the alternator, power steering pump, the idler pulley, or the tensioner pulley, or a problem with the a.c. compressor.
If the noise is still there, put the serpentine belt back on and try the other test; Pull one of the spark plug wires off, and run it on 3 cylinders for a few seconds. Do this one spark plug at a time, for each of the 4 cylinders. If the noise is gone when you are running it with a spark plug wire disconnected, it could be that is the cylinder that has a bad rod bearing. The noise of a bad rod bearing will usually get a lot quieter if the piston is not being forced down onto the loose rod bearing by the combustion in that cylinder.
To search for where a noise is coming from, I use a round wooden stick about 1/4 inch diameter and 2 feet long. I put one end of it against the part I want to listen to, the other end of the stick I put against the little fold of skin at the forward part of the opening into my ear. It lets you hear the inside noises muy bien. There are stethoscopes for mechanics that work the same way, I just havent bought one yet.
If your exhaust manifold gasket is burned out next to one of the exhaust ports, that might make a sort of ticking noise - but usually it makes the noise even when the engine is cold or hot. It would be likely to not make the noise when the engine is turning faster - but if that is what it is, the noise will slowly get louder.
A loose spark plug will also make a little noise, but I think that would make noise when the engine was cold OR hot.

There are two other things that might cause the noise you hear.
One is a hydraulic lifter that is sticking. If you do a lot of town driving and the car doesnt get long drives - its fairly common for the lifters to get sticky. I have relatives who only drive in Monterrey, Saltillo or Matamoros, but never on long drives. They always have problems with the inside of the engine getting really dirty.
The other thing that can cause a ticking noise would be if the engine head had an inlet valve seat that was beginning to come loose. I hope this is not the case, because if it is, the inlet valve guide will eventually break into pieces and damage the piston & the engine head. Its almost always the # 4 cylinder, the one closest to the battery. Its a familiar problem with the 1.9L Escort engine heads. If you go to an automotive machine shop and ask them about it, they will probably know what you mean.

Where do you live in Mexico? In the winter we live near McAllen, Texas.

 

[Panameno]

i live in Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico

i already made the serpentine belts test with no issues and the sound still there.

let me make the no combustion test on the cylinders to see what happend.

i´m going to change the exhaust manifold gasket this weekend so let me do this and i will write you back as soon as possible.

i use a long screw driver to found the noise but you can hear it louder between the cat converter and the block, right in the middle, also you can smell a little bit of exhaust gases.

 

[Jeffescortlx]

My guess is it's just lifter noise. It's a CVH. lol

 

[Panameno]

last year i hade issues with the lifters so i change all of them, and i remember the noise and it´s diferent than the new one.

it´s between the cat and the block, in this direction, that´s the reason that tomorrow i´m going to change the exhaust manifol gasket

today it´s cold in here so the temp gauge doest move and sound apears, the temp of the oil was very cold so right now i´m thinking it´s not a rod or main bearing issues, this happend only at idle

 

[Panameno]

listen this please:

http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=694883

http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=694884

 

[denisond3]

I listened to the noise, on the small speakers in my laptop computer. I cant tell what it might be. Hopefully someone with better knowledge will read this posting and listen to the sound. I know you said you had tried running the motor with the serpentine belt removed - so it cant be a bad bearing in the tensioner or idler pulley, or the alternator.
There have been a couple of Escort owners who had the flex-plate crack and separate. This is the metal disc that bolts to end of the crankshaft. It has the teeth on it for the starter to turn the engine. The torque converter bolts to it. From reading the other postings it seems they can crack, -- and make unusual noises, but the starter will still turn the engine, and the engine will still run.
But I dont think it mattered whether the engine was warm or cold.

 

[Panameno]

last month i change the pilot bearing of the clutch and we take out the flywheel and everything looks good and tight.

yesterday i change the exhaust manifold gasket and the noise continue.

also i made the test taking out the sparkplug wire and the inyector too to see if the noise decrease but the test results don't make any diference in the tiki sound.

something that i notice yesterday was the flange gasket (between manifod and cat), when i tight all teh crews all the way down i can't feel any resistance of the gasket, so i think i have tio change it.

right now i have problems with my power steering, it's hard like no assistance.

when i change my gasket and start the car again the high pressure port of the pump was leaking a lot, so i take out the pump repair the leak, put the pump back again, fill the deposit and start the car and know i have this big problem. hard steering. i have flow out of the pump but how can i purge, the manual says use a vaccum pum in the deposit but i don't have a vaccum pump

any suggest about the steering and the noise.

