[Wolven44]

Ive had my 2000 NB for about 2 months now and have noticed a ticking from the engine head over the past 2 weeks. Ive listened to a few different videos and done a bit of researched but im a bit stumped as to what to do. It definetley sounds like all the NA lifter tick videos I've seen, but as far as im aware the NB's dont have hydraulic lifters.

Ive also read it could be valve lash, but is there anything I can do to remedy this if it is? I changed my oil when I first got the car to 10w40 and its done about 2000 miles since, bought some 5w30 as ive heard this is usually more reccomended and could be the culprit?

Is there anything I can do or will I have to live with it?

 

[guitaristanime]

Breaking your post down into sections:

• Get a long hard tube off a vacuum or a kitchen roll tube, use it to listen and pinpoint where the sound is loudest, e.g top, middle, bottom
• Possibilities: valve lash, waterpump, knocking, belt
• There is a great video on valve lash that carpassionchannel did, explains how to reshim easily. It is time consuming but not difficult.
• I've never heard of people using 5w30 oil, do you have a link to such an article/discussion?
• Does the noise get louder/quieter at any point? Does the noise speed up/slow down with engine speed changes?
• When was the last time you drove the car hard? MX-5s do like to be driven.

 

[atlex]

Make some video. Just post it to youtube - it's easily done. It's nice to listen.

2000 miles, have you checked the oil level lately ?

With the Stock Solids Lifters It's possible to get the shim on top of the lifter to spit out if you've over-revved it.

5W30 is the standard spec OEM NA/NB oil. I think 10w40 is better though.

 

[Wolven44]

Breaking your post down into sections:

• Get a long hard tube off a vacuum or a kitchen roll tube, use it to listen and pinpoint where the sound is loudest, e.g top, middle, bottom
• Possibilities: valve lash, waterpump, knocking, belt
• There is a great video on valve lash that carpassionchannel did, explains how to reshim easily. It is time consuming but not difficult.
• I've never heard of people using 5w30 oil, do you have a link to such an article/discussion?
• Does the noise get louder/quieter at any point? Does the noise speed up/slow down with engine speed changes?
• When was the last time you drove the car hard? MX-5s do like to be driven.

Thanks for your response.

1. To answer the questions in the post, the main place i seen that 5w30 is recommended is the bofi racing site https://bofiracing.co.uk/blog/which-oil-weight-is-best-for-my-mx5/
2. I've also seen a few previous forum posts with users using different oil weights and having some success but couldn't find individual links for those.
3. The noise is very dependant on engine speed, on a cold start it slows down as the engine heats up and when I pull away for example I'd say the ticking matches speed with the revs.
4. Finally I do drive the car pretty hard at times, probably once or twice a week. It's is also my daily so it's seeing use pretty much every day of the week.
5. I've uploaded a video as another comment suggested I also checked the oil at this time and its sitting just below the full line. This video was recorded last night right after a cold start 2000 mx5 nb tick
6. I'll be sure to have a look at that shim adjustment video too, hopefully the issue isn't too serious.

Thanks for any help you can give
Edit: realised I made an important omission, Engine is a 1.6 currently on 68k miles

 

[guitaristanime]

I would still only use the oil weight/viscosity that's stated in the service book... I feel like making some assumptions about the operating temperature of everyones car who reads that is a bit misleading by BOFI.

The noise in the video is very much just a noise, I'd hate to make assumptions about what it is based on just that. My NB engine makes the noise when it starts up for a while but it goes away after it warms up.

 

[Wolven44]

I would still only use the oil weight/viscosity that's stated in the service book... I feel like making some assumptions about the operating temperature of everyones car who reads that is a bit misleading by BOFI.

The noise in the video is very much just a noise, I'd hate to make assumptions about what it is based on just that. My NB engine makes the noise when it starts up for a while but it goes away after it warms up.

I'm glad to hear that it's also a noise you experience, the only thing that worries me is although the noise gets quieter its still present when the cars warmed up. I think I'll definetley need to get the valve lash checked.

 

[Shadowraven]

Do check the lash but the NB head is a rather tappy one. NA hydraulic lifters tick when stuck or cold, NB ones are just noisy. Mine is very similar to yours, especially when cold, and I've recently checked my lash to be in spec.

 

[guitaristanime]

I haven't checked my lash because it's not high enough on my list, however, seeing the price of the BP4W these days, perhaps I should move it up xD

 

[Wolven44]

Went ahead with the oil change and took the car out for a good thrashing yesterday, pleased to say once I got home I couldn't hear the ticking. Does seem to do it still while cold but at least it goes away now!

 

[Wolven44]

So bit of an update because this was a really weird issue ive finally got to the bottom of, the ticking noise did return at all times.

When I first got my car i bought some ngk iridium sparkplugs, since then ive done about 2k miles on them. Car started misfiring yesterday on the way home from a meet so after a google I put it down to ignition plugs and wires as it seems these are a common failure point on early nbs. Today I checked my sparkplugs just in case and the top of one of my spark plugs came out completley with the ignition plug. I still kept a hold of the old plugs so i took the broken one out and popped an old one in and the car ran perfectly after this and to my suprise the ticking noise was completley gone too along with the misfire. Then upon inspection of the removed plug the part that arcs to create the gap was completley gone. Its obviously broken and fallen into the engine so I just hope its not caused too much damage, I just dont understand how these expensive plugs can crap out so quickly and to such a high level.

After changing all this it no longer ticks and feels like a new car, pulls way harder and everything. I guess this is just a psa to check spark plugs if you have a tick cause it seems to be another issue that can cause it.

 

[richrides]

may be asking an obvious question but did you check the gap and adjust before putting the plugs in?

 

[guitaristanime]

Then upon inspection of the removed plug the part that arcs to create the gap was completley gone. Its obviously broken and fallen into the engine so I just hope its not caused too much damage, I just dont understand how these expensive plugs can crap out so quickly and to such a high level.

Normally when they are fake.