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I think i might need a new timing belt tesioner and belt cuz my car seems to be ticking. But im on the fence of the ticking noise being the fuel injectors or the timing being off. I dont see any blue smoke comming out of the exhaust. Is there a way to tell between fuel injectors and a bad tensioner leading to improperly adusted timing?

i highly doubt its your timing.

Your lifters/HLA are probably ticking. Are you low on oil?

ive changed all oils and filters when i did some maintenence on my car last weekend. i filled it with synthetic stuff and it right where it should be.

im just a little worried cuz people are talking about when the hit a certain rev the ticking goes away and mine seems to do that as well. But it makes sense that if the timing was out of wach you could only really tell when the car was idling cuz the rpm's are so low, but when it gets faster its hard to tell.

The tensioner will make noise, but I don't think it can get bad enough to throw off the timing. The HLAs are very common to make noise and will be more quite at higher RPMs so I would bet that is your issue. You can change them, but them being worn is not bad for the car, just annoying.

ya this is my first car and i dont know all the terms..... yet. What is a HLA?

Hydraulic lash adjuster, it sits on top of your valves and when your cams run over them they push down and open the valve. There is four valves per cylinder two for exhaust two for intake twenty four in all.

could be ur oil pump not gettin enuff oil into the top end.. mine did that till oil circulated..

Smith18 wrote:Hydraulic lash adjuster, it sits on top of your valves and when your cams run over them they push down and open the valve. There is four valves per cylinder two for exhaust two for intake twenty four in all.

ok thanks, get it now. ill check into if it is my hla's. is there a way to tell or do you have to rip it apart to find out?

And trevo123, my oil pump is working properly, the car continuiously ticks even when the oil is circulated.