Engine knocking?
 

hey guys, I posted this thread in the tech section but Im not getting to many responses and this is an urgent issue for me. Im not sure if my engine is knocking, or pinging, or what the heck this noise is. Its a ticking noise, coming from the right side of the engine (By the coils). If you crotch down underneath its very evident its the engine making this noise. My spark plugs are new. I use 91 octane/no premix. my coils/wires have 35-40K miles on them. My check engine light is on (Midpipe) but is not blinking so I dont think my engine is misfiring. It seems like I still have all power, if I have lost power, its not a great amount. I am 2,000 miles out of warranty, if this sounds like it might be a bad engine, Im going to attempt to get it warrantied. My second guess is coils seeing as how they havent been replaced in 2 years/40,000 miles and thats the vicinity of where this ticking noise is coming from. Please, any comments, suggestions will help me with this issue. Ive been stressing like crazy over this since last night so hopefully Ill get a little more feedback here.

I don't think that is really a symptom of a bad engine. If the engine was going out it would probably be loosing pressure and shutting off. When did this start and what has changed since it started?

I know how you feel :)

It started last night, Ive noticed bad fuel ecomony lately (BUT I just installed midpipe, and Ive been driving hard). The ticking starts and goes with the idle/sound of engine. Doesnt get louder but ticks faster when I rev it (as much as I can hear until the k&N/midpipe sound drown it out). The ticking stops, then will start again, then stop. Sometimes itll tick once or twice then stop, then Ill drive for a while and roll down my window and its ticking with the idle. IDK, the only thing is its a ticking sound, almost sounds like little sparks, and its coming directly from the area where the coils are. But if my coils were bad, wouldnt I be misfiring? What is ticking a symptom of?

The best place to start in solving a problem is look at what was just changed, make sure it isn't your mid pipe or your new air intake, I have heard intakes causing rough idle. You might just have something loose and when you push more air past it (by accelerating), it is rattling or ticking.

TICKING. It is on the right side (Throttlebody, intake, coils) And it sounds like its coming from the engine itself. It almost sounds like the noise pulleys make except louder and on the side of the engine if that helps.

I only know so much, sorry.

maybe belt or a bearing?

can a dirty injector make that sound...

possibly

It doesnt sound like its coming from the belts or pulleys, just sounds like the sound they make. If that makes sense

^yeah

I just think something is loose... hmm...

Is it really loud?

I have the same 'issue' with my car, exactly as you have described. To me, it sounds like a belt (engine knock is definitly the wrong term to use). I usually only hear this noise when it is warmer outside, but that may only be because I have the windows down then. Anyway, the noise has been present since I bought the car last year with 48k miles (its an '04 MT, btw), and I now have 66k on it, and zero issues. In fact, I've had it serviced several times in the last year, and the dealership has never said a thing about it.. in fact, they say I have a 'pretty good running 8'. So, I don't think its anything, but if you find out otherwise, let me know.

I had that issue with my 8. When that happend i lost engine power. I called the dealership they told me to bring it in. They did a recall service (engine loss computer reflash) ms16 i think and i have not had that problem since and its been about 2 weeks now. Give that a try i think that will be your problem to.

Renesis, Start small like these guys are truly suggesting. Thats just a given rule when you don't know for sure what is symptomatic of what. OK. Don't panic until you have too.. I think getting the reflash is a great Idea. I believe that they are done in or out of warranty so run it in and have the dealer do that. IT takes about 15 minutes. I know it's hard but give others some time to weigh in on this as well. There are some serious rotary guru's here. I don't know of many questions that some don't have answers too.

Guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but arent all tsb's still available even if a car is out of warranty? There's a new list posted here. While at the dealer ask them to check the vehicle's history report, and see if all the tsb's have been done. If something has been missed getting it done may indeed relieve the problem or point too it, and then it should be covered by warranty even if it's expired. I'm not absolutely positive, but I believe thats the way it works.

PPPPHHHHEEEWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huge amount of weight lifted!!!!

Just got back from the dealership I work for (my day off). Turns out my ignition wires are bad, they were loose and rattling causing the *ticking*. Better yet my parts guy has a hookup at Auto West Mazda in Sac so Im getting the wires for $60.41 plus employee labor rate ($60). Wow, that is such a relief!!! $120 is sooo much better than $5000 for a new engine :) Thank you everyone for the advice, I was really flippin out for a while there.

Save the $60.00 you'd pay to have them put in and buy better wires and do it yourself. It's almost the easiest thing you can do.

Dave

Yeah you seemed panicky. Remain calm, like I did today when I learned my engine is about shot. :) lol

Glad to hear you got it fixed.

could be engine mound

nope you had one loose wire.. a bad wire cannot tick. it was likely the lower one in the front.

if you want to check look for green corrosion on the front lower plug.. btw, did you get the old wires back??

beers :beer:

Scott................if wire was loose at the plug end, could it have been arching to the block causing the ticking noise? Just curious.

it just usually arcs to the plug.. makes the noise and the wire looks on..

you will see green stuff on the end of the plug..

btw, i just saw you had a surfing issue. get well soon..

a good way to learn the sound. pull a plug off a v8 with a glove on hold it near some metal on the car. when it arcs you will hear the sound..

beers :beer:

Thanks for the get well wishes and I have grabbed a bad plug wire before(without a glove). Ouch! :banghead:
I've also heard it jump to the block.....so I thought that might be it.......you know.....wire completely off and close enough to the block to arc.


Dave

the only time Ive every experienced a loss of power was when my cat got constipated. And my bad plugs caused my cat to fail according to mazda, so I replaced both. And my loose wires caused a knocking noise. <Summary of the last 2 months.

Takes 10-15 minutes max. So easy