Ricktalife's EPIC fails and maybe a build thread too

[Ricktalife]

Yea I'm going to put it on a lift and take an inventory of everything that needs replaced. I think I will just stick with OEM stuff as long as it doesn't cost more than aftermarket.

 

[Ricktalife]

Hearing a loud ticking noise from the motor. Yes I know our motors do have a ticking problem, but this sounds too loud to be normal. Gonna call up my mechanic and have him look everything over. If he gets back to me with a laundry list, it's bye bye MSP.

 

[jdwk]

My ticking was my exhaust manifold, which I just did not believe. I even tried some Lucas Oil additive that looked like thick pancake syrup thinking it was dry valvetrain since it went away when the car warmed up. I drove it around with the tick for almost a year before someone PM'd me and said to check out the manifold. Turned out one of my bolts was broken and another was completely missing. I bought a replacement bolt from Mazda for $6, then I spent the next year tightening them up every few months when the ticking would come back, until I eventually snapped another bolt.

That's when I bought a bolt extractor set, took everything in front of the engine out of the engine bay and extracted the broken bolts, then put it all back together with the retardedly overpriced ARP bolts. Now I wish I would have done more stuff when I had all of it out, but I did replace my o-ring and gasket on the oil lines, and that solved my leaky turbo. I also replaced the gunked up heat shield for the oil line so it's all nice and clean now.

The things we do for these piles of s***.

 

[yudkib]

oddly, i just read that exhaust mani's/bolts can cause ticks for the first time today as well. my maxima is making a ticking thats a little noisy for a lifter...

 

[Ricktalife]

I hope that's all it is.

 

[jdwk]

Rick, pm me your e-mail and I'll e-mail you my video of my ticking. See if it sounds like yours.

 

[Ricktalife]

Well I installed a new set of OEM endlinks and the clunk is... GONE! Dear god it is so nice to be rid of that noise.. for now. So my dad pointed out that my car is smoking out of the tail pipe as I pulled out of the garage, and I checked the oil after parking it. It was right on the L mark. After nearly shitting myself, I got my brother to drive me to walmart and buy 3 quarts of oil (I wanted some extra). After dumping in a quart it was back above the full mark, so I wasn't quite as low as I thought. But as soon as I saw the level I instantly thought of oil starvation and zoom zoom boom. Definitely can't afford that right now. The ticking is still rather prominent after adding oil, and I'm still smoking so either the turbo or my motor is burning oil. I am leaning towards the turbo since I've seen oil on my downpipe for at least a month.

New steedspeed should be on the way to me and because of the huge leak I paid Leen a little extra to upgrade the shipping. Replacement turbo, corksport downpipe and all gaskets are on hand so once the manifold arrives I will be calling a local shop pronto.

 

[jdwk]

Glad to hear the clunk is gone. This was at the front or rear? You have adjencies on the rear right? I am still looking for an 8.5" non adjustable rear. If I push the rear of the car up and down hard enough I can hear the sway bar rotating off axis. It's a very subtle thump, nothing you would hear in the car. The urethane bushings don't allow it to clunk, but I'd rather not have them wear out either. I may get those volvo S40 links and cut them down, I just feel with all the cars on the road, something has a to have one that would work.

The sway bars are obviously the source of most of our frustration, and those goes triple if you've lowered the car. Well hopefully, it's just the turbo burning oil and not valve seals or something else requiring major work to the engine. As much as you've spent, seems like you would have gone with the disco over a stock replacement, but $600 extra is a lot of coin.

 

[Ricktalife]

as much as I've spent, I could have bought a new car.

 

[Ricktalife]

So the clunk is back already.. wtf. No matter what I do this ******* car just slaps me in the face every time. Still waiting on my new steedspeed manifold to arrive via US snail. I'm thinking maybe I will just make a separate appointment for my clutch to get done instead of doing it with the turbo swap.

 

[Ricktalife]

Reinstalled my retrofit headlights and replaced the fog light bulbs since one was burnt out. Still waiting on my new steedspeed to arrive in the mail.. according to the tracking number, it has been sitting in Cali since the 21st. ******* customs bulls*** I bet. Also got a new blox spherical shift knob from craigslist. It must weight about a pound, and shifts really nice. Paid $30 opposed to the one I was drooling over from TWM's website that retails for over $100.

 

[hornsfan10609]

So the clunk is back already.. wtf. No matter what I do this ******* car just slaps me in the face every time. Still waiting on my new steedspeed manifold to arrive via US snail. I'm thinking maybe I will just make a separate appointment for my clutch to get done instead of doing it with the turbo swap.

Same here, swapped rear endlinks and bushings and was extremely pleased until it started squeaking again the very next day. Still no clunk at least though.

 

[Ricktalife]

Yea if I can't get it figured out soon I may as well just sell the damn clunk fix kit.

 

[SCMP3]

any better pics of the retrofitted headlights?

 

[jdwk]

Rick, read my posts about the end links. All my noise from the front is gone for a couple weeks now. It's all about getting the right end link length.

My rear still has some noise after putting on the urethane bushings, a very small clink that actually seems to come from the top of the struts, but I still have the stock end links. I am not really sure if it is the sway bar on the rear. If I get time, I'll remove the rear sway bar and see if it still makes noise.

I tried the washer trick under the top strut bolt, and it didn't help, but it could possibly still be the metal dust cover. I read one owner on here took his strut assembly apart and put rubber washers on either side of the metal dust shield. But I am not looking forward to taking them apart again just for a tiny clink noise. Really I'd like the rear end to be a little higher.

Also there is a trunk rattle now that tends to drown out the small clink if I hit a hard enough bump. I've spent a while trying to figure out how to fix the trunk rattle too, with no luck.

I am definitely saving up for a new car, and I mean new this time. Under warranty.

 

[Ricktalife]

Well I suppose that will be a good thing to check out whenever I get my Eibach springs installed. I posted a close up shot of the retrofits on the first post.

 

[yudkib]

i was looking at the old posts in this thread... youve come a little way from not knowing about the millenia pcv eh

 

[Ricktalife]

i was looking at the old posts in this thread... youve come a little way from not knowing about the millenia pcv eh

Lol what do you mean? The fact that I'm worrying about all the small issues?

 

[yudkib]

no, the fact that you know a little more about the MSP in general...

 

[Ricktalife]

Ahh yea it's pretty crazy how little I knew about the car when I first bought it, compared to what I know now.