What would cause moderate clatter from valve cover?
 

Car history  yr  
ago bought a 99 OB Sport wgn 5spd AWD with the EJ222, 155K, w/ a worn
clutch, previous owner said it otherwise ran fine, then started a clatter from
drivers valve cover.(maybe it was hot rodded a little while showing the car) So
I pulled the eng to do clutch and T belt, WP, idlers. Have the cover off,
looking at the SLA valve train, checked clearances of 2 & 4 intakes OK at
.008, exhaust on # 2- one was .013 the second one closer to spec at .011. I’ve
never seen two valves with the yoked or Y shaped rocker bridging both valves
each with adj.Thats all I found - rollers seemed ok for play

  Asking if anyone else has had similar clatter
noise, causes? Naturally want to find cause before eng goes back in. Had CEL
on, never checked codes, idled well enough from sitting for months, drove on trailer.
Wondering if one side of yoked rocker is gapped wider would cause fairly loud
clatter, clacky  noise , modified noise
with light revs,. Im half way competent to set lash having grown up on L head
motors. Thx, Dan

 

oil level ok?

 

 

are yuou sure the noise was comong from inside the valve cover?

Pretty sure noise was inside case, - sounded "tinny" seemed to follow rate I would assign to valve train. from what I recall, oil level was adaquate. - will recheck that . Remember its an ej 222 solid lash adj SLA The yoke between the 2 exhaust valves - one side making contact early, the other side still coming down to make contact.(only thing I can think of ) everything looked pristine in the case dunno never encounterd a SLA. thx

adjusting the valves sounds like the best place to start and my initial thought.

 

it wasn't the timing belt tensioner was it?   looks like you replaced the timing belt idlers, good job, they're old and devoid of grease.  did you replace the tensioner?  the new style timing tensioners can fail and slap around while running (under load)...usually more of a knocking noise so probably not it.

 

last two motors i worked on, pulled heads/valve train, were these rare 99 Phase II EJ22's, I saw nothing else notable to check.

Edited March 19, 201313 yr by grossgary

The adjustable rockers do make quite a bit of noise when they are out of spec. And yes, each valve will make its own noise, despite being driven in pairs by the Y rockers.