Think the solara is on it's last breaths :(

[Wyldhorse0705]

Started hearing a tap the other day, and figured it was an oil problem. I was past due to change it, and made plans to do it today. Well today sometime this afternoon (it ran fine going to work this morning) it decided to tap a little louder pretty much a knock. At idle it's still the tap, and at a constant cruising speed i don't hear it. But at a higher idle i can hear it, with a little more idle not so much but if I rev it I can hear it. Changed the oil, figuring it was a long shot (it was needed anyway), but it still does it.

So i think it's on its way out. Sucks, this has been my only driver since the mustang was totaled, and if this goes, I'm not sure what I'll do. It's not paid for, so I can't just part it out, or sell it as is. I have the money to fix it, it's just that money was suppose to be going towards a cobra, not into the daily driver. I'm going to have someone look at it tomorrow I guess.

Looks like the springs, HID's, and wheels are going to have to wait if I have to fix something that major on the car.

[Ruski]

How many miles are on the car ??

[Jakecallun20]

yeah and what year is it? Don't give up on it. After all it is a Toyota, and not a Ford. Lol.

[theprodigy79]

Could it be a valve tap? If so, you may just need a valve allignment (still not a small job, but worth fixing rather than trashing the car). Seems if it were a rod knock or something else serious it would get much louder under acceleration...

[Sentinel]

take it to the dealer, it might be a sludge issue.

I got new everything (seriously: bearings, rings, the works)

[nemoxfishy]

might just be the timing belt~ take it to a shop and have them look at it... i never trust the dealers...

[Sentinel]

I don;t trust ANY mechanic other than myself... and even *I* make mistakes But the dealer has to pay for the repair if it relates to sludge. I had a pretty reasonable experience when I took mine to the stealership for the sludge issue.

As far as timing belt issues? I was not aware that there was any adjustment in the 1mz valves, and if the belt had slipped a tooth there would be more of an intake/exhaust noise and the car would run for crap.

[00seV6man]

I had a 'tapping' noise as well in my car... just couldnt figure out what the hell it was. My mechanic took everything apart (noise was coming from timing belt area). Anyhow, he replaced idle bearing which he thought was the cause and that wasnt it, then took off the valve cover to see if it was a 'sludge' issue and fortunately, it was clean as a whistle under there! Finally, we found it to be a faulty timing belt (I replaced it in May 2007 along with water pump and all belts). Toyota is warrantying my belt and hopefully my mechanic gives me a break on the labour. Gonna get it replaced this weekend!

[99V6solaraSE]

is this noise pretty obvious.. im getting paranoid now when im hearing tapping noises.
i dont hear anything when i drive or rev the car, so im hoping thats a good sign i dont have this problem

[Midias]

I was past due to change it.

Well heres your problem

[fastsolara]

I had a 'tapping' noise as well in my car... just couldnt figure out what the hell it was. My mechanic took everything apart (noise was coming from timing belt area). Anyhow, he replaced idle bearing which he thought was the cause and that wasnt it, then took off the valve cover to see if it was a 'sludge' issue and fortunately, it was clean as a whistle under there! Finally, we found it to be a faulty timing belt (I replaced it in May 2007 along with water pump and all belts). Toyota is warrantying my belt and hopefully my mechanic gives me a break on the labour. Gonna get it replaced this weekend!

this is the typical problems with these motors.. happens to many of them.. when getting close to 90k miles, everyone should do this to prevent any further problems

this same thing happened to my Lexus ES300.. same motor.. same noise.. same problem 3 different times which was pretty good since i had put 360k miles on it..
after the first time i knew what it was the 2nd two times

my Solara with only 58k on it is beginning to do it very very slightly... can almost not hear it.. just used to it now i guess to know what is coming on..

side note:
using synthetic oil will prevent any sludge build up

[Wyldhorse0705]

pretty much all of you are right somehow.

It got worse friday. to the point where the noise was constant and an obvious rod nock, plus it had hardly no power. So now it's parked an I'm having to see if I can find a replacement engine.

It's past warranty. Over 100K mi. Plus even if I did take it, would they still cover it? It's not some sort of recall or something is it? The oil is changed now, so if they had to look at oil, it's fresh. The car did have oil in it. It didn't look good, but it did have oil in it. Thinking it has something to do with the timing belt and low oil pressure.

It would be nice if I could take it to the dealer and have it fixed but unless it's an unlimited mile recall, the warranty is expired, and I'd have to have the car towed because it runs like ass.

I was hoping it was valve tap. I was taking it to have it looked at friday when it got worse, and I realized that it was a rod knock.

So my cobra money is going into repairing the solara

[theprodigy79]

Check out Brandywine Auto Parts for an engine, you may be able to find a hell of a deal on a low-mileage engine. Call them up, let them know what year / engine your car has and see what they have.

THEY WILL NEGOTIATE, sometimes VERY heavily! I bought a replacement engine for my 1993 Celica GT back in 2002 and they wanted $1400 for the engine PLUS $1200 for the installation (non-separated)!! I was like "Oh, hell no! The car's barely WORTH that!!" So he immediately knocked it to $1200, no installation required (I was going to do the install myself). I told him that was still too high, so he put me on hold, and came back with $700 for a 5SFE out of a 1992 Celica GT with only 46K miles... I told him I'd consider... So I had my dad drive up to MD (I was at work) and check out the engine... He talked to them for a bit, and decided $700 was still too much... So he actually walked out and left... Half way back to VA, they called him up and said $500 takes it! So he turned around and picked it up!

So basically, make sure you wheel and deal a bit. You can get an awesome value if you do so, and they are very cool guys.

Here's the link:

http://www.brandywineparts.com/

Call them! I recommend them to everyone I know (one of my other friends just saved around $1000 by buying several parts from them when he reamed a curb in his 1994 Integra)!

Good luck!

-James

[SolAraB]

I don;t trust ANY mechanic other than myself... and even *I* make mistakes But the dealer has to pay for the repair if it relates to sludge. I had a pretty reasonable experience when I took mine to the stealership for the sludge issue.

As far as timing belt issues? I was not aware that there was any adjustment in the 1mz valves, and if the belt had slipped a tooth there would be more of an intake/exhaust noise and the car would run for crap.

dont wanna sound stupid or get off topic but as far as the dealer payin for problems related to sludge wouldnt you have to be under a certain amount of miles on your car........

[Sentinel]

The sludge issue, while not a recall, had some sort of lawsuit happen (because so many 1MZ motors ended up with the problem)

I think the warranty for sludge is for 8 years from original sale of the vehicle and unlimited miles, so long as you can prove that you've made "reasonable efforts" to keep the oil changed. They asked me for a year of oil change receipts.

I would definitely have the dealer check it out, what's the worst thing that'll happen: they charge you $50 to pull the valve cover and say you're screwed?