Markhimself876

So i went to a Midas nearby two days ago to get my oil changed and now I can hear a slight ticking from the top..maybe right side of my VQ. It sounds like it could be valves/lifters(at the top rear area is where i sourced the sound)

Is anyone familiar with what this could be? Ill also add that they said they use Mobil 5w-30 synthetic. If i remember it right i used mobil 10w-30 last time. the ticking is really getting to me though. Any suggestions?

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Hard to say from your description, but Mobil 1 5-30W has not been a particularly great oil for the VQs. Take a close look at Resolute's UOA thread for specifics. You may want to change oil again to see if your ticking goes away.

Markhimself876

Thanks for the quick reply, I cant waste the $60 I just paid for it though. i change oil every 2500-3000 miles but do you think I should definitely change it asap? or let it...(this hurts to say) ride till the next oil change?

flynzed

Did you happen to check the oil level?

350zsunshinefl

iTrader: (1)

number one mistake was taking it to a quick oil change type of places like jiffy lube/midas etc,

just search google, there are thousands of horror stories... their grease monkeys forgetting wrenches, overfilling, under filling, not tightening, over tightening and everything else, in between

RodiZio

Yeah sometimes even charging for synthetic and using conventional oil.

DaveJackson

iTrader: (5)

Valve ticking is a weird thing. Sometimes it's from switching to a thinner oil and occasionally it's from a thicker oil. With other cars, I've had success with something called GM Oil Additive. I have no idea if it'll work in your case but it might be worth a shot. I think only GM dealerships sell it.
Overall, faint valve tick is nothing to panic about, so don't worry too much, there. It's time to learn how to change your own oil and do it far less often since you're using synthetic. Many will argue with me, but when synthetics first came out, one of their claims to fame was that they lasted way longer. That has since been removed from the packaging as they found folks still liked changing oil every 3k miles. I believe AMS still brags that theirs lasts super long and I personally believe that all synthetics do.
As with all things related to oil, it's little more than personal opinion based on how they are marketed with their elusive, vague "facts". It's coming to a point, (ImO), where consumers are damaging their precious vehicles by excessively changing their oil, switching brands and grades and screwing something up during the procedure that accidentally causes damage. A simple cross threaded plug or double gasket on a filter leads to catastrophic damage when the bloody oil they were changing out was fine to begin with.
The final, snotty advice is if you can't afford another $50, you picked the wrong car.

Markhimself876

Its just been a hectic week. I usually do change the oil myself but I decided to drop it off when I saw the chance. Im actually doing aviation maintenance management lol. just didnt have enough time between work and classes and I was itching to get the oil changed. As for the oil level, I checked it the next morning.

Thanks for the replies though and I will for sure check that oil additive out DaveJackson. Ive been doing some research and I think ill stick with ams oil for the rest of my oil changes

OneLovelyZee

Hey,

My Z started doing exactly the same thing last week when I switched from Castrol Edge 10w30 to Castrol GTX 5w30. The tick can only be heard during idle, right?

I switched to Pennzoil Platinum 10w30 and the ticking didn't go away. I have no clue what the cause of the problem is. I been researching on this forum and g35driver and no one knows what it could be. It could just be noisy injectors.

Let me know if you find the cause of the ticking!

Doc_Z

Which Amzoil do you guys use n the vq35's? Over here I only generally see Amzoil in motorcycle shops. And the ester 300v formula isn't great for daily driving afaik.

I've always ran my de and now hr on Mobil 1 0w40. Tried castrol edge 5w40 but didn't like it. Keen to try Amzoil else just gonna stick with Mobil 1. It's concerning to hear someone say Mobil 1 hasn't been that good in vq's.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Just to clarify: Mobil 1 5W-30 had only average UOAs, while Mobil 1 0-40W has had superlative results. Read Resolute's UOA thread in the powertrain section for more details.

Touge Z

iTrader: (3)

I have heard a few people from this forum say Mobil 1 isn't as good as some other brands. I'm wondering what other synthetic oil in a 5 gallon jug I can get from Wal-Mart.

Waiz

iTrader: (57)

Honestly those people have no idea what they are doing at those stations so who knows that oil they put in it

I would have it taken to a reputable shop ASAP and get some fresh oil and a fresh filter added just to be safe.

Markhimself876

Go back to the thicker oil bro..I was being lazy and thinking it wont cause any damage buut it got to me at the light..no more ticking!

Touge Z

iTrader: (3)

so did you switch back to 10w-30?

OneLovelyZee

Were you able to fix the issue, bro? Going back to 10w30 fixed your problem?

It didn't work for me but I'll probably try 10w30 dino oil instead of 10w30 Pennzoil Platinum.

Markhimself876

yep its gone sorry to hear that man, the ticking was driving me nuts! it wouldnt tick if i had the a/c on so even on nice cool days with the windows down..id have the ac blasting anyway, especially at a red light just to keep things sound haha. Good luck on figuring out how to fix it, im currently dealing with what i think is a bad MAF sensor right now

Markhimself876

10w-30 Amsoil synthetic is what i switched to for the record. forgot to mention that bit

taywan

iTrader: (53)

I was going to add DIY for sure and wouldn't let any of those knuckleheads touch my car, EVER. And Amsoil XL 10k intervals or SIG series 25k intervals. I use XL 5-30 and sometimes 10-30 and change 5-6k miles.

OneLovelyZee

The problem went away after a week with my Z, bro. I'm thinking about gonig back to dino oil because it seems as if I'm losing 1/3 of a quart every 1,000.