Engine ticking??

Lima · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:20

Hi All,

Over the last couple of days a very noticeable ticking sound has developed on my car. To help explain - basically I start the ignition and the engine runs perfectly fine, but I can hear a rather loud tick, tick, tick from under the bonnet that keeps going at a pretty fast pace. Please can someone advise what this could be and if its worth me taking it back to the dealer under warranty to have a look? My car is a 1 year old peugeot 208 GTI which I've owned since August and apart from this one thing thats just cropped up the car is fantastic (because of this, I'm a bit depressed that it could have something wrong with it so early on).

Could it be to do with the very cold weather thats swept in over the last couple of nights? I haven't really done any medium/ long journeys recently to see if the noise dies down. Need to give this a try.

I used to have a similar type of sound on my old focus but nobody ever knew what it was and so I kept driving it and it didnt cause a problem (as far as I'm aware). That car was a cheap 10 year old plus runaround so I didnt care that much and just ignored it.

If anyone could shed some light on the above it would be much appreciated.

brightside229 · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:23

Does the noise change/go away if you put the clutch in?

Lima · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:26

Not sure. I will test that out when I get home from work later on.

panthro · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:31

I have a feeling that if you take it back to the dealer they will just listen to it and not bother diagnosing it properly. Presumably it's not affecting the performance? See if it gets any worse, if it does then take it in and tell them it's gotten progressively worse. Most likely it is the cold weather.

Firestar_3x · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:40

Sound of the injectors firing?

pepsilol · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:41

I'd let the dealer hear it, if they think it's fine then take note of the date, time, mileage and who you booked it in with. Then it will be on record that you raised this issue when you suspected something.

LizardKing · 20 Jan 2015 at 11:07

Lifter tick? it should die down after the engine is warm.

Though saying that i wouldn't expect a 1yr old car to suffer from it!

Draeger · 20 Jan 2015 at 11:28

pepsilol said:
I'd let the dealer hear it, if they think it's fine then take note of the date, time, mileage and who you booked it in with. Then it will be on record that you raised this issue when you suspected something.

This.

The current cold weather does rather make some engines sound a little different, more than likely due to oil viscosity and the colder temperatures.

thecremeegg · 20 Jan 2015 at 12:31

Checked the oil? Mine has the lifter tick noise if the oil is low.

Howard · 20 Jan 2015 at 13:20

If it's a direct injection engine, they tend to make a bit of a racket when idling. If it's constant and sounds a bit like a sewing machine, it's probably normal.

Amraam · 20 Jan 2015 at 15:44

Howard said:
If it's a direct injection engine, they tend to make a bit of a racket when idling. If it's constant and sounds a bit like a sewing machine, it's probably normal.

Good to know. My 2L TSI makes this sound on idle, and you can only hear it if you open the bonnet.

Howard · 20 Jan 2015 at 15:59

Same with mine, I think there's about 12 inches of soundproofing on the underside of the bonnet because there's quite a difference!

Amraam · 20 Jan 2015 at 16:30

Howard said:
Same with mine, I think there's about 12 inches of soundproofing on the underside of the bonnet because there's quite a difference!

None whatsoever on my Octavia ha. Weirdly they don't come with any out of the factory

Orionaut · 20 Jan 2015 at 16:44

LizardKing said:
Lifter tick? it should die down after the engine is warm.

Though saying that i wouldn't expect a 1yr old car to suffer from it!

Wouldn't be too surprising in very cold weather.

When engine is hot and switched off, Typically two valves will be fully open.

These lifters will therefore be under compression.

The warm oil will be squeezed out fairly easily leaving the lifters "Short" and therefore with a large valve clearance.

Normally, the engine oil will refill these pretty quickly when the engine is next started, no more than a second or two. However if it is -10 (Or whatever it was this morning) then the oil will be like evo-stick glue (Even if it is a stupidly expensive modern one!) and it might take a while for the oil to get round to the lifters and refill them.

If it still taps when the engine is warm started or when the weather warms up a bit then you might have a problem but otherwise I wouldn't worry about it. Just dont drive until the tap quietens down (If it is lifter tap then noise=oil hasn't got round the engine yet)

Lima · 21 Jan 2015 at 13:53

Howard said:
If it's a direct injection engine, they tend to make a bit of a racket when idling. If it's constant and sounds a bit like a sewing machine, it's probably normal.

It is a direct injection engine I believe. 1.6l Turbo THP engine, if that helps at all.

Thanks for the replies. I took it for a spin last night and the noise had settled down considerabley (coincidentally the weather was also milder). To answer some of the other questions people have asked - I think the oil level is ok. It checks the level and confirms all is ok on the display on start up. I didnt notice any noise difference when the clutch was pressed. Based on all the information available at the moment, I think I'll leave it for a while and keep an eye on it. If it doesnt flare up again, I'll assume it was the frosty weather and if it does start getting louder than usual and frenquent I'll take it in to the dealer to have a look.