[lrscott]

I ended up leaving my rover outside overnight, with temps getting well below freezing. I got in it this morning and started it up, but noticed some clacking noises coming from the engine. My other car does this for about 1/2 of a second and then the noise goes away. The rover kept the noise going for a good 30 seconds until it was some what "quelled". However, it still made ticking noises at idle. After about 30 minutes of driving, the ticking noises stopped and everything started sounding normal. I am using 10w 40 oil, I would not think that this would not cause an issue, but maybe. Could it be the knock sensor malfunctioning or bad timing? The spark plugs are pretty dirty (I will be replacing them here shortly) I do not know where to start, and would appreciate any input. Thanks in advance!

 

[RRToadHall]

If it is temperature related I would vote for sticky lifters. I would flush your engine and do a lighter weight oil as temps are only going to get colder in your neck of the woods.

 

[kmagnuss]

It's below freezing there already? :snooty: Hell no. We still haven't gotten into the 60's for lows yet.

 

[lrscott]

It's below freezing there already? :snooty: Hell no. We still haven't gotten into the 60's for lows ye

Lucky! lol

The worse it ever gets where I am, is about 7 below, usually mid January. The problem with where I live, is you get 4 perfect seasons, so you have 110F degree summers and 10 below winters! I think it was about 25F out last night.
I plan on doing an engine flush with a heavy detergent before I replace the spark plugs. Hopefully that will solve my issues.

 

[lrscott]

Ok, I take that back, it was 38F as the low, it felt like 25 though! lol
Tomorrow is supposed to have a low of 28F though.

 

[Jsmooth65]

It was 25 degrees this morning here.

Thats in F, not C.

 

[Three Phase]

It was 25 degrees this morning here.

Thats in F, not C.

Its supposed to be the same or colder this weekend

 

[Rioja Red]

Probably not helpful but here goes .................. I have noticed for some time now that mine will rarely make ticking noises when I first start it up after it has been setting for a few hours. It doesn't seem to matter if it's 14 deg. or 85 deg. The first time I heard it, it was a little unsettling. Maybe a lifter leaked down for some reason, but it didn't go away fast enough for that. Next thought, rod cap, no not a deep enough sound for that. Well how 'bout piston slap, hummm, why would the skirts or rings screw up just sitting in the driveway?

Now I'm not even sure it's coming from the engine anymore. Almost sounds like it could maybe be coming from the transmission?????????

Here's what I've done for the past year or so to fix it. I turn it off, restart it right away and no more ticking noise. I'm on my merry way.

If the heads blow off, the transmission hits the ground and it pees oil all over the driveway I'll post it here. Until then I'm a happy camper. :thumb:

 

[viperover]

^^^flex plte, loose cat internals....

 

[lrscott]

^^^flex plte, loose cat internals....

It sounds like it is only coming from the sides of the engine. It only makes the noise when it is VERY cold, like after sitting overnight, once it warms up, all is well again.

 

[big-t]

Try 5/30 in winter, after you flush. An old trick for cleaning sticky lifters is to throw a couple of cups of tranny fluid in your oil and let it idle in park for ten minutes before draining your old oil, it's a detergent and will loosen up gunk really well.

 

[charliet]

Big-T-
Having done that and also the sea foam you think that could have been the gunk that got caught in my pick up screen causing my oil starvation problem?

charliet

 

[big-t]

Charlie, gunk in the pickup tube sounds like a previuos owner was lax on doing regular oil changes. IMHO the type of people to buy a new rover usually have more money than ,oh, lets say , mechanical knowledge and don't bother to do regular servicing and just trade up when the warranty runs out, and if they manage to make it to the end of the warranty without doing anything to the truck during their ownership period they feel like thats the way it should be.When I first brought my truck home from the lot I changed all the fluids over to synthetic and did all the routine maintenance like brakes, filters, u-joints, a good grease job, and found that none of these things had been done before me. So much so that I had to replace the front driveshaft as the slip joint was so clogged with dirt I could barely get it apart when first inspecting it, and after cleaning and putting it back together it had so much play it had a bad vibration even at 30 mph. My advice to anyone who buys one of these rigs would be to go over everything upon purchase to make sure routine maintenance has been done. You don't want to be surprised in the middle of a trip. I had planned on driving across Canada this summer and had to cancel my trip because the last owner replaced the front windsheild and did'nt bother to spend $3 to replace the 8 plastic clips that hold down the top trim on the glass and it took me almost 6 weeks to find it because it felt like a driveline vibration on the steering wheel and I spent many frustrated hours pulling the front end apart and finding nothing until one day the sun was out on a test drive and I opened the sunroof on the highway and noticed for the first time that the sound was coming from up top. As you can imagine I was both, pissed and elated at once.If that don't beat all when I first bought my Lincoln Towncar it drove like it was on a cloud and a few months down the road on a cruise up country the motor seized on a steep hill and the oil light came on and when I got it home and tore it apart the pickup tube was full of, this is no joke, Good old fashioned sawdust. And I thought that that was an urban myth up till that point, just goes to show you learn something knew everyday. :lol: Sorry to go off topic scotty, hope the tranny fluid idea helps, it has worked for me several times in my many years.

 

[lrscott]

SAW DUST!!! I thought that was a myth too!
I took out my spark plugs just to inspect them and found very dirty cylinders, thankfully not super clean ones :thumb: . So, they probably burned cheap gas in addition to being laxed on oil changes. The service records were pretty detailed though, and it seemed like they were on top of it, but they probably got 10 dollar oil changes :shock: . The insurance records indicated that the person who had it before was a software engineer. Which, ironically, that is what I will most likely end up becoming after college....

 

[big-t]

Softwear engineer sounds great, good luck to you in the future, I'd say you picked a solid " wave of the future" career that should earn you a great living. There's tons of moola to be made in that field and it's only going to get bigger and better but from your posts I can tell that's not all you know about. So many people know one thing and only one thing and they're idiots about everything else in life. The key is to be diverse, and don't run to the garage everytime you get a flat or need a tune-up. I've worn many different hats in my life and at 27 years of age and just having had the ship I was on in the North Atlantic sink while I was home on holidays ( missed it by 12 days ) I went back to school and got my degree in mechanical engineering but got sick of that down the road and started my own business but all along the way I've been building and customizing cars and trucks for a hobby and it's still my favorite past time. It gives me peace of mind to know that when I'm on the road if somethng goes wrong I can get out and fix it myself without having to call for help and carry on down the road. No one was more surprised than me to find sawdust in the pickup tube of my lincoln than I was, believe me. The funny thing was when I took it apart I found no reason for it, the engine was tight and there was no problems in the bottom end or anywhere else for that matter so I think it was probably just a case of vandilism on the previous owner because the car had been garaged since I bought it so nobody got to it in the short time I had owned it and he parked it outside and had recently gotten divorced so the old saying " Hell hast no fury like a women, scorned " might have something to do with it. :lol: