1997 LX450 --Intermittent Ticking Sound from Front of Engine

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sjpitts

sjpitts

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1997 LX450. 152K Miles. I am getting ready to drive it on 1500 mile road trip over the next week. Leaving in about an hour :frown: I start it up and hear an intermittent ticking sound from the engine. Not sure where it was coming from, but if I had to guess it would be in general area of the water pump - AC compressor. But for all I know it is an engine valve ticking sound.

After a few minutes I turned it off, and then came back in 20 minutes and started it again to get a better recording. But now the sound is gone.

Any thoughts as to what this is?

And of course, I have in my parts collection for this car new belts, new AC pulley, new idler puller, and even a new water pump. But those parts are just parts in a box, not in the vehicle where they would do any good. See my previous thread.

Here are four short videos -with my attempt to capture the sound

New video · Sunday, Dec 21 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/wtqFg52Xqcv55Bvr5

New video · Sunday, Dec 21 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/h9bi7Hc7bMBikKDU6

New video · Sunday, Dec 21 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/aqw2eBEeRHnANJQJ8

New video · Sunday, Dec 21 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RwB38eHntjwSGpd6

And to make it easier-- here they are in shared google photos link

LX450 Ticking Sound · Sunday, Dec 21 📸 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/75jTpYfQ1Po2dX9y7

Thanks

Jared
 
Appears you have different belt brands running on the AC and alternator positions. IME belts can make a noise that may sound a bit like a bad bearing if they're the wrong shape/type, worn, and/or if they're not adjusted properly.

Quick test to eliminate the belts as the source: spray water directly on the belts while the engine is running (stand in front, not from the side or you'll get a shower), listen for a change in the sound, if it goes away for a few seconds and comes right back it's likely from the belts.
 
It could just be and exhaust leak on the exhaust manifold when cold. The air pffsshhh often sounds like a tick !
 
Happens only on the first cold start of the day - or anytime it's been sitting awhile? Started recently; any work you've done to it which may be causing it? Oil change? Filter change? Etc...?
 
Kernal said:
Appears you have different belt brands running on the AC and alternator positions. IME belts can make a noise that may sound a bit like a bad bearing if they're the wrong shape/type, worn, and/or if they're not adjusted properly.

Quick test to eliminate the belts as the source: spray water directly on the belts while the engine is running (stand in front, not from the side or you'll get a shower), listen for a change in the sound, if it goes away for a few seconds and comes right back it's likely from the belts.
Click to expand...

I am going to try this. Thanks.
 
charlay61 said:
It could just be and exhaust leak on the exhaust manifold when cold. The air pffsshhh often sounds like a tick !
Click to expand...

Now that you mention this--- I have heard the air pffsshh sound once before-- maybe it is an exhaust leak. I am going to start it up and see what happens-- try and record new sounds now that I am in colder climate.
 
So the good news -- I was able to make it though my Christmas road trip without incident. I even made it to the Land Cruiser Museum in Salt Lake City. That was beyond cool.

The bad news is that I am still getting weird sounds on start up.

While I was on the trip I popped the hood before starting up several times. There were times when there was no noise at start up. There were other times that I had a clicking sound. And there were other times that I heard more of a pffsshing sound. And sometimes a little of both.

I then noticed that the sound would change or go away when the compressor turned on and off.

After making it home I recorded some videos. Here are three videos I made yesterday morning soon after starting up. The sounds were loudrt this time--- and there were both clicks and pffshing sounds-- but the clicks were more intermittant. I turned on the AC and you can hear the sound go away when the AC compressor turns itself off.

Here is a link to a first video --New video · Thursday, Jan 1 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/nK1684msFozTfCbF8 You can hear the pffshing sounds and clicks stop at about the 15 second mark-- when the AC compressor turns off.

Here is a link to the second video where the clicks are more pronounced. New video · Thursday, Jan 1 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/tExtp7EsKGL4s2cs6

And here is a link to a third video -- in this video I tried to focus the camera on the harmonic balancer to see if there might be an issue with that. I didn't see anything. New video · Thursday, Jan 1 🎬 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/16qTpSZieqLhq4WZ8. Again, in this video you can hear the sounds stop when the AC compressor goes off at about 15 seconds.

What do you think?
 
Take the belt off the AC and see if noise goes away. When my bearing was going out you could see the pulley wobbling when turning with compressor on.
 
Museum Pic with Grandson.
IMG_20260102_092557.webp
 
I have developed the "cold weather" (*it's PHX, it's 72F today...) oil pump clacking on first start of the day, which is why I asked. This is just tolerances between the oil pump drive teeth and the rotor working against each other until the oil pressure comes up, but it's loud and worrisome.

After you isolate the belts and A/C compressor, if you still have the clacking and it's only on the first startup of the day, maybe search on oil pump rotor clack and listen to some of those videos for comparison. Its on the front of the engine and next to the harmonic balancer, so will sound like it's coming from that area.

Cool that you got to tour the Heritage Museum; it's on my list of things to see someday,
 
So to wrap this one up--

I ended up replacing the radiator, hoses, alternator belt idler, AC belt tensioner, water pump, oil pump seal, main front seal, and belts-- all with OEM. See this thread.

And the ticking noises have gone away-- at least as far as I can tell. Not sure what was the problem-- but it must have been one of those. If I had to put money on it I would guess the AC belt.

EDIT--- one thing I should add-- I did try the "spray water on the belts" test suggested by Kernal before changing everything out-- and I did think that the noises were reduced when the belt was wet. But I was not sure if it was enough to really be dispositive.
 
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