 

[denisond3]

Unless something is wrong with the steering rack valve or the pump 'valve', you get the air out of the power steering just by turning the steering wheel all the way to the right and back all the way to the left - maybe two or three times. You can also do this while you are driving slowly; except you need to keep refilling the power steering reservoir. Even if you do not refill the reservoir, it wont hurt anything - the pump will circulate power steering fluid with bubbles in it. The bubbles should be gone once there is enough fluid in the reservoir, and you drive the car a little distance.
To purge the power steering fluid out of the system, a good way is to disconnect the hose below the car that brings the power steering fluid back to the reservoir.
There are two hoses, and one of them is permanently connected to the metal tubing. The other hose is clamped onto the metal tubing. That is the return line, the low pressure line. Disconnect that hose and start the car - the power steering fluid will flow out of the hose until the system is very empty.

If you drove the car with no power steering fluid in the pump for many kilometers, the pump can be damaged by the lack of lubrication.

I am sorry that I have no guess about the source of the noise.

 

[Panameno]

well i repair the PS pump (completly for 50 USD) the Swivel ports of the hoses was very damage so i change it (not the whole hoses, just the ports), for about 8 USD (pump high port and the high port beside the alternator)

now the pump send 70-80 PSI on idle (manual says minimun are 60PSI) so i and everything it´s ok

so right know my only issue is the tiki sound when the car have 10 minutes ON, because today are cold and it´s rainning here in Mexico and the temp gauge don´t pass from the little box, i´m using the AC on for the fog in the crystals and the car start to make this intermitent sound.

so i´m going to change the flange exhaust gasket to see what happend

 

[97DragScort]

Ive had the exact same noise!!!!

turned out to be a broken lifter retainer/guide ---- pull the valve cover and look at these :

notice how the retainer is snapped in half - it is what makes the "tiki, tiki" noise. Its probably on #1 or #2 ... take a look and post back, oh btw, I could only get them at the j/y, so I grabbed 8 of each for the jic.

 

[Panameno]

thank you very much let me check the retainers and i´ll post you back ASAP.

 

[Panameno]

i´m sorry 97DragScort but last weekend i checked the retainers and all of them are good, no broken or bended.

at this time i don´t know what else to look for, i´m going to change the flange vs cat gasket to discard.

any other advise?

 

[denisond3]

Im beyond what I know, so am guessing....but... Make sure the bolt holding the camshaft sprocket is tight. Also the bolt for the damper pulley down on the end of the crankshaft. Both of these can create a noise if the bolts are loose and the sprocket is able to rotate on the shaft - even a millimeter. Normally I would expect these would make noise even if the car had just been started, but Im out of other ideas.

 

[denisond3]

Darn! - double post.

 

[Panameno]

Normally I would expect these would make noise even if the car had just been started, but Im out of other ideas.

exactly, the noise comes out after 15 minutes of warm up.

when the noise began i was using mobile 5w30 so i change it to ELF Molygraf 15w50 and noise was reduce, i´m thinking in the next oil change i´m going to put a thicker oil like 25w50 high mileage. Castrol or Quaker State.

any advise

 

[denisond3]

Using the heavier oil (20W50) wont hurt at all - unless the temperature where you live gets below 0 centigrade; then it would affect the lifters and the engine might misfire until the oil warmed up. Even so it would not damage the motor.
But, I would be surprised if it helped much either. Lets us know if it does.

 

[Panameno]

i'm back

i put the new Roshfrans Ti-22m (gift from roshfrans) and the sound sometimes appears and desappears.

i was thinking is the oil pump but the sound is in the middle of the crankcase so, i think it's not the pump or maybe the pump don't send the right pressure?????????

so can anybody tell me when could be the best oils port to measurement the pressure, and the values on idle

best regards