I recently bought a 2006 Hyundai Sonata 3.3 V6. Had another issue related to the rear wheel, which I fixed. Today, I changed the oil filter on the car (along with the oil). I have heard this engine noise before, but with the cover off it appears a little louder. It’s basically a ‘ticking’ sound.
The engine uses no oil, and has no other leaks. It has some noise on startup for maybe 1-2 seconds (like a loud lifter or something, but it goes away in less than 2 seconds, and at the same time the oil light goes out). I changed the filter today because I was told that a leaky gasket could result in the Filter not retaining oil between starts, causes some minor knock for a few seconds.
But anyway, this other ticking noise seems to be regular, regardless of condition. I have heard some people say that some engine noise is normal for this engine, but how about this?
I have a 50ish% hearing loss and combined with PC speakers this kind of thing can be very difficult for me to diagnose without actually being there and listening to it up close.
Offhand, it sounds like a valve train issue and it does not sound good. If this clattering continues something is going to give up; valve adjuster, mushroomed valve stem, cam lobe, etc; or all of it at once.
This could also be caused by excessive valve lash on one or more valves due to the lash not ever having been inspected and adjusted as necessary. This is a normal maintenance procedure seldom ever done as often as it should be.
It could also be that the noise that goes away on startup is unrelated to the valve train area and could be something deeper such as a timing chain or rod bearing knock.
Any or all of the above problems could be caused by lack of maintenance from the prior owner, or owners.
Another thing: In all honesty, it sounds much louder in this clip than it does it real life. With the hood closed, its not even audible. I think the phone must have amplified the sound. Also, keep in mind that this happened right after I changed the oil and filter, so some of it may be from lack of oil to the upper part of the engine. I probably need to re-check to see if the noise is still there or audible.
When I bought the car about 3 weeks ago, it was making no engine noise what-so-ever.
The car has also developed a tad bit of a rough idle, but nothing that registers on the tachometer. Using 93 octane and Techron sort of fixed most of the idle problem.