Hi all, just checking to see if my local toyota mechanic was being honest. He claims that that irritating clicking from the lifters are normal and occurs normally after breakin period.

How many miles do you have on your xB? I have 4K and no noise under the hood at all, until i turn off the engine, and it takes its last breath. How did you break in your engine?

I have a bit over 3k miles. I took it reall easy on the first 2k miles and still am driving it carefully. The clicking sound doesn't occur when the motor's cold, it occurs once it's all warmed up and is especially louder once it's been driven for 10 + minutes. When I'm parked at a parking lot with the car running, you don't really notice any clicking noise at all unless you purposefully look for it otherwise it doesn't really catch your attention. How I found out about it was the other night when I came home and parked in the garage with my windows rolled down. The noise of the motor multiplies as the inside walls of the garage causes the noise to amplify. This is when you can totally notice the clicking noise.

I'm not exactly sure it's the lifters making the noise, it's just what a toyota mechanic told me. My previous car had clicks from the lifters and it may have been slightly different in sound. But I dono.

Im preety sure its normal. My old Focus would sound like a lawnmower when it warmed up. My pops had the same problem with his 03' 4runner. they adjusted his valves for him and it sounds better...

I hope it's normal. Who knows, perhaps the noise has always been there, it's just that the other night I happened to drive into my garage with my windows rolled down so I noticed the noise. It's actually more of a "Ticking or Tacking" noise rather than "Clicking" It kind of goes, "Tack...Tack....Tack...Tack" as the engine turns and idles.

Just finished doing some more research regarding this topic in the forums.

Here are my findings:

I've read quite a few posts/topics where members are saying it's quite normal and that the "clicking" noise is most likely from the valves?

On another post, someone claimed that the noise was from poor quality gas? They managed to fill up with a different brand of gas and the noise went away.

Anyone know some info about these situations and can help explain?

its normal toyota tickin noise my xB does it i have 9K miles there is also a thing out for low idel speed if you have a Stick and 04 i know mine is one of those low idle speed scions im gonna fix it tomorrow i will let you know if that will fix the prob as well

Thanks for posting on this. I thought I was the only psycho bugged by that sound. I've had my xB back to the dealership TWICE to show them the sound. My guys tell me they don't even hear the sound, much less dismiss it as normal. Everyone else hears it, but if you have the word Toyota imprinted on your shirt, you become deaf to the loud-___ valves. There have been enough people posting on this now that I'm finally somewhat convinced that while the noise is awful, it's probably not an indication that my beloved xB is going to die...

I'm pretty sure this is an overhead cam engine, and therefor does not have lifters. I'm pretty sure lifters are used in push-rod style engines. I'm not saying you are not hearing any clicking sound from the valve train, just that its not your lifters.

Has anyone gotten a mechanic's stethoscope or better yet, take a long screwdriver and place it on the fuel injectors, and put the other end to your ear and listen. I bet the noise is coming from the fuel injectors. My honda civic (trading it in for a tC coupe) does the same thing.. and found that different gas DOES make the clicking sound different due to the additive package. Shell for instance works great because they actually are adding more additives to their fuel to clean up engine and fuel injector deposits. With today's emissions standards (which means tighter tolerances on fuel injectors) it will have more cars making noises when deposits show themselves. 1000 miles is enough to cause deposits to form, even in a new engine.

Petroleum Institute, Chevron and Shell I have seen research (on their website) have documented these issues back in the 80's and forecasted this would continue to be a problem because of tighter emissions controls..

What we need is someone who hears this to use a stethoscope or the screwdriver trick to listen to the injectors to see if that is the same noise.. the civic does it all the time.. and it still is working great at 130,000 miles..

i bet its the injectors. i have noticed its a lot louder without the plastic engine cover on. thats why theres the insulation on the back of the cover.

Many hydraulic lifter engines will have lifter noise as they get old. Usually the clicking only happens upon first start-up, or after a hard lap, or if the oil needs changing.

The Echo/xB engine does NOT have hydraulic lifters. If you hear clicking noise, it's the valve clearance. (our cars require valve adjustments every 60k, I think). Ask the dealer to check the valve clearance for you.

Or check it yourself. All is takes is standard tools to take the valve cover off, and a feeler gauge. If the clearance is off, then you can tell the dealer to fix it.

try using synthetic oil. after i put it in mine, it got even smoother and more quiet. :shock:

the clicking noise is the fuel injectors, every f/i vehicle I've owned has done this and it's nothing to worry about. If it gets louder or starts losing power then have it checked out. Thats the nice thing about having a warranty. good luck :!: 8)

some added info- My father thought his valves on his new 4RUNNER were out of adjustment. so he talked to the toyota rep at his dealer- who basically said its normal. My father asked to have them adjusted anyway. The rep said he would have to charge him. my father asked how much,

Get this $750 BUCKS to adjust the valves on his 4.0L V6 runner. My father of cousres passed after that. But I guess you have to have some parts replaced and the labor is the killer.....

Yeah the 1NZ-FE does not have lifters or rockers to make noise. The Cam lobes on the cam shaft come in direct contact with "cups" that sit on top of the valve springs which eliminates a ton of extra valvetrain crap a lot of other companies put in their engines.

The ticking sounds these engines make are from the fuel injectors.

Not tring to act like I know everything, but round my way with all imports we have the same noise. I have talked to a few people and the general consensious (sp?) is that it is the injectors that you are hearing. Lifters are only in engines without OVC's. These ride on top of the camshaft and push on the push rods which then push the rocker arms to open and close the valves. We have none of this with OVC's.

I used to have a Mazda MX-3 with the 1.8L V6. It made the same clicking sound.

Supposedly it came from the valves hitting the cam lobes when they were on their way back up.

The way that it was explained to me was that when the cam lobe pushed the valve down, it caused a little gap between the cam lobe and the valve just as the lobe started to let the valve spring push the valve back up. The sound is when the valve hits the cam lobe.

I've never researched it because it sounded plausable. Who knows.

Cel

1 If its the injectors making noise its called the injector pulse which is quiet normal.. to be overly loud isn't. I have this ticking noise too. 2. The "cups" are refered to as tappets. They fill up with oil and to come in contact with the cam lobes. If the tappets bleed down.. i.e. lack of oil or fresh oil they will make a ton of noise. My 626 used to have that. If you've ever taken apart a OHC engine with tappets you would see whats involed.