good day to all.this is my very first post upon being a member.i was wondering who can shed light to my problem.i have a 2003 manual matrix 1.6.when i start my car after being parked for say 3hours,it would sound like a cat purring.but when i am already running in the highway and have my ac on,the ticking would start.it makes my car sound like a diesel engine but it is gasoline.but when i park it,let cool down then start again there would be no sound but when i start running again and with ac on the ticking sound would come back.any comments or opinions or diagnosis are welcome.thanks

hi lady10 and welcome to the forum ...
sounds to me like its an engine oil problem ... what is the oil type you are using ? and whats its grade ? and what is the mileage of your baby matrix ? since when did u change your engine oil the last time ?

@Ahmad_Abdallah,good day sir.i had my oil change last two weeks ago.i told the shop to use synthetic oil though i am not sure what grade of oil they used.i have 62000miles on my odometer

did this problem arouse just after the last oil change or it had arouse before that ?

@ahmad_abdallah it had even before the last oil change,but the difference is this time the ticking only occurs when the car is already running at long time and when the aircon is on unlike before the ticking is always audible even at start up.to add again this time the ticking does not occur when the engine is cold.

Dear lady10 ,

by hearing this ticking noise when the car is running at high speed with AC on , it means that you hear this ticking noise when the engine gets hot , specially if the weather is hot . by means of heat , metal parts of the engines extends and the ticking u hear is more likely to be the crank shaft hitting the piston rings , this may be because of ur engine mileage or if u are that king of the agressive drivers , u may assure me if u notice that there is a notable loss of power at this time in comparison to first 10000 miles .... ur engine may be needing an over all ( Repain and Replace ) for several parts ...any way thats my personal opinion but u have to go for the service center to assure that . I tried to help and sorry for not being so satisfactory ..

Yours'
Ahmad_Abdallah

My wifes 03 Accent did the same thing with the a/c on and we never had anything wrong with the engine in it, We now have two 08 Accents with the 1.6 ltr and do the same thing so I think that for the most part they just sound like that. It could be just noise from the fuel injectors. As long as the car is not burning engine oil then I would say that everything is in order from what you are discribing. Don't worry your engine is not on it's way out as others have told you. I don't know where they are coming from but their advice/Knowledge is not correct in reguards to the comment of noise being " The piston rings touching the crankshaft" ,If this where to happen then your engine would not be running because the piston would no longer be in the cylinder making it very hard for the engine to operate . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

This post has been edited by accent sport: Aug 6 2009, 07:17 AM

@ahmad_abdallah i made a mistake on the mileage.instead of 62k miles it is only 32k miles.wrong conversion there.plus im not an aggressive driver simply bec i live in a traffic ridden place so driving fast is a no no.as to the loss of power,nope the engine performance is still the same.though as i have said i dont drive fast so i cant say really for sure that there is no loss of power.hey no worries on your diagnosis and suggestion.i appreciate all of them.thank you very much.

@accent sport thanks for d additional info.and yes it is not burning oil because i always check the oil level almost every morning and it is not changing.

just to add,is it logical that maybe my thermostat is failing and that the ticking is somewhat due to overheating though my temp gauge does not say i am overheating.i say this because whenever i open the hood to check the engine when i hear the ticking,i always feel that the engine is a little too hot than what i experienced from my two previous cars.or maybe its my water pump?sigh,,this ticking noise is just becoming a nuisance to me.thanks for the inputs you have given.

This post has been edited by lady10: Aug 6 2009, 10:34 AM

hey guys.just want to update on my ticking problem.today after i have my oil change it is gone.bye bye ticking.at first it was still audible and i was disappointed, but after the engine warmed up, the ticking went away and i am so happy.i don't know which one i did correctly or if the combination made it possible.here are the list of what i did and buy for my oil change.

1) bought 3 liters of ordinary oil( from caltex)
2) bought 1 gallon of Mobil Super Syn Oil 5w-50
3) bought an original oil filter for my matrix(before i was using replacement oil filter on my 2 previous oil change)
first i asked the mechanic to use the ordinary oil to flush the engine and not to use any engine flushing agent.so the old oil was drained and the ordinary oil was put in.we run the engine for about 5mins,then drain it again and took out the old oil filter.then the new original oil filter was put in and the synthetic oil and wham, bam,thank you mam, no more ticking.hope this help the others who have same problem as mine.thanks guys..

This post has been edited by lady10: Sep 19 2009, 10:46 AM