I just got back from camping and I let my younger brother use my car while i was gone. Now there is a like a knocking/tapping noise that I can hear coming from the engine and it seems to becoming from right under where the turbo/inlet hose is...Its around that area. I have a feeling this is going to be bad....Any thoughts?
after talkin to a lot of people from wrxtuners.com and wrxhackers.com alot of people are saying that its because i switched to synthetic oil. regular oil they say dampens the sound of the valves. the ones saying this also were the ones who thought it could of been ticking valves. the sound is only audible when they windows are down at idle. So what do you guys think? My lil bro didnt beat on it and i trust him that he didnt. So could it be the syn oil change?
Tis true that the boxer engines in our cars do make a lot of valvetrain noise. I usually only hear it when it's cold though.
Save yourself from shooting in the dark an guessing more. Buy a mechanics stethiscope. It's just a long needle stethiscope. Can get one at Checkers or any other reputable parts store for about $10. Put that needle end on your cam covers (over each lifter!), on the heads, on each cylinder... just listen to everything. You'll figure out pretty quick where the major noise is coming from. Sticking your head under a hood and listening is the secoond worst way to determine its orgine, second only to trying to diagnose a sound over the internet The lifters should be a light ticking and should all sound about the same as you listen all over your valve covers. If one or two sound louder thant the others you might have your culprit. The heads should sound pretty quiet. Cylinders also should sound pretty quiet; no knocking, slapping etc should be coming from them. The injectors will sound LOUD. Just try to see if they all sound in time with the engine or if one is sounding different from all the others. Good luck