Tappet Noise

[lexusIT]

Hi all,

recently bought an used IS200, end '02, 95k km - stock.

Been lurkin for some time on this very interesting forum, I should say very istructive and entertaining.

I'm recently worried by a tappet noise I don't recall having heard before (in about 3 months I own the car), it' sstarting to annoy me but can't really tell if it's normal or not. Beside, not even sure it's a tappet noise... kind of a sewing-machine sound, the car does it all the time... before I take it to the shop I wanted to learn something about it, but coudln't really find anything useful... shouldn't this engine be really quiet? My g/f fiesta (brand new) makes less noise, but I thought the toyota engine should be a little more refined.

Sorry if I sound confused, but I am :)

[Gord]

Hi all,

recently bought an used IS200, end '02, 95k km - stock.

Been lurkin for some time on this very interesting forum, I should say very istructive and entertaining.

I'm recently worried by a tappet noise I don't recall having heard before (in about 3 months I own the car), it' sstarting to annoy me but can't really tell if it's normal or not. Beside, not even sure it's a tappet noise... kind of a sewing-machine sound, the car does it all the time... before I take it to the shop I wanted to learn something about it, but coudln't really find anything useful... shouldn't this engine be really quiet? My g/f fiesta (brand new) makes less noise, but I thought the toyota engine should be a little more refined.

Sorry if I sound confused, but I am :)

1st thing is to check the oil in the engine :D

2nd check all the belts are ok, no bits hanging of them, catching something on the way round :D making the noise :)

[lexusIT]

thanks Gord for the quick reply!

I'll check that, but oil seemed ok last time... woth double check anyhow...

Are you aware of anybody here having had problem with tappets? I know somebody here have pretty high mileage cars, I don't think there should be anything wrong with an engine with "only" 90k km on it......

Thank you :)

[Gord]

thanks Gord for the quick reply!

I'll check that, but oil seemed ok last time... woth double check anyhow...

Are you aware of anybody here having had problem with tappets? I know somebody here have pretty high mileage cars, I don't think there should be anything wrong with an engine with "only" 90k km on it......

Thank you :)

Hi, dont know of any problems to date myself mate, the noise you here, dose it get worse when you rev the engine, or is it just on idle ?

[lexusIT]

:duh: hmm, strange enough, the engine is quiet right after startup, 1 min later the noise star and I can hear it also driving, therefore I suppose it's there through the whole rev range - of course at a certain point the noise of the exhaust + wind + anything else overcomes it and can't hear it no more.

Forgot to mention, while driving it (windows down, of course) I can hear it only driving next to a wall or somethign else that make the noise bounce back to my hear (not a good way of putting it, but can't think of any better words...)

[Rich OB]

Hi lexusIT, no solution from me but i kinda have the same problem and know what you mean so its not just you goin mad, i always thought a Lexus engine (mine with 60k) should be a quiet hum not a loud tick!

So if anyone does have any ideas would be interested to see what or how the engine should really sound!

[lexusIT]

hi Rich,

how about we get a little proactive and record our car tickin noise and share it here on the forum? maybe other people would hear it maybe this would relief some pain making us understand what is right and what's not...

As for me, I don't own any special hi-fi recorder... will give it a try with the cell phone, see if one can hear anything at all.

(I'm at work now , will do tomorrow)

what do you think about it? :)

[Continunity]

i have a slight tic on mine whilst parked next to a wall. i cant hear it anyother time espcially when moving..

110K...

[Steve]

might just be the injectors ticking as normal.

[Rob]

quite normal to hear the injectors on idle shouldnt be able to hear them whilst driving tho

[chips229]

Hi,

As Steve says the injectors can be noisy on alot of cars other than Lexus.

On my bosses IS200,its low mileage but like you say when the windows are down and your parked next to a wall..eg in the queue in the drive through at Burgerking etc the noise can sound worrying.

I told him to check the oil because it surprised me how noisy the top of the engine sounded :o .

Hope thats put your mind to rest :)

Chips..

[lexusIT]

Hi all thanks for the replies :)

it seem sthis noise is doin more harm to my head than it's doin to the car...

nice to see msgs like this..

As Steve says the injectors can be noisy on alotof cars other than Lexus.

but still not happy when the "low oil" subject is brought in as a possible cause of the annoying noise, especially when I know the oil level is just fine - at least on my car. :winky:

On my bosses IS200,its low mileage but like you say when the windows are down and your parked next to a wall..eg in the queue in the drive through at Burgerking etc the noise can sound worrying.

I told him to check the oil because it surprised me how noisy the top of the engine sounded :o .

Hope thats put your mind to rest :)

Chips..

I thought also about the injector tickin, but not sure about it bein that loud - but then again, it might be all just in my head.

Sure is, when I read posts like THIS

that's when i start to get paranoid :duh: :duh:

Tried to record the whole noise thing with my 6680 but come out really bad... need to try with my buddy's mp3 recorder and see if it's better.

Wait a sec, now this just might be :iraqi-info-minister: , but if it IS the injector ticking, then could it be possible that, due to the use of SHELL V-POWER (some 100 octane gas we have here, it's supposed to have some cleaning effect on the injector as well as super-power properties :hocus-pokus: ) in the last couple of tank, the cleaning actually took place and now the injectors are somehow... louder

hm I kinda feel having written the most stoopid thing in the world... just thinking too much.

good night guys, and sorry for the long post....

[Mr Flibble]

Hi all,

recently bought an used IS200, end '02, 95k km - stock.

Been lurkin for some time on this very interesting forum, I should say very istructive and entertaining.

I'm recently worried by a tappet noise I don't recall having heard before (in about 3 months I own the car), it' sstarting to annoy me but can't really tell if it's normal or not. Beside, not even sure it's a tappet noise... kind of a sewing-machine sound, the car does it all the time... before I take it to the shop I wanted to learn something about it, but coudln't really find anything useful... shouldn't this engine be really quiet? My g/f fiesta (brand new) makes less noise, but I thought the toyota engine should be a little more refined.

Sorry if I sound confused, but I am :)

Hi LexusIT, got the same thing with mine 76k on a 99' plate i got the oil changed only this friday to Castrol magnatec 10w-40 synthetic and that seemed to get rid of the noise allot although recommended engine oil is 5w-30.

Read this thread here.

Hope this helps :)

[lexusIT]

Hi LexusIT, got the same thing with mine 76k on a 99' plate i got the oil changed only this friday to Castrol magnatec 10w-40 synthetic and that seemed to get rid of the noise allot although recommended engine oil is 5w-30.

Read this thread here.

Hope this helps :)

hey Mr!

thanks for the advice, I'll bring this subject up to the mechanic when I'll take her in for the next service... :D

just as a reference, the other day I called lexus dealer about this noise, they told me to bring the car in the shop. Spoken with the chief there, took the car for a hal an hour drive, come back to the shop;

result: this is the normal noise of the 1f-ge engine, or that's what the guy tells me

I really don't know if I should trust the guy... the car has a 2 year warranty but I don't really feel like finding out the hard way what does it cover and what not... :duh:

anyhow, thanks again for the hint B)

raoul

[Mr Morse]

Is your timing belt due for replacement soon?

Had the same problem on a 115K miler Starlet and was cured with a timing belt replacement.

[Mr Flibble]

Had my timing belt changed at 70k now i've done 76k but i still had the same noise untill i changed my oil. It did worry me a bit when i first bought the car as i didn't know what the noise was but it's been serviced and had the OK from Ford.

I would get the belt changed if your cars done over 80k better to be safe than sorry and have a huge bill (if it wasn't changed by previous owner).

[lexusIT]

timing belt should be replaced at 150k KM, at 110K they'll check for signs of wear.

Car actually is slightly over 100k - KM, that is.

And no, wasn't replaced by previous ownr - but the car has full lexus history, and honestly that's why I paid that extra money to get it from the dealer instead of a private party. But that's just me.

[Mr Flibble]

timing belt should be replaced at 150k KM, at 110K they'll check for signs of wear.

Car actually is slightly over 100k - KM, that is.

And no, wasn't replaced by previous ownr - but the car has full lexus history, and honestly that's why I paid that extra money to get it from the dealer instead of a private party. But that's just me.

I think it's always worth buying from the proper dealerships if you can afford to. Unfortunatley I couldn't at the time :( but I still got a decent car as the guy i bought it from worked for Toyota and managed to get a new gear box and all front and rear light units, that was all replaced only 18 months ago. :D

[lexusIT]

I think it's always worth buying from the proper dealerships if you can afford to. Unfortunatley I couldn't at the time :( but I still got a decent car as the guy i bought it from worked for Toyota and managed to get a new gear box and all front and rear light units, that was all replaced only 18 months ago. :D

that sounds good, I'm sure you got yourself a lovely car - to me, it was more about the 2 yr warranty coverage, and what else... .... yeah, the car looked just amazing :P and I felt in love right away !! :heart:

[si's_lex]

i think that they all make that tappin noise, mine does..... makes it sound like a ford escort :-(

[jzflsrt]

I think it's always worth buying from the proper dealerships if you can afford to. Unfortunatley I couldn't at the time :( but I still got a decent car as the guy i bought it from worked for Toyota and managed to get a new gear box and all front and rear light units, that was all replaced only 18 months ago. :D

that sounds good, I'm sure you got yourself a lovely car - to me, it was more about the 2 yr warranty coverage, and what else... .... yeah, the car looked just amazing :P and I felt in love right away !! :heart:

What I`ve been told is that as the car gets older the engine becomes loose so maybe you need to change the oil viscosity to heavier weight perhaphs 10w40. Or you will probably need to adjust the valve clearance, specially if your car makes less miles per gallon. When your car makes this noises at star/up it should be normal cause oil needs to reach the top for lube, and it should go away. also maybe think about the fuel pump also makes similar noise. If I missundertood you please forget what I just said. hp ethis will be some help for you.

[ColinBarber]

Fuel injectors can become noisy. Valve clearance should be checked and adjusted, if needed, every 60k miles however it's quite rare for Toyota engines to need valve clearance adjustments.

[NikTsonev]

Hi everybody, I am new here..... Two weeks ago i bought mine used IS200 from the official Toyota dealer. The car is ~3 years old and ~60,000 km. When i parked it in my garage the other day i noticed, i guess, this noise, you are all writing about - the car sounds like a sewing machine at idle only. Strange is that the noise disappears when i press the clutch and comes back again when i de-press the clutch. Sounded weird, so today i opened the engine to see, as if i could do anything at all:), but still, i saw that there were some bits of fibers hanging from one of the belts (i guess i saw 3 belts there). One of these belts had a strange kind of stitching every 20 centimeters along its diameter and one of these stitches was torn and fibers, though very small were hanging from the belt, i guess even the rubber was torn and i could see metal below. As i got very worried i will call tomorrow Toyota-Lexus and see what they will advise, first on the noise and second on this belt. I have no idea whether the two are connected.