Valve train Noise

[hatchbackkid82]

A few nights ago I accidentally downshifted from 5th to 2nd on the highway:eek:. I was able to press the clutch in and put the car in neutral, when i pulled off the highway I noticed that that my car was now making a ticking noice that it never made before. It is coming from the cylinder head. I know some valve train noise is normal, but it is more pronounced now and has me a little worried. Does anyone know what this ticking could be? The CEL never came on, and the car is still making the same amount of power. It does idle funny now though, the idle is very low now, like it wants to shut off but never does. Does anyone know what this could be? A few of my friends are telling me i need to get a valve adjustment. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[why?]

i can eliminate the idle for you, as it is always extremely low. It also bounces around depending, i've seen it as low as 400 rpm in my car to as high as about 1200 rpm when the car was cold and the heat was on.

[hatchbackkid82]

A little help please :frown:

[Shinare]

My guess is that you are hyper sensitive after such a traumatic experience and you just never noticed the "tick" before? I've seen things like this before where something normally unnoticed before a change is "discovered" as a problem after when listening/looking for problems when in actuality its been there all along.

"The CEL never came on, and the car is still making the same amount of power..."

If there's no discernible problem then do not attempt any unneeded repairs. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it) :)

[johnny_vitz]

What speed were you at when it went into 2nd? It is possible to damage the valves/piston if it was over reved, but unlikely if it still runs the same. I wouldn't worry about it unless you have an issue with driveability or the noise gets worse.

[hatchbackkid82]

I was probably going like 70 mph, trust me there was always valve train noise, it was definitely more pronounced after this though. I dropped it off at the shop earlier today. We will see what they say, i'll keep you guys posted.

[hatchbackkid82]

Well shop just called, turns out i need a valve adjustment. They want $475 for everything plus the cost of shims ($15 each). Hmmmmm