My 86 420SEL has 189xxx miles, the engine was an LKQ unit put in at about 120xxx, and had new timing chain at that time. I noticed a ticking several months ago, hat turned out to be the A/C compressor. I just run the climate control in ECON mode now so the compressor doesn't run, so that tick is gone until summer.

Now for my new problem...over the past week a ticking noise went from non-existent to noticeable at idle, to noticeable up to about 25 MPH...then tire noise covers it up. It appears to be coming from the right side of the engine, but I can't pinpoint its source. The car runs fine, good oil pressure, temp is normal. I'm due for an oil change, so hopefully stray parts of the car won't fall out with the oil, but what are the potential things to look for, and how do I go about diganosing this?

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

Is it speed dependant, either engine or road speed? Need more info to help...

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71 220D 169K wrecked
83 240D 118K sweet 4 speed
91 350SDL (one of the 60% good engines) 156K
84 300d (loaner to my sister) 189K
79 300SD (partswagen)
86 420SEL partswagen
70 220d (partswagen)
68 280s GASSER!!! under construction now
85 300sd 310K miles winter beater car retired
93 300d 2.5 turbo 168K wife's car
83 280SL euro 5 speed 155K
69 250S newest project 54K

Sometimes, the plastic oiler tubes that lube the cam lobes break, causing noise. A lifter that needs to be shimmed can also cause this.

Though, if the noise come along all of a sudden, I would pull the valve cover and replace the oiler tubes first. It takes around 1/2 an hour. No special tools needed, other than a 10mm socket for the valve cover bolts, and screwdriver for the breather hose on the valve cover.

Another thought, I had the same thing happen on a 450SL once, and my dad joked that a sparkplug might have be coming loose. I thought he was crazy, until the dang thing spit the plug out a few days later at 70mph. It also ran well, idled great and all that.

The noise is in time with RPM's, the faster the engine is turning, the faster the ticking noise. It seems to get louder under load, but don't quote me on that. The spark plug thing is something I'll check in the AM...I had an old VW that had a bad habit of puking the #3 plug, because the threads were damaged, and the damn thing ran fairly well, but got REALLY noisy. I was wondering about the oiler tubes too, it just seems odd that it came on so quickly.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

Blown head to exhaust manifold gasket ?

Yeah, I've pondered the whole exhaust leak potential too...I get the sick feeling that if I start disturbing rusted manifold bolts and the like I'm going to have an A-1 mess on my hands, and probably wind up needing a whole exhaust because the existing one with just fall apart if I start messing with it. This car has been nearly trouble free all year, I spent tons on the front end, redid the brakes on all 4 corners, new tires, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, all sorts of preventive work, but no breakdowns...I guess I was due for a problem. I was just thinking the other day what a great car this has been...guess I jinxed myself.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

No, they are still great cars!

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1988 W126 420 SE

beware of fundamentalists!

No, it's still a great car, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I think I'm still ahead of the game because I've had so little trouble with it, and it was due for something to break, I'm just having trouble identifying what exactly has broken, and can't describe the symptoms well enough to determine what's going on. If all else fails I'll take it to one of my mechanics and let him get rich at my expense.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

If you have someone who can idle up the car while you are looking at the engine, use a long piece of hose(old garden hose works for me) and place one end at your ear while the other end is placed at the area of the engine you think the ticking is coming from. If nothing else, you may determine which cylinder or part of the exhaust is causing the ticking.

I too have a ticking at the right front cylinder area. Right now I am using 15w 50 Mobil 1. It's been about 7,000 miles and the ticking has quieted down some. Someone told me it could be nailing. Perhaps an injector is failing. Plan on replacing all of them on my next vacation. My SEC is at 240,000. It's been a great daily driver so far. Good luck to you.

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Selling used Mercedes parts on Ebay...always changing...
cdplayer51 take a look!
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This also could be a ball stud gone bad - these are the hydraulic gizmos screwed into the head that support one end of the rocker, and allow the rocker to ride on the cam lobe at all times. The fix is usually to replace all of them or at least the ones on the side making the noise.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Go to your local parts place and spend less than $10.00 on a mechanic's stethescope (sp?). A piece of hose as posted above can be used, as can a screwdriver (blade on engine, ear to handle), but if you're not a regular shade-tree mechanic, the right diagnostic tool will quickly tell you which part of the engine is ticking.
I suspect one of your hydraulic lifters is the culprit. You need only replace the faulty one(s). Try a good can of top end cleaner first, in case the problem is just a bit of blockage in the lifter oil intake bore.
An individual lifter can be checked by pushing down on it with a hammer handle and feeling the resistance. Compare with the ones nearby the suspect one and the collapsed lifter will take little or no effort to push the end down (no hydraulic pressure from oil inside).
Examine the cam lobes in the area where the ticking is coming from. Often, the lack of pressure from a bad lifter will allow the rocker arm to dig into the cam lobe and score it. If not too deep, past the case hardening, a new lifter/rocker will get you many more miles of quite engine life.

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1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Why not look at it from the top down? valve cover off then try to find some thing lose or broken,have some one help you to adjust or re-shim,look around it will come out ok.

It would appear that I have a timing chain problem, sounds like the chain is slapping the valve cover on the right bank. I was quoted $1000 by an indy to change the chain and tensioners. I have seen the description of a DIY chain replacement, but as a practical matter, how difficult a job is this?

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

First of all, I would park the car and not start until this gets fixed.

According to your earlier post, the chain only has about 70K on it, which means you might be able to get away with just a tensioner.

$1000 is the going price for tensioner, chain, rails, and oilers. The chain and tensioner are are maybe $200 in parts and maybe 2 hours labor at most. It is a simple job but you have to be careful to keep the chain tight and on the sprocket.

Remove spark plugs
Pull R valve cover
Remove tensioner
Grind link to break chain at top of sprocket
Connect new chain
Turn engine with ratchet on 27mm bolt on front of crank to bring #1 to TDC
Turn engine, feed new chain in, pull old chain out
Connect new chain with link supplied
Install tensioner
Turn engine another full turn and observe that cam timing did not change
Put valve cover back on, put plugs back in.

You might have to pull the fan and shroud to get a wrench on the crank bolt.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe