When cruising around town in my 90 cherokee (4.0) the enging sounds strong and good. However, when I get up to speed on a highway, around 55mph or greater, a tapping noise develops that varies with rpm. When I leave the highway the noise dissapears completely usually after the first stop sign. The noise kind of sounds like a valve, but I have never experienced something quite like this before. Anyone else experienced this condition or know the cause??

 

I forgot to mention that the jeep has about 208,000 miles on it. Im not sure if that makes a difference.

 

Id like to be the first to say. Welcome to the forum and earlier today there was a guy who had the same problem. Maybe looking it up will help.

 

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/par...ication-25063/


Maybe this will help.

 

Is it only at highway speeds? Can you rev it up parked and hear it?Valves,rod,fan clutch,alternater,water pump,listen real close while you give a little gas in park with the hood up.Check your oil is it at the right level?

 

The noise is not there at idle even with revs. Oil is exactly at the full line and clean. The tapping gets louder under load and then will just dissapear if I come to a complete stop. It will only return if i get above 40-45 mph. It baffles me because of the timing of this noise. The vehicle is not my daily driver so Im not to worried but I still want to fix it if possible. I have some long 3-4 hr trips to north central pa this winter.