phuklok1 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Does anyone else's RX300 engine have an audible ticking sound when standing infront of the vehicle? I'm trying to determine if this is normal or if there is a vavle or other problem. The engine otherwise seems to be operating normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MingF Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Is the engine on when you hear the ticking or off? My RX sometimes makes a ticking noise...when the engine was just turned off....but mechanics say that's normal and no damage is done because the metal in the exhaust and from the engine are hot after a long drive the metal expands a bit....and when the engine is turned off the metal begins to cool down again..and starts to form back to it's normal size. After 5minutes you don't hear the ticking noise anymore. I've talked to many Lexus mechanics and even a friend who works for a Benz dealer...and they all told me the same reason. If the noise gets worst just bring it to the garage to get it looked at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuklok1 Posted February 7, 2005 Author Share Posted February 7, 2005 I mean while running. Its not a super loud ticking,but the noise is there. Sounds kind of like valve noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VGR Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 It's harmless fuel injector ticking. Also affects late model Toyota models with the 1MZ-FE and 3MZ-FE V6. This is one of those "spoiled brat owner" type issues; i.e. some owners will not accept the explanation that ticking is normal and unharmful and is just a side effect of a new injector design that reduces emmissions. Another "spoiled brat owner" issue is the transmission hesistation of the throttle by wire Toyota system. Some owners will not accept the explanation that the hesitation is normal and unharmful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuklok1 Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 Perhaps, but if I spend over 40k for an SUV, I have certain expectations. One of them is that it does not sound like a diesel dump truck. I have a Suburban with 236k miles on it that has no valve or injector noise (btw, that truck hasn't really had any problems other than a rear latch that needed to be tightened). Also, I don't recall the sound on my RX being loud enough to clearly hear from outside the car when it was new. I baby this thing and right now I'm at 34K miles.... are you telling me this will contiue to get louder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mh6 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 It's harmless fuel injector ticking. Also affects late model Toyota models with the 1MZ-FE and 3MZ-FE V6. This is one of those "spoiled brat owner" type issues; i.e. some owners will not accept the explanation that ticking is normal and unharmful and is just a side effect of a new injector design that reduces emmissions. Another "spoiled brat owner" issue is the transmission hesistation of the throttle by wire Toyota system. Some owners will not accept the explanation that the hesitation is normal and unharmful. ← "Spoiled brat owner " interesting view you have there, however it is the annoyance factor at play.......sounding like a small diesal engine is not very acceptable to one's ear for this class of vehicle or any vehicle for that fact. I have a 99 Toyota Solara SLE with the same engine and it is quite and very smooth idle. I have no problem with accepting thats its non harming occurance however it is annoying as hell when all is quiet at a stop light or similair situation. Sounding like you have a valve clearance issue all the time is not accepted very well with most of us. How nice it is when you have friends in the car and they ask " whats that loud ticking noise ?? " and you say "I know its a Lexus, but the loud ticking noise is normal for this 35k car" you see my point.....irritating noise ;) If the injectors are the cause, and I would tend to concur or one of the other valves on there, seems a little sad that in today's technology that a "loud ticking injectors" are the norm. just my 2 cents :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFixEm Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Does anyone else's RX300 engine have an audible ticking sound when standing infront of the vehicle? I'm trying to determine if this is normal or if there is a vavle or other problem. The engine otherwise seems to be operating normally. ← What's the frequency kenneth......A quick and easy diagnotic approach to engine noises. 