There is a little solenoid here, where I put the circle it. It's in between the oil filler tube and the throttle body. What is it???

 

Think that's a purge control solenoid for the fuel vapor control system

When is it ticking??

 

at idle....when hot. I had driven 60 miles or so. It does it a little when just warm, but it's not nearly as pronounced. I guess the sound could be coming from somewhere and coming through that, but it wasn't loud on the stuff around it...

 

If it doesn't do it all the time it might just be the noise that it makes when it opens and lets the vapor into the intake.....That whole system is very monitored by the ECU so it will throw a CEL if it is not working properly.

Damn emissions stuff anyway

 

It is supposed to tick at a 35% duty cycle or so at idle.
It f's up your idle, too, but its "supposed" to do that.
Yeah, damn emissions stuff.
I plugged mine, but I can because I have the AP turning off that CEL.
Smoother idle.

The "chirping" you hear when you lightly pull away from a stop or coming to a stop is actually a non-destructive form of "detonation". It happens whenever the plug firing order switches in or out of idle negative timing split.

 

Only problem is, I listened more closely and it seems to tick all the time? It's very difficult to hear it while driving unless I am pulling into the garage or an alley or the like. The chirping I am referring to in this is another all together from the one while pulling out...but it does sound similar.

 

So what does it mean if it does it very loudly at hot idle all the time? This seems to be the general area I can hear my LOUD knocking sound coming from... somewhere near the alternator....

 

Idler pulley.

 

No... It isnt that type of ticking... When I pulled it into the garage tonight for a quick sprits of Deep Creep, it went away when I installed a small vac hose on LIM nipple for the front rotor... Hell, it even idled better with that vac leak. So I plugged it up and took it out for a spin and sure enough,it is back again... I will try unplugging that solenoid when it ticks again tommorow. Interestingly, it has to be driven to get it to do it... letting it idle for no matter how long and it wont tick...