Sporatic ticking noise at idle

FWOIII · 02-17-2008, 02:50 PM

My car has a faint ticking noise at idle. It is not always present, does not matter if in P,R,N or D. Coming from rear of car and disappears as RPM's increase. Any Ideas?

jonnysan · 02-17-2008, 03:10 PM

I'd like to know what this is as I couldn't hear any faint ticking if I tried anyway....

**jwight** · 02-17-2008, 03:11 PM

http://smartcarofamerica.com/forums/...hlight=tapping

FWOIII · 02-17-2008, 05:32 PM

Thanks jwight, but it does it while sitting in P or N, whatever, brake on or off. If you turn the heater fan on then you can't hear it. It has to be quiet. If you increase the engine speed, either the engine noise covers it up or the tapping quits. Then again, sometime it doesn't do it at all. I got in a car at the dealership and it did the same. Got in another one and it didn't.

I'm just curious, other than that the car is spectacular. 500 miles on it now. This car is so different, it's hard to rationalize what it could be.

Carnut · 02-17-2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FWOIII

My car has a faint ticking noise at idle. It is not always present, does not matter if in P,R,N or D. Coming from rear of car and disappears as RPM's increase. Any Ideas?

Try opening the engine compartment to see if it is really coming from there. Check it out at the dealer to make sure it isn't a valve.

On the other hand it could, if it really sounds like a "tick", your 24 months of coverage being counted down.

**SmartCard** · 02-17-2008, 07:54 PM

Quite often in new cars the exhaust and catalytic converter will tick upon warming up - could be that?

FWOIII · 02-17-2008, 08:14 PM

It does it when completely warmed up. Wondering if others are hearing this? Again, if you get in the car with other sounds ie. heater, radio you will never hear it.

**SmartCard** · 02-18-2008, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmartCard

Quite often in new cars the exhaust and catalytic converter will tick upon warming up - could be that?

...or when completely warmed up!

FWOIII · 02-18-2008, 07:11 AM

This morning, I ran an errand and after about 25 minutes it started clicking or ticking slow then fast, then it would stop. I got out of the car and went to the back, opened the tailgate and engine compartment and could not hear anything. Got back inside and there it was. I increased the rpm and it went away, moved the shift lever and still there. It would get fast ticking, then slow, then stop. Who knows....

SMARTIEPANTS · 02-18-2008, 07:24 AM

i have had my car for almost a month and have not been able to find out what is doing it,, but i am certain it is coming from the vibration of the motor at it's lowest idle,, if you remove the engine cover and look at the engine when it is running at it's slowest you will see that it shakes quite a bit,,, more so on the side where the air filter is and i think this is because it is further from the engine,,as soon as you increase the rpm's a couple hundered or so it smooths right out, this taping sound seems to be a lot louder inside the car than on the outside, which makes me think something might be bumping against the trindon cell, i even bought one of those stethoscope things and still can't find it,, a true smart car ghost for sure