1mz/3mz engines are a v6 with 6 individual pistons that move in pairs 120* out of phase with the other 2 pairs. Every revolution there is a firing event of one of the injectors so injetor tick at 750 rpm is 12.5 hz....12.5 clicks a second. We all drive 4 cycle cars that have 4 phases to each firing event...intake(piston down, intake valve open), compression(piston goes up, no valve open), Power(no valve open) and exhaust(exhaust open). Lets say there is a sticky lifter bore on cyl #2 exhaust.....at 750 rpm/4 cycles we get just over 3 clacks a second. injectors tick....like tapping a capped pen on a wood desk. Valves snap if stuck in guides, or clack if the lifter binds...kinda like snaping your fingers as hard as you can. Sticky gides and sticky lifters may not bind every cycle so frequency drop to 1 or 2 hertz. Out of adjustment lifter/valve will be back up to 3.25 hz. Rod bearings, piston slap, and main bearing knock.....sounds deadly, no one should mistake it. Certain vacuum switching valve for the evap system have a verry loud solenoid. It will not do it all the time, it is around 6hz and is burried under the plasic engine cover, about in the middle near the T or L logo. Perhaps the audiable difference between your solara and Rx have more to do with the RX having more dead air volume around the engine....ie, a bigger drum = more noise. It is not being a pain in the !Removed! to ask whats up. If you screeched to a stop in the service drive, threw down you keys and yelled "its broken fix it now, fix it free! I won't take it's normal for an answer!" Thats being a pain. Rationaly explaining the how and why of technology to customers is part of a dealer tech's job. The good ones anyway. Try explaining to an old man who slurs over loose dentures why the voice recogniton part of the nav wont set. "Huumme" does not equal "home". You have to get closer than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinBarber Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 worth getting the valve clearance checked. read here: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...topic=10962&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mh6 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Does anyone else's RX300 engine have an audible ticking sound when standing infront of the vehicle? I'm trying to determine if this is normal or if there is a vavle or other problem. The engine otherwise seems to be operating normally. ← What's the frequency kenneth......A quick and easy diagnotic approach to engine noises. 1mz/3mz engines are a v6 with 6 individual pistons that move in pairs 120* out of phase with the other 2 pairs. Every revolution there is a firing event of one of the injectors so injetor tick at 750 rpm is 12.5 hz....12.5 clicks a second. We all drive 4 cycle cars that have 4 phases to each firing event...intake(piston down, intake valve open), compression(piston goes up, no valve open), Power(no valve open) and exhaust(exhaust open). Lets say there is a sticky lifter bore on cyl #2 exhaust.....at 750 rpm/4 cycles we get just over 3 clacks a second. injectors tick....like tapping a capped pen on a wood desk. Valves snap if stuck in guides, or clack if the lifter binds...kinda like snaping your fingers as hard as you can. Sticky gides and sticky lifters may not bind every cycle so frequency drop to 1 or 2 hertz. Out of adjustment lifter/valve will be back up to 3.25 hz. Rod bearings, piston slap, and main bearing knock.....sounds deadly, no one should mistake it. Certain vacuum switching valve for the evap system have a verry loud solenoid. It will not do it all the time, it is around 6hz and is burried under the plasic engine cover, about in the middle near the T or L logo. Perhaps the audiable difference between your solara and Rx have more to do with the RX having more dead air volume around the engine....ie, a bigger drum = more noise. It is not being a pain in the !Removed! to ask whats up. If you screeched to a stop in the service drive, threw down you keys and yelled "its broken fix it now, fix it free! I won't take it's normal for an answer!" Thats being a pain. Rationaly explaining the how and why of technology to customers is part of a dealer tech's job. The good ones anyway. Try explaining to an old man who slurs over loose dentures why the voice recogniton part of the nav wont set. "Huumme" does not equal "home". You have to get closer than that. ← Hi Fix, I like your write up, technical guy, like myslf. And you are correct well explained explinations are always appreciated by those of us who care about whats really going on with a problem. I always try to found out whats causing the issue so it can be avioded in the future, simple "Its normal ....dont worry about it" does not cut it with me. I find most of time when a answer is given like that the person does not know what they are talking about, and when asked for a explination tip toe's around the issue. I am going to check this ticking noise out better in the next day or 2 and post my finding. Surely dont want any issues like the poor dude above had to say....that would totally suck. As for the Solora, it actually has more open space around the engine than the RX has. Standing over the engine it does not present this ticking as I am getting from the RX. There is a soliniod/valve on the left top side of the RX engine as looking from the front of the vehicle, not sure what the function is of yet, no manuals on hand yet, but it seems to awfully ticky...........near the FI rail. Do you know its funtion ?? Thanks for you time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VGR Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 sounding like a small diesal engine is not very acceptable to one's ear for this class of vehicle or any vehicle for that fact. I have a 99 Toyota