Hi all i have a 1996 Dodge Colt that ran low on oil (no oil light came on and the valves started clacking so I drove to where it was parked and filled it and started it up seemed to fix the problem however now on acceleration the ticking comes back. Any suggestions ? the oil filter was running on low oil like that for only a minute to get to parking could it have damaged the pump? I am also suspecting gunk in the engine so I will try a engine flush this weekend.

 

so what was it?
what'd ya do to try and quiet them down?

 

nothing has worked so far I I changed oil and filter and pit in new mobil synth 10 w30 +

Liqui Moly 20004 Hydraulic Lifter Additive

 

uh oh..doesnt look good,but still....I had lifter noise start up when outside was below 50 degrees,out of the blue. I added a quart of mobil one and it went away. I posted it somewhere 3 years ago or so,and no repeats Look it up and read it.It may or may not help in some way. I suspect I caught it early when at idle. I really didnt expect it to guiet down or last this long. There may be two "Hunters" on this site,so the one that I referred you to was on my old thread I mentioned.

 

When I use Lucas or engine treatment it quiets the ticking some. It really sounds like a lifter. It has done as the past 30,000 miles, my wife had a lancer with 300,000 1.8l, he ran the same way. Runs good plenty of power, just have that Mitsubishi engine noise going on.
I know I'm close to due for a timing chain, hopefully this is not what it is. Can a old serpentine belt have anything to do with this?

 

You may have a worn-out lifter surface. In the pic below, you can see the lifters that I have round magnets on to hold them in place as I rotate the assembly up-side-down to reassemble it on the head. The thin surface of the lifter can wear out and "burn thru" which will prevent the lifter from building up oil pressure inside and thus it will not expand as it should. Thus, you would have that clatter noise as a result of a worn-out lifter.

Pics from my 94 Montero while re-installing the lifters and camshaft back onto the head: I imagine your Colt is similar.....is it the 3.0?



Magnets holding the lifters from falling out when rotating:



Head ready to go back onto the engine: