Ticking on start up.

M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:24 pm

Hi guys,

My NA6 has a ticking noise on start up. It goes away after a few seconds once oil pressure is up but it reappears when the motor has been applied in anger i.e. after a 60s autokhana lap.

I'm guessing a hydraulic lifter.

How easy is this to rectify?

Engine is just shy of 200K.

Cheers,

Seanan.

Postby **NitroDann** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:40 pm

Google for 'miata HLA', 'miata hla ticking' etc etc

THOUSANDS of threads full of all the info you want are there.

THOUSANDS.

Dann

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:29 pm

M1474 wrote:Hi guys,

My NA6 has a ticking noise on start up. It goes away after a few seconds once oil pressure is up but it reappears when the motor has been applied in anger i.e. after a 60s autokhana lap.

I'm guessing a hydraulic lifter.

How easy is this to rectify?

Engine is just shy of 200K.

Cheers,

Seanan.

Hi Seanan ... common problem, especially as the engines age.

As Dann shows, there are a huge! number of threads on the subject. Google is a great friend to MX5 owners :wink:

So far, I have yet to find an issue, repair or mod not covered somewhere. Doesn't mean I don't ask questions, I'm a mechanical novice so I have many questions, but it means I have some prior research to fall back on.

First thing I'd try is a simple oil flush and change. These engines seem to crave oil changes

We did a 1500 km trip over 6 days recently and the car has been sitting waiting for another oil change due to the ticking not going away on start up when we'd got home. Probably only got 3,000 k's at most over 4 months on this change

vrmmmpshhh · Postby **vrmmmpshhh** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:06 pm

my engine would tick all the time on magnetec but would be fine with an additive. whwn i changed over to nulon full synthetic it went away and only comes when i need an oil change.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:19 pm

Kev, I would guess if you need to change that regularly you might need to tweak the oil grade / brand. Alternatively the lifters are about done in.

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:01 pm

Seanan, there are different scenarios with HLAs, depending on level of wear and how clagged up they are. You might have a couple of issues going here. Just googling miata.net will get you very scrambled messages.

1. If they tick on startup and come good after a little while then they're a bit worn and a bit clagged up. Try the oil change(s) first and see how they go after that.

2. If one still doesn't come good after you've done a couple of oil changes then it's either seriously clagged up or it's faulty. You could take the lot out and dismantle, inspect and clean them. Miata.net will tell you how to do it but their write-up is a bit optimistic. It's a slow, messy, fiddly job with a 50/50 success rate. If cleaning fails or you don't have the time for it then just replace the set.

3. If they are not ticking at the start of a motorkhana or track run but get noisy during the run and are ticking at the end of the run then they're not handling the pressure. You might also notice some loss of power as the noise increases, because you're getting less valve lift. They're probably all worn out. This wouldn't be unusual at 200k, especially if oil changes have been a bit erratic or cheap oils are used. Replace the set.

If you're thinking about putting in modified cams then in your case you're probably better off changing to solid lifters with a cam profiled for them.

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:52 pm

sailaholic wrote:Kev, I would guess if you need to change that regularly you might need to tweak the oil grade / brand. Alternatively the lifters are about done in.

Yeah ... though that trip was mostly done in 35+ high temperatures and majority at highway speeds, with the aircon running even with the roof down (works great with the NB wind-blocker in my NA :wink:

), so possibly the oil thinned out just enough to cause a problem. My first oil change after getting her back on the road was reasonably quick, possibly due to the novelty of how nice these things are to rev :roll:

But since then, until this last change, the oil has lasted the distance without any noises.

Since I've had it, I've only used Nulon synthetic, flushing engine each time. I will be using Penrite this time round as it was on special.

... all that said ... if happens to be time for some head work and a nice mild cam ... now damn, that'd be such a shame ... :mrgreen:

M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:14 am

Thanks guys, I probably should have just googled but I wasn't sure if it was HLAs or not.

I've just done an oil change and they are quieting sooner, I'll see how it is at the next track day.

Cam belt is due in 500kms so that's a good opportunity to check them out.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:19 am

If your doing a timing belt, get them changed at the same time.

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93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:21 am

A number of forumites have also successfully used Nulon Lifter Free.

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:18 pm

Just flush cleaned, changed the oil and filter in mine and my ticking disappeared about 2/3 seconds after start up. Always gratifying and a relief when that happens. If the ticking comes back too soon I'll give that Lifter Free stuff a go. Might even put some in anyway and give it a good clean out.....

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