After getting this car (used) for almost a year and half, i recently getting this ticking sound when my engine is idling. Any similar person experience this? How to remove the noise or maybe reduce the ticking sound? It have similar sound as hydraulic lifter problem in mitsubishi 4g engine series. Did my cylinder head having bad day?

 

No hydraulic lifters here! Adjust those valves and check your plugs for good measure -- torque plugs to 20

 

Oooooohh maybe i should change spark plug first. Idk when the last owner change it. And then i can continue with adjusting the valve clearance. Thank you mister handsome.

 

Spark plugs sound like a good start. I changed mine recently and it helped with some weird noises. make sure you get the right ones tho, i messed up the first time lol.

 

I just had the same thing on my 2010 with almost 200k miles but it's always ticked since i got it about a month ago... ticking is usually noisy valves that need adjustment, mine had the factory valve cover gasket that was still attached to factory timing chain cover sealer so I know it had never been done.... everything was out of whack and one was almost 10 thou off.... ticking went away. While you have it apart is a good time to check the plugs, coils, and the boots on them My #2 cyl apparently got a new coil and they didn't put the plug in tight (was loose as all get out and the ceramic and entire boot was black as night) may have contributed a bit to the lack of power and ticking but was probably mostly valve train.

 

The plugs tend to come loose due to a low factory torque specification of 13ft.lbs. Revised by a dealership to 20. There was a small recall, but a big recall was needed. Unsure how many cars were affected -- I have a stickied thread at the top of the second gen sub forum showing a poll for how many were affected vs. unaffected on this forum.

I'd say findings were significant enough to encourage every owner to check.

Plugs and valves, valves and plugs. If those two are good and you've got no vacuum leaks, you can barely hear the engine idle.

 

I'd recommend doing them at the same time because you really should remove the plugs to adjust the valves. Spark plugs removed = no compression to fight against while adjusting the valves.