1996 cirrus ticking sound at idle. IM LOST

i have a 1996 cirrus 2.5 v6 190000 miles on it that has a few problems. btw, anyone wanting to buy one, this is my second cirrus, and i have had great luck with them, but i think the 4 banger is a better engine (but they dont like oak trees!!) lol, ok, for last 12,000 miles or so, this is getting a knocking or ticking sound coming from the flywheel area. i do NOT believe it to be a rod bearing, as it will go away when u rev it high enough. also, i got under it while it was running and it sounds like its coming from the flywheel/ torque converter area. ALL THE BOLTS ARE TIGHT. it sounds like a popcorn popper at an idle. :popcorn: its never really gotten any worse since we bought it. if u put the car in gear, hold the brake and rev it up, it makes no noise at all. it does do it when driving too but it does go away at high enough rpm. so im lost on this one. also, it sometimes for no reason, just quits driving, like the tranny is slipping. however, it also shows on the digital gear selector that its in neutral, even tho its in drive. when u turn the engine off, and restart it, it works perfectly. im thinking its an elctrical problem? its only done it twice all year, 12000 miles. of course the first time it did it, i serviced the tranny, and it looked pretty good, not much foreign material at all. thanks for ANY help!!

If its like my 98 stratus 2.0, the lifter and/or spark plug will cause a similar noise. I was getting oil in the plug tube causing the plug to go bad and eventually the spark would jump. The other thing was the lifter tick at idle and would go away (get quieter) with higher rpm. Maybe try a little thicker oil next oil change to see if it gets any better. I use 1qt of lucas and it seems to have made it quieter but you can still hear it clearly some days.

Hope this helps.

i always use castrol 20 50 in anything over 150000 miles. but its NOT an internal engine knock. its coming from the transmission side on the bottom of the engine, so it cant be lifter or anything.

PROBLEM SOLVED. crushed it. POS