So I've been getting more and more frustrated with this valve tap on my 95 NA. I had only driven the car around town for the first month or so of owning it. And I noticed on start up it would tap a bit, then the noise would go away. Some days this would happen immediately, somedays it would take a few minutes, other days i'd have to rev it up past 3700 to get the noise to go away.
On my recent 500 mi. trip from Virginia to Ohio the problem got worse than ever. After extended periods of driving on the highway when I'd pull into gas stations, the valve tap was very apparent, loud. And it wouldn't go away unless the motor was revving past 3700 or so.
I'm guessing that this has to do w/ the lifters. The oil must've been very hot after such a long drive, and thin... causing the lifters to have problems? That would also explain why they tap on start up... need the oil pressure to build up for second.
On the trip back I put in a bottle of STP oil Thickener and it seemed to help w/ the valve tap.
What do you guys have to say about the lifters on these cars :?: I'm still a newbie to Miata's and don't know a ton about their valvetrains.
On my recent 500 mi. trip from Virginia to Ohio the problem got worse than ever. After extended periods of driving on the highway when I'd pull into gas stations, the valve tap was very apparent, loud. And it wouldn't go away unless the motor was revving past 3700 or so.
I'm guessing that this has to do w/ the lifters. The oil must've been very hot after such a long drive, and thin... causing the lifters to have problems? That would also explain why they tap on start up... need the oil pressure to build up for second.
On the trip back I put in a bottle of STP oil Thickener and it seemed to help w/ the valve tap.
What do you guys have to say about the lifters on these cars :?: I'm still a newbie to Miata's and don't know a ton about their valvetrains.