Valve adjustment required (or so it seemed) - Video

[djltoronto]

There has been a ticking sound coming from my engine compartment for the past few days... I noticed it one day, and then the next day it seemed to be gone...

After listening for it, it seems this noise was only present when the car was warm (operating temp). When cold, there was no noise at all.

To me, it sounded like the valves needed to be adjusted. (Listen for yourself).

However, it seems there is a secondary butterfly valve inside the intake manifold that can become loose over time and cause this ticking sound.

I have been to my local Mazda dealer, and I pointed this out to them and they have ordered me a new intake manifold (warranty of course)

I have 67,000 kms on the car as of now.

Thought I'd share the video, may prove useful to some of you.


(Note; the mic sensitivity is turned way up... When you see me disconnect the vacuum line, the butterfly valve noise disappears completely, and the remaining ticking sound is what the car is supposed to sound like (just like new)). Sounds kinda bad due to high gain mic.

Click here to watch Mazda3-engine-noise

 

[tsunami]

great post..... and video for sure, +rep for you!!!

 

[avs]

When's the last time you change your oil ? Do you drive your car hard ? like redline constantly?

 

[djltoronto]

When's the last time you change your oil ? Do you drive your car hard ? like redline constantly?

Oil change 2 weekends ago...
Do I drive hard - hardly, I drive for fuel economy.
redline - very rarely.

 

[Gambino]

damn, that really sucks. definately keep us posted on the outcome

 

[goldwing2000]

Can't be engine valves. Those quit ticking when the engine warms up, not the other way around. Probably the VLIM VTCS thingy.

 

[TheMAN]

plus the valves aren't adjustable on the LF and L3

 

[goldwing2000]

Yes they are.

See pages 1-10-5 thru 1-10-9 of the factory service manual (2004).

It's not something that you should have to very often, though.

 

[TheMAN]

they're not adjustable by the fact that 1) they're not HLAs 2) they're shimless solid lifters

this means to adjust the valves, you replace whole lifters which comes in varying heights to set the lash

the only reasons I can think of why mazda ditched the shims was, 1) reduced costs, 2) better manufacturing process (better casting, better assembly, etc), 3) reduced weight to improve fuel economy and performance, 4) significantly low wear were observed in older solid lifter engines' (such as the KL, KJ, FS, FP, Z5, ZL, ZM, and BP) valvetrain therefore adjustment "unnecessary" due to high quality parts

regardless of the true reason, I don't like this new "shimless tappet" setup, if adjustment ever becomes neccessary, camshaft removal is required, and that means timing chain removal!

 

[goldwing2000]

It does have shims. Yes, you do have to remove the cam and lifter but just to add a shim.

Where are you getting this information??

 

[TheMAN]

they DO NOT have shims, the "shim" is integrated with the lifter/bucket

look in the service highlights manual and it explains it clearly... it says "shimless" all over the place.... in fact, it's on page 01-10-23 on the 2004 mazda3 service highlights manual

also the parts catalog shows it clearly that there's a lifter but NOT a shim... but if you look in detail, there's 37 different lifter part numbers

like I said.... valve lash adjustment on the LF and L3 engines *require* camshaft removal which is not only time consuming/labor intensive, but expensive

valve lash adjustment on the older mazda engines such as the FS does NOT require camshaft removal... a SST from mazda or a "toyota" shim adjustment tool (such as one from snap on) is all that's needed to quickly perform the proceedure

 

[TheMAN]

I just looked on the 2006 FSM... it says "select proper adjustment shim" on step 15... it's wrong, although the calculation for a thicker "shim" (lifter in this case) is correct

 

[TheMAN]

here's what it shows in the parts catalog to remove any questions as to which book is correct

 

[TheMAN]

here's the FS-DE one to compare so you can see that there *is* an actual shim compared to the L3-VE one

 

[goldwing2000]

Weird. So what's the price difference between the FS-DE shim and the LF/L3 "adjusting disc"?

 

[TheMAN]

about $2 more for the LF/L3 s***

 

[goldwing2000]

That's hardly worth complaining about, especially since you only have to do an audible check every 75,000 miles.

What's the service interval on the FS-DE?

 

[TheMAN]

60000 miles
the issue itself really are not the price of parts, but the labor involved

 

[JDM Sam]

rule 1 do not question the rules of fight club...or theman. LOL
Theres no need for him to RTM, he has the fkin manual memorized.

(poke) (RTM)

 

[goldwing2000]

rule 1 do not question the rules of fight club...or theman. LOL
Theres no need for him to RTM, he has the fkin manual memorized.

(poke) (RTM)

(blah)


Labor doesn't bother me. I do all my own work (unless it's under warranty).