Another Protege Ticking

[nick.post]

I saw the title of the other post and thought my problem had already been identified, but no. Mine is different.

My 1996 Protege's belts are ticking. If I spray belt conditioner on them, it stops for a while.

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but it was not doing this before I did the 2Twisty Flush (3 quarts ATF + 1 quart SAE50, idle for 2 hr). It started it when it was idling. I think it is coincidence, as I can't see how, even if some of the black cottage cheese which seems to coat the inside of this engine did get dislodged and in some pump or something, that it could make a belt tick. And, more specifically, tick in such a way so that a spray from a can will make it stop.

Quite loud and embarrassing too. I don't want to have to carry around a can of belt conditioner and spray it every time I am going to drive. That's maybe more embarrassing.

[swivel]

Hmm, I've never heard of a belt ticking -- squealing, screaching, yes, ticking no.

I'm trying to think through what would cause a belt to tick.
I'm going to say that a tick is related to the pullies, rather than belts. A specific pulley.

I believe your car has multiple belts. One for power steering and A/C compressor (if equipped) and One for the water pump and alternator.

I would do the following:

Remove the outer most belt and start the car and see if the ticking remains. If not, then it's possibly related to the accessories that were driven by that belt. If the tick remains remove the next inner belt and see if the tick remains. Continue until either there are no belts left or the ticking stops.

Start when the car is cool and don't run it any longer than a minute at a time, especially after you've removed the waterpump/alt belt.

I agree with your assessment that an accessory drive belt noise is just a coinsidnece, however; I would be concerned that the noise is actually coming from the engine itself.

Other questions:
1) Does temperature have anything effect.
1a) Cold start vs hot start, warm day vs. cold morning.
2) How loud is this ticking? Are we talking a little tick, a tap or a bang?
3) How old are the belts.

[swivel]

Ah Ha!

After reading over my previous post, and reflecting on question 3 for a minute, I have a thought.

What if, one of the belts is starting to go bad and separate. The tick could be bands of the belt belt rubbing against each other. Or, if the ribs are completly gone off the inside of the belt in one spot, it may be sort of jumping around on a the pulley, and the tap, is the belt re-seating itself on said pulley after the bad spot passes., When you spray the belt dressing it sort of sticks stuff together for a while, until it wears off and the ticking starts again.

I recommend closely inspecting your belts and looking for any signs of wear or damage.

[nick.post]

1) Does temperature have anything effect.
1a) Cold start vs hot start, warm day vs. cold morning.
2) How loud is this ticking? Are we talking a little tick, a tap or a bang?
3) How old are the belts.

1. Tick is present at start up in the 50 F morning and in 80F afternoon. Continues through duration of a 26 mile drive.

2. With windows down, not audible in traffic unless a wall/car is next to me. Like smacking a ruler on a desk.

3. Unknown. I've had the car for two weeks. The neglect I've seen in the car probably happened in the last year, not long enough for the belts to be affected. From the damage and lack of maintenance to the car, I'm guessing the previous owner was a teenage or college female. You should have seen the oil. I dug about a cc of oily crust from the PCV for example. The dipstick has deposits on it. Sheesh.

Belt replacement looks to be an under the car with very long arms kind of thing. Grabbing the Haynes manual.

[pilot_ben]

swivel poses a good possibility. I've had that problem before on a different car. With the kind of neglect you're talking about, maybe you should just change the belt. I don't see it being very expensive. Maybe even less than the Haynes manual.

[hobie237]

I'll pose the obvious question- how old are the belts? They have finite lifespans, and they're cheap, and generally belt conditioner just acts as a band aid on the fact that the belts need to be replaced- so why not spend the $10 and 5 minutes or so to throw new belts on?

[nick.post]

why not spend the $10 and 5 minutes or so to throw new belts on?

That's the plan, once I get over this stomach virus.