Engine Ticking noises around engine area when idle

'The guy' changed the instrument cluster probably with one of lower milage; he should have specified that to you, unless he pulled the engine from another vehicle along with the cluster.

I would say, open the hood and run the car to see where the sound it's coming from and or see if the engine is shaking too much at idle.

If the front end was salvaged, and the hood is shaking; it could be the hood itself or some other part that's loose that's 'ticking', or engine mounts are not tight.

As for idle, try to slightly turn the throtle gear clockwise and see if more throtle smoothes out your idle; if yes, you could tighten your cable slightly to fix it.

Ticking noises around engine area when idle

Hey guys,

I have a 2000 Corolla VE and for the past two days the engine/alternator area of my car has been making ticking noise when I am at a stop or in parked (auto trans).

My car has always been pretty rough during idle, mainly because I think the guy who sold it to me didn't do a very good job at restoring the whole front part of the car. It is salvaged. Everything under the hood is standard (no performance parts). The speedometer reads ~66k miles but it could very well be higher. When I first got the registration, DMV stated that the miles didn't match with the records. I'm not sure if the guy messed with the miles or what.

When idle, the hood has been shaking but never has it made this ticking noise. I noticed this noise on Sunday after I had made a turn after a stop. At first it was actually pretty loud, but the ticking has died down since then.

It's not too bad, but you can definitely hear it if you listen closely. As stated above, I have a pretty rough idle. But one thing I notice is that the car doesn't shake too much when I have the AC on. When I turn it off though, the rough idle starts again and the hook shakes.

I went to get it checked out today and both mechanics that I went to didn't know where it was coming from. Both of them told me that they would probably need it for half a day in order to check further and locate the problem. One guy told me that it definitely doesn't sound normal and that I do have a rough idle.

For a further inspection, I'll be charged $40. I won't be able to get my car in until maybe Thrusday so I wanted to get your opinions on this. Have you guys had this problem before? If so, what was the cause? I wonder if I let it be will it cause long-term damage. Nothing seems to be falling apart just yet. I just hope it isnt the timing chain about to snap.

I've had the car for probably a year now. I've changed the spark plugs and the sepentine belt (both from Toyota). Should I get the inspection just for the sake of doing so? Maybe they will check the condition of my timing chain while they are in there. The mechanic told me that after he's located the problem in the inspection then we will go on from there.

Anyway, any input is greatly appreacited. I'll stick around and learn. Thanks!

Just came back from the mechanic. Spent $80 getting an inspection and did not get it fixed yet. The mechanic recommends that I get my valves adjusted and check/replace the valve cover gasket in the engine. He told me that some of the valves are too loose while the others are too tight - causing the rough idle.

They estimated the job at $242 dollars but I think I'm going to go elsewhere anyway. The inspection was supposed to be $40 if I got the valve cover gasket changed with it ($155 total), but since they told me they might need to adjust the valves (raising price up to $242) I decided to wait it out. Ended up having to pay the $80 for the full check out. After they did diagnostics and ran tests, everything seemed to read normal (idle and sensors).

What do you guys think? The mechanic told me that this is a routine maintance for 60k miles.

edit: Called another shop for a quote. They quoted me for $85 to replace the valve cover gasket and adjust valves. $242 vs $85! Talk about a difference! Labor fees suck.

Oh yeah, the reason the gasket might need to be replaced is because during the inspection today they took out the spark plug wires and there was oil on the tip. They think it's leaking so I need to get them replaced. The valve adjustment might reduce the rough idling but I've yet to figured out where the ticking noise is coming from. I'll probably end up going to the people my dad knows on Thrusday and check out what their prices are. But there's definitely a huge price difference between the major chain and privately owned shop.
Is $85 reasonable for a job like this or am i just getting ripped off?