was sitting in a friend's 94 LS400 and noticed that his was much quieter than my 93 LS 400; specifically he didn' have my clicking noise

which sounds like it's coming up front , quite a low noise, seems to be related to engine rev .. becomes drowned out when engine speeds up

but when slowly gliding down an alley to the garage it's very audible with the windows open reflecting off the wall .. also noticeable when stopped so it's not driveshaft I reckon ...

anyone any ideas ? 111,000 on the clock timing belt was done at 75 or so.

could be a number of things

possibly the injectors

.............id say look at getting the Tappit clearences checked.

has this car had regular oil changes, as if its missed a few, the oil ways to the head could have become blocked and are starving the valves and rockers from oil.......

or they could just do with a slight adjustment

Is the clicking sound coming from the engine? Is it there when stationary or only when moving slowly? If its only there when moving slowly it is very likely to be that the anti-rattle shims are missing from your front brake pads. You can not hear it with the windows up. Because there are 4 each side and it isn't obvious once removed how they go back some 'mechanics' simply throw them out. There should be one silver and one black shim with each pad. You can test this problem by lightly applying your brakes, if it disappears this is the problem.

Will check the shim thing and let you know.

Whoops - sorry I didn't read the bit which says it is there when stationary - its not the brakes then

ok... checked it ... it seems to be coming from more or less directly under the oil filler cap ... i.e. that side of the engine ... nothing to do with the brake shims ... it's been like that for a long time

valve clearances.

Most likely it is the valves, cylinder number 5 and 7 are notorious for making ticking noises, I got the same on my LS400 1990
welgaby@msn.com

Is it normal /a problem or can it be fixed ?

Think mine's got the same, i was listening to it yesterday when i was checking my tyre pressure and it's definetely ticking from somewhere!

hope that's not gonne cost me a fortune again, already have had to buy new tyres this week cause i had a flat last weekend!

ah well atleast I've noticed the petrol consumption's gone down again now i've had my brakes fixed..

Does anyone know a good place to get this done (Mines doing it as well) , it looks pretty tricky and I haven't done any valve jobs for years. Also, is it worth getting the cambelt done at the same time? Any idea on cost for the lot? I applied for gold membership on wednesday so it might be coming in very useful.

Lexus Stockport just quoted £300 for cam belt change on my LS400

Toyota engines use shims for valve clearance so it's best to use a garage - you need the removal tool and replacement shims available.

EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirulation) pipe may be corroded, that can give a clicking noise

If its that pipe thats leaking it will also sound as though the exhaust is blowing when the bonnets up....listen on the drivers side of the engine near the bulk head area,give the throttle alittle tickle taking it alittle above idle,you wont miss it if its that blowing,if its your egr pipe,good luck...its a right pig of a job to do...
If the sound is your tappets,as long as its not sounding like a diesel engine dont worry....ive spoke to a lexus fitter,he says its common,better they are alittle loose than to be to tight.

Cheers chips.

Yeah, i noticed they were shims. my MK3 escort from when I was a lad had them self adjusting hydraulic ones, you just primed them and popped them in. There's nothing like moving forward eh? Is it to do with finer tolerance with the shims?

Hydraulic ones alway give problems - espcially with 1990s VW/Audis.

Toyota use shims and hardly ever need to be adjusted and therefore only need to be checked every 60,000 miles.

TVR also use shims but their engine needs to be checked and adjusted every 12000 miles which add £250 to the cost of the service!

Damn, just my luck. It doesn't sound bad but when u know it's there its a bit annoying and i'm an engineer so I know it's not right to sound like that (Unless it's a peugeot)

Does anyone know how much it costs to get the adjustment done?

I guess a couple of hours labour.