Question from a relatively new fto owner...

[yano]

Hey all. I have a 95 GPX manual which i bought just before x-mas. When i bought it, there was only 48,000kms on it. I was happy with the performance but felt it lacked a little bit of oomph for it's quoted power figure and also the sound of the highspeed cam kicking in was a little tame. Since then I've gone through about 2-3full tanks of petrol (BP 98 Ultimate) and the km's are on the low 49,000 mark. Recently though, i.e. the past 2 days i've begun to notice that the engine seems more gutsy, the exhaust note is louder/deeper and the mivec screams and roars (when revved passed 6k rpm ). Also when the car idles the engine sometimes makes a little tapping noise but not in the way that the engine is dying. Kinda weird. Just wondering if anyone knows what this is from? I'm hoping its the ecu adjusting to my driving

[TA]

my 96 GPX manual also makes that noise.
i guess it might be common for FTOs!?!?

=]

[Boris]

The noise you are describing is the noise of the tappets/lifters, it's basically a Mitsubishi engine trait and happens because of a number of reasons.

Slight ticking at idle is ok on older cars like the FTO and sometimes it can't even be eliminated without swapping the lifters.

Some things to fix the ticking if you get sick of it would be to try various grades/brands of engine oil, I find in some cases that older engines despite being the same will like a different oil, so keep that in mind. Another way are additives to your fuel which will fix the problem for about 5k. But remember if either of the two work then you may still get ticking on idle when giving the engine a decent workout.

If that doesn't help then the lifters are adjustable only on the GPX versions, the GR has hydrolic lifters which are meant to adjust them selves, but even a clean may help. Adjusting and cleaning are best left to a major service as the mechanic will need to take the intake manifold off.

Anyway there is a ton of info already on the site so do a search if you need more info.

[yano]

Thanks heaps for the info. At the moment it doesnt do it all the time and yeh generally after I give the car a workout (which is quite often) i can hear it at idle. Any idea of the change in the car's behaviour though in regard to the performance and sound? Is the ecu a self learning type or is my car going spastic??

[dstocks]

Might have just needed a good run to 'clean out the cobwebs' (and the stale fuel that was sitting in the tank. After all, fuel has a use by date too!.

[yano]

Haha, yeah I was hoping it wasn't anything bad. Thanks heaps for the help!

[oodLes]

God I love BP ultimate. I remember going from a tank of safeway fuel to BP ultimate, (NOT in the FTO guys calm down! In my prior car, the Lancer) and just feeling it pull so so much better.

[bigpitty1]

that tappet noise is very hard to get rid of, I've played around with it a lot trying tighter and wider tappet clearances but not much change, on the mivec engines the tappet adjustment screws have a little pad on the end that is held on with a plastic collet and over time this plastic collet would get brittle and snap (I had a 94 gpx) and would get noisy cause its not holding the pad any more.


And another theory of mine is that the high speed cam rocker arm will make a tappet noise as it only follows the high speed cam lobe at low RPM and sits on that cam with a tiny bit of spring tension so it won't have a constant tappet clearance as the low speed cam rocker arm which is the one that you do all the adjustments on.

[yano]

Oh serious. Can this lead to any major problems down the track at all?? That's really my only concern. The noise i can get over, plus its not the only engine to make that type of noise i.e. black top sr20's from s14's.

[dstocks]

Not really. 95% of FTO's on the road make the noise. The only ones that dont are the ones that have been 'temporarily' quietened (fixed)

[yano]

Oh sweet as. Thanks mate. Now i feel a whole lot better taking my car to 8000rpm's