I have a 2000 Dodge neon that emits a tapping noise until it warms up every morning. Then it seems to be fine. The car has 45k on it. Is it dying or what? Did some googling and ran across this advice:
**You have bad hydrolic lifter(s). You said that the tapping goes away after a bit of running time. If the problem was the rocker shaft tower, the noise wouldn’t go away.
At next oil change, leave out 1 quart of oil and add a quart of transmission fluid to the engine. My Dakota and both of my vans were the same way. The trans fluid will help break up any deposits that are blocking the lifter valves.**
I’ve never heard of such a thing. Any mechanics have any thoughts on this? BTW I still owe more on this car than it is worth.
Probably, as you found, a bad lifter. Pretty bad on a new-ish car. Wow, even my Chrysler made it 200K Miles before that happened.
It could be gunk on the lifter. Try some valve (lifter) cleaner in your next oil change. It might work but in my experience engine repairs don’t come out of a can.
IME, it’s not so much a “bad” lifter as a “dry” or “empty” one that’s making noise until it’s re-filled with oil. Not at all uncommon with hydraulic lifters, actually.
Unless the tapping continues after the engine’s warmed up, you can usually ignore it.
Have you been good at having regular oil changes and are you sure there’s not too much oil in the engine? Lifters can be affected by grit and sludge in the oil, but if you’ve had regular oil changes, that shouldn’t be a problem. Too much oil can cause foaming - the foam is air, and if that gets into the lifters, they get noisy.
Adding ATF to an engine is advice that has been around for ages. ATF is a very high detergent oil, and will tend to clean up some deposits in an engine. Lifter cleaner is probably a lot more agressive, but the same idea.
If the idea of using these products bothers you, I suggest that you consider using a very high quality synthetic oil such as Mobil 1 which will also tend to clean deposits.
FWIW, ATF used to be considered a real good thing to add to diesel fuel filters when changing them to lube the injection pumps.
I once had a mercury sable that I admit I did not take care of. The oil sludged, and as a result the oil light came on. I took it to one place that ran it with brake fluid for awhile, drained, refilled with brake fluid, drained, then oil. It worked for awhile but finally died on me in the rain, on the PA turnpike, during construction, with no shoulders. I limped to an exit, and it was DOA. But what was with the brake fluid thing?