I just went down to my underground (about 70f for reference) and started my car, everything was as uaual at first until I noticed a quite loud ticking noise. This was a cold start, car was last driven a day ago. I popped the hood and took a short video and then revved it in a second video to see if the sound got faster, which it did.

Now, I also just checked my oil, and this is confusing to me too: My car doesn't seem bad for burning oil, I'd say roughly a quart or two between oil changes. For reference, I just had an oil change about 4500-5000 km (3100 miles) ago, also not sure if it was even FULLY topped off, and I've added about a quart in that time which was just the other day. In vanoucver it's all stop and go traffic, so based on the threads here I'd say it isn't horrible at burning oil. Where I'm going with this is I just topped it up myself JUST shy of the top mark on the stick about 500km ago, but when I just checked my oil after hearing the ticking it was at the mark second from the top. Could that just be the difference of the level of oil when checking it cold? I did let the car sit over 10 mins after hearing ticking to check. When I topped it off a couple hundred km's ago the level was checked on a warm motor but also after sitting for 10 mins. If checking cold oil can differ that much on the dipstick, then that should be fine. I'm too scared to let the car warm up to temp to check the actual level when it's ticking like this.

I THOUGHT I heard a similar noise once before on a cold start but put the car in drive and drove away and never heard it again until today. The car is parked until I can get some opinions here. Car is a 2012, 60k km's (37k miles). Usually the car just has a normal low level lifter sound, no ticking.

Any opinions?

 

EXACT SAME THING happened to me Monday. I was alarmed. Did not happen again. I just did my oil change 1000kms ago and added CeraTec... Weird.

 

If you search M156 ticking sound, C63 ticking sound etc you will get TONS of hits.

This thread title however, wouldn't help anyone. Just sayin'

 

normal, agree with Jason. Title it so it can be searched by future users.

 

I did all the searching before posting but I wanted an opinion based on my specific findings with the oil level and how its never occurred before, plus wanted to post the video I'll change the title so it's helpful for others in the future though for sure.

So this seems normal to you guys? It's rather loud. should I warm the car and drive it and then see if it ticks at idle? What would make this happen now but not other times? Also if it normal for my warm oil level to be just shy of the top notch and be right on the notch below whne oil is cold?

 

Lots of these ticking threads seem to be lifter issues and things too though, it seems.i could see that if this sound was existing and gradually got worse but this came out of no where. Curious to hear more opinions from you guys before I start it up again and hope for the best lol. Should I take it for a drive

 

 

It's weird because it just was driven 24 hours before. Usually I try and not worry about stuff but this ticking is rather loud . A bit louder than the video even makes it out to be. Well, maybe I'll go for a late night cruise. Gives me a chance to see it that oil level sits higher when warm too

Edit. The ticking gets faster with the motor rpm going up when I revved in that second video. Does that change anyone opinion?

 

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...oise-m156.html

 

Weird ,I was really expecting the opposite responses, not that I'm disappointed. I'm glad I made the thread though because someone of the ones I was reading through sounded a bit scary.

 

Just sounds like lifter noise. Warm it up and it should go away. I get it from time to time, usually after the car sits and it goes away quickly. If yours does too then I wouldn't worry. If it happens all the time then you have a lifter that is leaking down and losing oil until it gets pumped up again when the engine runs. At that point you should probably look into replacement.

As far as any significance with the oil level, that's probably just a coincidence. If your oil level was well below normal then there *might* be some correlation but you'd have to be significantly low to start affecting oil pressure.

 

Thanks for the link. I'll do a little research this eve on ceratec as I've never heard of it but is something everyone had been using to avoid the tick? Any negatives? What's the proper way to administer? I run liqu moly 5w40 oil in my car right now for reference. Or should I just leave the car be for now and see if it's something that happens often

 

I don't know about "just lifter noise as my car is pretty quiet at idle usually. This tick was rather loud, I heard it inside the car.I only let the car run a minute or two to get the video and aborted mission, so I'm not sure if it will go away when warm. 'm going to go drive the car now and get it to operating temp and see if all is normal at idle afterwards

 

Yeah, lifter tick is loud and acts just the way you describe and your vids sound. If it doesn't go away then you may have a collapsed lifter. Like anything else hydraulic, there are seals in there that can go bad. When that happens, the lifter makes that noise all the time. If it goes away after you drive it then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Just got back home and like you all said, the tick went away when the oil got to operating temp. Ran like a top.

One thing I can't seem to understand is the oil dip stick, I let it sit for 10 mins when I got home and the oil level is just a hair over the second dot from the top, but I filled up the car to almost the top notch just 500km ago and I don't think it's burning oil. I'm starting to feel like I get a different reading every time I try and check the level. Maybe I either have to wait ~30 mins for it to settle fully or simply not worry about it at all as long as it's in between the two markers. I've never had my check oil level light come on.

 

^ Same here. Checking oil level when warm, really warm or cold will give different readings. I'm not sure if there is a T-stat on the oil coolers but maybe having that opened lowers the level, i dont know. I also get different readings. Depends how hot and how long you let it settle after turning the car off...

 

I grabbed two bottled of ceratec, just curious how long I should run it for as im likely going to change my oil in a thousand KM or so. Should I just add it in after next oil change.

Just started up my car for first time today and no tick. Weird it happened yesterday even though it only sat a day.

 

 

mine makes the same noise...replaced my lifters that only had 10k on them with new lifters...same sound remained.

its the camshaft adjusters. i bought 2 bottles of Liqui Moly Pro Engine Flush and 2 bottles of Ceratec. Can't wait to say bye bye to this.

 

Checked my oil today at a gas station after letting it sit 10 mins at it was JUST shy of the full mark again, lol. My underground is in an ever so slight angle for drainage but not enough where I think it'd look nearly a litre short on oil. I give up!

 

I bought two bottles of ceratec but my car goes in next week for a few things so I'm holding off on the ceratec until then, because I'll likely just do an oil change at the same time. I might do the engine flush at the same time, then add the ceratec. The only thing I wonder about is I'd imagine it's going to change the properties of the oil in some way. I don't know how I feel about that. If it was just in a regular no peformance car I wouldn't think about it too much but in a car that's going to be pushed hard at times, I dunno...

 

I agree that it's a ***** to check the oil level in this car. It takes FOREVER for the oil to drain back down for an accurate dipstick reading, plus it seems super sensitive to ground level/angle. I've never owned a car that was so hard to check oil level. But I still love my car!

 

Liquimoly and MOS2. Had it happen on time on a real cold start (30F-40F) after sitting for probably 2 days in a flat, open carport. Changed the oil to Liquimoly and added MOS2 the next day and never happened again.

 

Why mos2 rather that ceratec? Just heard about this in the linked thread so I'm trying to gather some info on what I should perhaps try