My wife has a 03 Mitsubishi Outlander with 150,000 miles. This week she cranked up her suv and it had a loud ticking noise. As she was driving she said her oil light came on (I was gonna change her oil this weekend). So I told her to run by Grease Monkey and take care of it. Well the light went off, but there is still ticking noise at idle, and during acceleration. We thought it was bad gas prior to the oil light coming on. Then we thought it was low on oil, but it has new oil and is still ticking. So my obvious question is...what can be wrong? We just moved out to Colorado and don't know of any reputable shops. And hell so far the shops out here wanna charge just to diagnose the problem!!! WTF? So in the mean time, I am just trying to ask around and see if anyone would recognize the symptoms or know a shop around here.

There are no CEL or any light on for that matter. I have heard people say on other random blogs that these are lifters stuck...(Not sure what that means or is). The noise sounds like a playing card that is getting hit my bike spokes and the higher the RPMs, the faster and louder the tick...I would really appreciate any input on this considering it ain't Dodge related and its an import.. :|

Most Mitsu forums are poorly managed, and outdated. Also the people that get on are european or canadian...that speak french, so no help..Thanks

 

Maybe add some sea foam ( recommended dose) to the crankcase and run it a day or so then change the oil again. It may clear out some gunk which may be stopping proper oil flow.

(Damn, I'm Canadian so just ignore that)

LoL

 

not sure of the type of engine, but a ticky lifter as my dad calls it is usually a lifter that is lifter that is not working properly it kinda hard to explain. on my mustang for example it is a fairly involved to replace but an inexpensive part. on most engines that i know of have one per valve they sit on top of the cam then to the valve this is what one looks like it is a mustang/ford lifter but will give you an idea of what they look like http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts...rtKeyField=900
on newer engines they tend to be easier to replace than a older pushrod engine. from my experience with pushrod engines it is not a problem that will be castistrofic but should be addressed as soon as you can. def start as stated with sea foam then go from there. i would in the meanwhile get a shop manual for the car and it will have instructions etc on how to fix it. that being said thats if it is a lifter. to bad you live 1000 plus miles away as i could be more help. hope this made sense. mike

 

here is a link http://compare.ebay.com/like/1706371...=263602_325002

 

At 150k miles, sounds like lifter tap to me. The SeaFoam isn't a bad idea, but it's a kinda generic one-product does all deal gas treatment, stabilizer, air system cleaner, oil treatment. I think it's good for normal preventative maintenance, but if it were me, I'd use a product specifically for cleaning out that crap that's making the lifter hang up. Something on the lines of Gunk Motor Flush.

5 minutes of running in the old oil then do an oil change. If the engine is really sludged up then you should think about dropping the pan when you change instead of just pulling out the plug. If you see a good bit of black crud you can clean it up from underneath with a couple of shop rags and put the pan back on.

As an engine get older, some lifter tap is inevitable, but if it's really loud you need to get on it ASAP...

DON'T let anybody talk you into running a thicker oil! That's the "Primitive Pete" way people deal with lifter tap. Yes, it will quiet and even sometimes get rid of the tap, but the thicker oil ADDS to the sludge problem and will bring the engine to an earlier demise...

 

I think you answered your own question?

(There are two obvious jokes here. I'll let you decide which is funnier.)

 

hammer i'll have to look into that gunk remover. i know i only use pennzoil and i used high mileage on hers but it was during the winter. in the north ga mnts it gets damn cold so i run 10w30 in winter. during the rest of the yr its 5w30. and i know grease monkey put in 5w30.

brandon i can get the joke...but i'll let you tell which is funnier. A) a full time college student working full time as a waitress driving a car that suddenly dies or B) this college girl has no choice but to go with something in her budget and pays off her Outlander while getting her degree...i dont know, pretty tough one

and actually i have been surprised at how well this vehicle has done. she got it with about 50-60000 miles. and has driven cross country with me. gotta steal but with high mileage comes some hiccups. BTW it is a 2.4L engine.

someone also mentioned that it sounded like a timing belt issue? possible reason?

 

Not tough at all. I suppose the color of the less-obvious intended joke is not for this crowd, so I digress before I get flamed.

On-topic, I would also agree that it sounds like worn out parts causing "valve lash." I've had a few high-mileage vehicles that experienced exactly what you are describing. The only true fix that I know of (that isn't a bandaid) is to have the valve train replaced/repaired. Likely not cost effective on a vehicle with that many miles on it. If it were me, I'd drive it until it keeled over like I did with mine.

 

I'm thinking the Mitsubishi is probably OHC so it just has cam followers and lash adjusters like the Dodge 4.7L does.

 

Yeah the outlander has a single overhead camshaft.

I'm still learning about motors. I think that's my low point with vehicles.

So your saying the 4.7L is a SOHC like my wife's 2.4L? I wonder if I made a bad decision in going with the 4.7 over the Hemi...But two grand is a lot to a then senior in college with loans