Weirdest Clicking Noise Ever

idon · Feb 14th, 2003, 02:14 PM

I'm not sure what this problem is... After the car has sat for about four hours and the motor is cold when i turn it on i hear a weird clicking sound coming from the left side of the motor. I'm really confused by this mostly because it doesn't do it every time. only some of the time. I've just changed my oil so i don't think its a lubrication problem. Any suggestions?

DanniNX · Feb 15th, 2003, 09:36 AM

if it is there for around 2-4 seconds I guess it's the timing chain. There some sort of automatic tensioner thingie.... hell, run a search on it.

95 SentraB13 · Feb 16th, 2003, 08:07 PM

Like DanniNX said, it could be the timing chain. How much mileage is on the car? GA16DE engine suffer from a common flaw and that is the use of plastic timing chain guides that eventually wear and can cause the chain to run slack, slapping off the inside of the Sprocket cover. The crank and cam shafts can also run out of sync. causing major engine damage. Even if it is just a tensioner, it's major work to replace depending if it's a upper or lower tensioner.

If that is your problem, cause it happened to my mothers Sentra and now to mine [$500-$1100 to fix depending on how soon you fix it]. Your symptoms sound similar to ours. The ticking wasn't very noticeable when cold but after a 30mins to sometimes a few hours during the day it would become more noticeable. After a while, it was generally contant till one day everything just stopped working, thus, $1100 to fix.

With that said, I still stand behind the GA16DE as a reliable engine, just a stupid design error as you will notice, the new Sentra engines don't have the plastic chain guides.

Best of luck,
- Greg

babyjbrooks · Feb 16th, 2003, 11:07 PM

i have just done timiing work on mine so if you have any questions feel free to im me (sexybabyjb) or pm me