Valve Ticking, and getting worse daily

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BarkMarker
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:37 am

Hi all, first post although I have lurked a while.

2012 kizashi S with 140k miles. when i bought the car it had a slight tick when idling, but that tick has grown to be quite the noise. Around the 1k mark it is near impossible to hear, but below that it is loud and clear. No shining in the oil yet fortunately, but it can only be a matter of time with how quickly it is getting worse. I have put about 4k on it, and changed the oil about 1k ago, no luck. At this point i definitely want to get into the valve cover and have a look to see, it sounds like 1 or 2 very out of spec valve clearances. Has anyone done this check before? Should I plan to take the cams off or can the lifters be seen/checked without much more than a new valve cover gasket? Any alternative thoughts on what the tick might be from is also appreciated, it hurts me to hear haha
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KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

Welcome.
The ticking can be valve clearance as you stated or it can be caused by sludge that's blocking oil passages and keeping components from proper lubrication. What kind of oil do you use and how often is it changed? What's the history of the vehicle? Any severe oil neglect?

If it's sludge related, you can try some oil additives like Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, or even Auto-RX to help remove the sludge. Switching to synthetic motor oil will also help remove sludge over time and keep things cleaner inside.

For out of spec valves, it's adjustment as you know. I don't recall anyone doing that yet on the Kizashi's J24B but it's detailed in the service manual available in the Stickies section of the forum. I believe you have access to the valves for adjustment upon removal of the valve cover.

Keep us posted. Good luck!
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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Ronzuki
Posts: 2382
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

Possibly an injector going bad? They tick normally.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
WESHOOT2
Posts: 1975
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:37 pm
Location: Vermont

Two thoughts:

--change the oil using a high-quality 'high mileage'blend

--try running at least 40 gallons of Mobil (or Exxon) premium through it.


The oil contains additives to help clear clogged passages, and the gas contains sufficient additives to clean sticky fuel injectors.
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LPSISRL
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Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:49 pm
Location: Chesapeake, Virginia

I'd give the Sea Foam a try. If it's slugged up, it can help a lot.
2011 Kizashi SLS CVT (silver)
2005 Honda Odyssey
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2009 Suzuki SX4 Cross AWD 5-speed Tech package (vapor metallic blue)
BarkMarker
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:37 am

Hey guys thanks for the responses! A bit late of a reply from me though! So I pulled the valve cover this morning, and my god sludge has definitely played a large role in this poor engine's wearing. The stuff is really gooped on everything, and some of it is very hard and crumbling. It looks like oil that sat inside of an engine for years and years. If anyone has an idea of an effective way to clear this off, it would definitely be appreciated, this stuff is everywhere. None stand out as being excessively worn. I have measured the clearance between the tops of the valve buckets and the back of the cams. I am looking to see what these clearances are supposed to be, none seem extraordinary. I have no idea how I would access the shims under each bucket to adjust it, without removing the cam. Hopefully I have better news soon :) also I pulled out a small chunk of aluminum foil. No idea where that came from, maybe someone was shimming with it? Hopefully not
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Ronzuki
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

Sounds to me as though this poor thing wasn't cared for very well over its life. As in el-cheapo non-synthetic oil at max (or more) OCIs. Dealers and quickie-lube joints can not be trusted to put the correct oil in anything. There's no other reason, in this day and age, there should be any build-up inside a Japanese Suzuki engine. As far as how to 'clean' it out safely w/o doing more harm (short of a complete teardown), I've no idea. Is that what sea-form is for? Again, no clue. I haven't seen the kind of crud you are describing in any engines I've owned, new, since the advent of high quality synthetics. Even back in the dino days, my OCIs were 3k religiously and I'd never seen any issues.

My brother however sees this all the time at the auction during their pre-sale inspections of lease and fleet vehicles mostly that are turned in. They call 'sludge' quite a lot on their pre-sale certs. Someone buys the perfectly good looking car at auction then, at a much lower value as a result (they know what they're buying and why it's priced the way it is), puts fresh oil in it and on the lots they go for top dollar. High end cars w/ 25-30k on their clocks that possibly never had an oil change. Happens all the time. Buyer beware.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
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KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

I think severe sludge needs to be removed as much as possible by hand from what I've heard pros do. After that, try Auto-RX. It's an additive that was highly praised about 15 years ago on BITOG (when I used to browse there) which is the biggest online forum for lubrication, especially for internal combustion engines. I've used it a few times in a high mileage engine after seeing all the hype and it did quiet things down though I didn't have sludge issues. It's apparently a miracle worker for sludge issues as you see in your Kizashi. Just make sure to follow the instructions carefully as it requires a short oil change interval during the flush process.

After the process is complete, exclusively use full synthetic motor oil in the engine. It will continue to slowly work away at the sludge and prevent more of it from forming. I think these two are your best bets at restoring the engine from sludge.

https://www.auto-rx.com
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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Ronzuki
Posts: 2382
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

:lol: Sounds like this Auto Rx stuff is the high-tech version of (the last ditch effort) running kerosene in the pan of a severely crudded up engine for an extremely short OCI... back when I was a youngin. Kerosene in....TAR out.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
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KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

Ronzuki wrote::lol: Sounds like this Auto Rx stuff is the high-tech version of (the last ditch effort) running kerosene in the pan of a severely crudded up engine for an extremely short OCI... back when I was a youngin. Kerosene in....TAR out.
Yeah, it's the kind of product you hope you don't need to use if you kept your car in great condition from early in its life. However, when you buy a used car from unknown people, you just don't know. I didn't really need it in my Impreza but it had about 160,000 miles when I used it. I bought the car with about 110,000 miles on it. It did help quiet things down but my acute valve lifter tick was later determined to be caused by a tiny piece of plastic wedged in a small oil gallery in the valve rocker. It was literally causing oil starvation for a hydraulic lifter. The plastic was consistent with the type used in motor oil jug caps so I think it accidentally entered the engine during an oil change when I lubricated the oil filter. This is because the oil filter didn't catch the particle meaning it was likely introduced from the oil filter's inner bore. A canister oil filter works its filtration from the outside to the inside. It's one of the arguments why some people think pre-filling an oil filter isn't a great idea as that oil and any particles you pour into the filter will not get filtered prior to lubricating the engine. It's the likely explanation of how that plastic particle blocked an oil gallery in the valve rocker in my Impreza's engine.

As for my Kizashi, I've owned it since it had just 7,500 miles and I've only ever run full synthetic motor oil changed at least every 7,500 miles. Hence, I'm not concerned about sludge in the Kizashi's engine at all and it will likely never need an additive.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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