Solara SLE with the same engine and it is quite and very smooth idle. ← Like I said, the tick is present only in late model 1MZ-FE's and 3MZ-FE's - the ones that meet ultra low emissions - these ULEV motors have a new type of injector that sometimes audibly ticks. But the new injectors also help the motor meet the ULEV standards. The engine's valves have no chance of ever causing noise unless the car has over about 80,000 miles. So it would be a waste of time and money to tear down the engine to measure the valve clearances since your car has such low mileage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinBarber Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 The engine's valves have no chance of ever causing noise unless the car has over about 80,000 miles. So it would be a waste of time and money to tear down the engine to measure the valve clearances since your car has such low mileage. ← Don't think you can say no change, very small maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFixEm Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 There is a soliniod/valve on the left top side of the RX engine as looking from the front of the vehicle, not sure what the function is of yet, no manuals on hand yet, but it seems to awfully ticky...........near the FI rail. Do you know its funtion ?? This is actually the right side...left is always drivers side, right passenger. Evap purge soleniod. ON the ES/camry/solara it is under the plastic eng cover. RX it pokes out by the (coolant fill) radiator cap that sits in the center right of the engine. It is part of the evaporitive emission self diag system. When conditions are right vacuum purges vapors out of the tank and charcoal canister. They are loud. You can wrap it in closed cell foam to deaden the tick. they tick most of the time, but not always. Hold the soleniod and see if the tick you find objectional feels to be the same rate as the evap purge sol...about 6hz. You can pull the plastic cover off with a 6mm allen wrench, and untwist the L emblem...cover just comes up. Now look for the injection rail, it sits where the valve cover ends and the intake manifold starts. 3 injectors are visible. Touch the rail...is that the tick speed? about 12.5 hz. If you read the valve stuck post carefully you will notice he had a stalling/starting problem. Stuck valve lifters will cause a missfire. They are 0 tolerance fit steel lifters in alluminum heads. Not changing oil regularly causes micro scrathes in the lifter bores (head) and the different thermal expansion rate of alum and steel cause a binding condition. The valve hangs open, the cam smacks the lifter, and there is a missfire on that cyl and hard start because exhaust gas went into the plenum when the intake valve opened, diluting the mix on the other 5 cyls. Usually high mile lack of maint problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mh6 Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 There is a soliniod/valve on the left top side of the RX engine as looking from the front of the vehicle, not sure what the function is of yet, no manuals on hand yet, but it seems to awfully ticky...........near the FI rail. Do you know its funtion ??This is actually the right side...left is always drivers side, right passenger. Evap purge soleniod. ON the ES/camry/solara it is under the plastic eng cover. RX it pokes out by the (coolant fill) radiator cap that sits in the center right of the engine. It is part of the evaporitive emission self diag system. When conditions are right vacuum purges vapors out of the tank and charcoal canister. They are loud. You can wrap it in closed cell foam to deaden the tick. they tick most of the time, but not always. Hold the soleniod and see if the tick you find objectional feels to be the same rate as the evap purge sol...about 6hz. You can pull the plastic cover off with a 6mm allen wrench, and untwist the L emblem...cover just comes up. Now look for the injection rail, it sits where the valve cover ends and the intake manifold starts. 3 injectors are visible. Touch the rail...is that the tick speed? about 12.5 hz. If you read the valve stuck post carefully you will notice he had a stalling/starting problem. Stuck valve lifters will cause a missfire. They are 0 tolerance fit steel lifters in alluminum heads. Not changing oil regularly causes micro scrathes in the lifter bores (head) and the different thermal expansion rate of alum and steel cause a binding condition. The valve hangs open, the cam smacks the lifter, and there is a missfire on that cyl and hard start because exhaust gas went into the plenum when the intake valve opened, diluting the mix on the other 5 cyls. Usually high mile lack of maint problem. ← Hi Fix, thanks for the info dude , I will do some touch, feel,and listen testing along with some insulating wrap to see if it isolates the ticking to that particular one. Hope that gets it .....I hate that fricking ticking noise I dont have any hard starting or miss fire problems......so I am confident I dont have any valve clearance issues at this time :) I will let you know what I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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