A ticking sound under load, any ideas?

[cleg]

I noticed last week when I took the Griffith out there was a ticking sound that was appearing to come from the back of the engine bay, from inside the cabin it sounds like its behind the centre of the dash.

The ticking sound matches the revs with regards speed of the ticking increases with more revs and only happens when the car is under load/accelerating.

I have been underneath today to check the exhaust but all looks ok, I also checked the manifold bolts incase gas was leaking past the gasket.

All this to no avail, has anyone else had a similar problem?

Or any ideas other places that could cause a noise like this?

Cheers,
Chris

[apache]

pinking? changed the type of fuel recently? If not your plenum might cause it but that usually makes a twittering noise

[cleg]

Cheers Apache,
Pinking did cross my mind as I had to fill up on normal unleaded last time as they didn't sell super, but it’s not the kind of pinking sound I have heard on a car before.

It’s more of a tick that you hear if you actually say tic, tic, tic yourself quickly, if you know what I mean. (quick lock me up lol)

I will check the plenum just incase and fill her up with optimax ASAP.

[2 sheds]

Are you sure its not a small leak on the exhaust manifold to head gasket ? very hard to see except there could be soot deposites, this is the most common cause of tapping under load and sounds very metallic, any leak futher down the exhaust system would create a chuffing noise, very different.
Tim

[cleg]

Cheers Tim,
I did have a look the best I could when I was checking the bolts on the maifold, maybe its worth changing the gaskets just to be safe.

[sideways500]

I had an exhaust gasket go on a previous car (scirocco GTX). It sounded like a noisy tappet at first, but got considerably louder over the next 200 miles. The leak was hidden from view until the manifold came off.

Is a leaking exhaust manifold gasket something that needs early attention? ie. Does the leak path cause significant damage to the heads?

[steve-p]

sideways500 said:Is a leaking exhaust manifold gasket something that needs early attention? ie. Does the leak path cause significant damage to the heads?

Yes - it erodes the surface of the manifold and/or head where the two join, making it more difficult to get a proper seal when the gasket is replaced. In the worst case of a prolonged leak, it could need the head to come off for machining.

[jigs]

Are you absolutely sure it's Tickin - might be Turkey.

[raceboy]

Mine was making what sounded like the same noise as your discribing, prior to it's last service, and it was indeed the exhaust gaskets, about £17 + labour if I remember correctly

[cleg]

Cheers Guys!

I will get it looked at asap