tapping noise at idle? <----scared :-(

[jankaroni]

so i never noticed this until today while under my hood when my car was running.....this isnt the valve chatter noise that is always there and always has been, this was a little bit louder then that and kind of eratic (its not loud enough to hear with the hood closed) it is not nearly as quick as the valve tapping either it is kind of like tap tap tap *pause* tap tap tap, but it goes away as soon as you speed up the RPM's a little...it seems like it is coming from around the area of the coil packs, under that cover.....in case you need to know it is a 1.8TQMS 2001 with about 100K, i've done the timing belt, only mods are carbonio intake and APR chip....oil level is fine and just changed about 3000 miles ago with Mobil 1

[jankaroni]

this could easily be nothing but it scared me a little and was hoping someone here might have an explanation

[Stampy]

Cam chain tensioner starting to go? Have you done the usual stuff like seafoam?

[jankaroni]

nah i havent seafoamed it, should i maybe look into doing that?....god i hope it isnt the cam chain tensioner going that thing is like 450 bucks, and i wont gain any kind of performance for replacinig it! haha

[Greyhound Guy]

Get a solid rod of some type and put one end on the back of the valve cover and the other end in your cupped hand. Put your ear to your hand. You will be able to compare the sound to other parts of the cover. It should be obvious if the noise is coming from the chain tensioner.

The question is does it rattle all the time?

[Stampy]

Extensions work well for that, or a big screw driver. I replaced on of these on my friends car. It wasn't hard, and it wasn't cheap. Plus you need that special tool.

I would seafoam it just to see if it helps. I have seen that stuff make motors damn near quiet. who knows, maybe you will luck out. Worst case, your out the $6 for the can of seafoam.

[jankaroni]

where is the cam chain tensioner located exactly?? i have a basic idea but not completely positive. and i'm assuming you can get seafoam from any auto parts store? i read the DIY and it seems fairly simple to do so I will give it a shot this weekend.

[FourRings80]

location of the cam tensioner:

[IMG][/IMG]

[FourRings80]

This might help you a little ( also look at part 2,3...from the same guy):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY6Vh...eature=related

[baboom]

injectors..