just wanted to see if anyone has had this happen. my car has a tapping noise like a valve tap but only when i first start the car after it has sat for a long time. would this be an oiling issue?

 

all neons tend to do it with age, both of my 2.0s have/did. is it at low idle rpms? not sure if its an oiling issue, but i have always thought perhaps it was just the injectors being noisy

 

yes i alwaysthought it was the injectors

 

no, it is not the injectors, but accually the hydrolic lifters...they are hydrolic, and loose pressure and stiffness while the car is sitting....this is normal, when oil is going to the lifters they adventually pump back up, getting rid of the noise...the lifters have a small gap between the lifter and the valve, causing a slapping or almost ticking sound....i had that problem when i changed heads, and all it was is the head was sitting for a while getting a valve job, and the lifters depleted, then when i started it a few of them never pumped up, so i swapped them, never happend again.........same thing happend when i started my car for the first time this year, it is nothing to worry about, as long as they pump back up

 

yeah it stops with in like 30 seconds or so

 

yeah it is completely normal... depending on how long the car sat for, depends on how long it takes for them to pump back up

 

only happens over night

 

yeah, it is prolly just the lifters...they may deplete after a little while

 

Go to a 0w-30/5w-20 semi or full synthetic. That will get the knock out of it.

 

I know this is an old post, but i just saw it. I'm having the same proble. I use the car every day to go to work, it only sits over night, cold/hot weather, it doesn't matter, when i start the car i always get that anoying tapping noise, and it never goes away, not even after driving for an hour or so. and it gets a LOT louder in cold weather. I'm drivin a '00 dodge neon, and it only has 59k miles on it. I do oil changes every 3k miles, with castrol motor oil 10W30 (non-synthetic) the engine is well kept, and I know that the valves are the problem, but no mechanic wants to change them, every shop i'll go to they say that is normal, is like nobody wants to make money. Would the noise stop if i'll change to synthetic oil?