tick, tick, tick, tick ?

00blacka4 · 11-03-2009, 01:41 PM

I checked my oil and its about a half quart low...its between the full and add line..when i start my car and get right by the engine I hear a faint tick tick tick tick. It runs great and accelerates perfect but when im at an idle or in drive at idle it just has a little tick loud enough to hear from the inside but not the outside because of the exhaust. the oil pressure idles right under 40 i think and it goes way up when driving. WHAT THE FUCK is it ? its really freaking me out because the cars only got 29,000 miles on it !!! Any help will be greatly appriciated !!

00blacka4 · 11-03-2009, 01:56 PM

HELP !!! this is really really freking me out !!! i asked my dad about it and he said dont worry about it the oil pressure is great but i still hate it.

kinglt-1 · 11-03-2009, 02:16 PM

Just another noisy ls1 thats all lol! If your oil pressure is good and the ticking noise goes away as rpm increases, I would say it's normal. It's commonly referred to as piston slap. Pretty common issue in the 5.3, 5.7, 6.0 vortec/ls engines.

00blacka4 · 11-03-2009, 03:39 PM

so its really nothing to worry about ?....the only time you really hear it besides when your right by the motor is when the car is in drive...i checked the oil pressure and it never drops under 45 even when warm... I just dont like noise comming from it. After you rev it up a little the noise gets faster then goes away. I just need some comfort that its no problem ! and you can really only hear it get faster and go away when ur right by the motor...u cant hear it ouside of the engine bay...i need some more responses !!!

InTheSkin · 11-03-2009, 04:36 PM

first things i think when someone is complaining about a tick is

1) exhaust leak
2) lifter going bad
3) piston slap

In my experience, piston slap will go away when everything warms up and the piston expands a little. A lifter going bad is bad news, but an exhaust leak is no big deal, just annoying.

These are my best guesses. You could try getting one of those stethoscopes with a rod on the end from a parts store and see if you can tell where in the engine the tick is coming from, might help rule out one or more of the options. Putting your ear to the handle of a long screwdriver and touching the blade to various parts of the engine is almost as good, and probably free, if you have a long screw driver.

I hope this helps

00blacka4 · 11-03-2009, 08:16 PM

my brother said it sounds like a lifter sticking. He said thats just how it sounds.