I have the 2.4L DOHC engine in my 04 Sebring. I have a 'tapping' noise at idle, which I am hoping is just normal. It even occurs when the engine is at normal operating temperature. Now my last car had a lifter tap which was pretty normal, but it seemed to go away when it warmed up. This engine has only 19,600 miles and it just seems to be louder than it should be for an engine with such low miles. I am in no way familiar with this engine so those that are please ease my mind about this noise. I don't want any problems, and I would want to catch something before it became a problem. Oil level is fine, rpms are fine, drives great... [&:]

 

I have a lifter tapping sound too, but I can't hear it from the inside, just the low rumble of my rice cannons. .... If it's that loud,... you may have some burned valve seals... it only has 20,000 miles but if they were hard ones, it's likely.... dont quote me, but that may be the problem... or could just be noisy as hell,.. they are pretty loud...

 

it might be the injectors dcx has alot of injector noise for some reason
i have a 96 dodge minivan that has that
and my 2005 pt cruiser also has a bit of the tappy tappy

 

Yeah, I'm not concerned about the noise anymore. I don't let it bother me. I've gathered from a lot of people that it is just the injectors. I'm at 26,xxx miles now (I know, that's a lot of miles in 3 months unfortunately) but I've had no issues at all.