Knocking?

[faral]

when warmed up and at idle, i hear a consistent tick tick tick tick, pretty much in time with the engine's noises. is this knock?

i heard knocking can be combated (somewhat) by forwarding timing. how would one go about this?

[autoxes]

Could be your HLA's ticking too.

[faral]

what is an HLA?

[autoxes]

Hydraulic lifter assembly. Sometimes they stick. Knocking is your rod moving in relation to the journal on the crankshaft, and indicates bad bearings, it happens ALL the time when the car is running, not just when warm. HLA's will tick when it warms up.

[faral]

is HLA ticking bad? or is it pretty benign

thanks for the info!

[autoxes]

THAT I'm not 100% on to be honest with you, my buddy has had his ticking for the last few months, and autocrosses it (essentially flogging on it) and it's been fine, so IDK.

[aMaff]

It's your oil-change-o-meter. Change your oil and the noise *should* go away :)

In either case, it's not really terrible, you're not going to blow up b/c of it. Pretty much any older miata makes that sound haha

[JDM-P5]

I experience lifter tick from my HLA's on a daily basis...I drive retardedly fast and no issues. As Andrew stated, if you change your oil...the sound usually goes away. If you hear your engine knocking...believe me...you will know. It sounds like a snare drum and makes all type of racket.

[autoxes]

And knocking, leads to bigger problems...like this:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff2/autoxes/Pts%202/Pts2104.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff2/autoxes/Pts%202/Pts2103.jpg

Thats the block of a Civic Si hatch owned by a local autocrosser.

[JDM-P5]

And knocking, leads to bigger problems...like this:
i.e. the turboyata during it's destruction...
:(

[kcbhiw]

Well, yours was caused by a rather large dose of pre-detonation, Phil. :)

faral, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Change your oil regularly and you'll have no problems.

[aMaff]

i.e. the turboyata during it's destruction...
:(

Wait, you mean running 20 degrees advanced timing on a turbo'd miata with no tune is a BAD idea?! lol

[faral]

thanks, all for the info!

i actually did just change the oil...from 5w30 to 10w30...i'll change it back down to 5w30 in the next change...i only went up cuz i assumed 10w30 is safe for mild temperature areas. but yeah, my miata has 107k miles, so i'll go back to 5w30

thanks again!

[aMaff]

107k!? That thing's barely broken in!

[JDM-P5]

180k here...and in an odd twist of fate...the ticking was so bad today I changed my oil.
Couldn't get 15w30...so it was 10w30 for now.

Kev and Fadi...thoughts on dropping down to 10?

[aMaff]

I run 5W-30 in mine. Why the hell are you running that thick crap? lol

[kcbhiw]

I've never used anything other than 10w30. I currently run 15w50 due to the bad rings on #4.

[JDM-P5]

Damn 15w50...wow.
Hmmm...ok, guess I'll stick with the 10.

[kcbhiw]

Damn 15w50...wow.
Hmmm...ok, guess I'll stick with the 10.


Yup. Until I get around to rebuilding the bottom, that's what I have to use.

[JDM-P5]

gl with that.