Bad lifter?

melchoir · 01-01-2007, 01:34 PM

My car has a pronounced ticking sound. This sound does not go away when the car warms, and I've been quoted that it could probably be any piece of the valvetrain. I've got video and figure the collective minds of LS1Tech could probably be the most helpful.

Although I'm currently leary of pushing the car too hard, I'd like to know what this sounds like to people that might know. I've run the car at the track while this ticking occured and it seemed to run fine. (Netted my current bests)

The sound is most audible from 1k-1500rpm, after that it seems to "speed up" and you can't hear it anymore.

Here's the promised link, I know audio works in the Windows Media version, unsure of the flash:
LS1Tick

2001bluerata · 01-01-2007, 02:06 PM

And I thought my ticking was bad! Only help I can give you is to tear it apart and check things out, that's only real way to tell.

melchoir · 01-01-2007, 09:00 PM

Any other ideas/comments?

J's99Zrated · 01-01-2007, 09:06 PM

Sounds like a lifter to me, but the only way to be sure is to tear it apart like 2001bluerata said.

t1blackout · 01-01-2007, 10:12 PM

sounds more like a knock than a tick - not the typical sewing machine sound for sure... is that what a bad lifter shoulds like? I thought that was more what a bent pushrod would sound like.

Boosted 99 TA · 01-01-2007, 10:14 PM

sounds similar to my problem, ill let you kknow what happens with my car.

melchoir · 01-02-2007, 07:57 AM

Please let me know.

The computer is showing no knock while driving, idling, or WOT even though this sound is present.

phasemaster1 · 01-02-2007, 09:25 AM

Maybe your oil pump o-ring is bad. I dont think they can last forever. I had same exact noise when I changed my oil pump in my truck. Sounds bad I thought I had a rod knock. Also no knock was showing up either.I could be way off but I hate to see how many people think engine is no good over a stupid thing like an o-ring.

melchoir · 01-02-2007, 10:07 AM

I don't know if that's possible or not.

I have great oil pressure though. (40PSI Hot idle, 50PSI cruising, 60PSI Cold start, increases with Revs.)

DaddySS · 01-02-2007, 12:55 PM

You've got the tap and something else rattling there. The tap sounds like valve train and step number 1 is to pull the valve covers and check - bent push rod, broken or loose rocker, broken spring, etc.. What's the other rattle, exhaust, belt?

We also need to know - is that the full list of the mods you have, and when did the tapping start?

black01_WS6 · 01-02-2007, 01:06 PM

the tapping started after he put the ls6 intake on.

Camaro Rick · 01-02-2007, 01:21 PM

The tapping started AFTER your LS6 install?

The same happened to me. It turned out that there was a peice of metal sitting in my cylinder #7 intake port. It got sucked in and I had to tear off my heads. If I were you, I'd pull the intake off and vacuum/magnet anything and everything then pull the valvecover's and rockers to check your pushrods. Should take you less than a day to do it.

I thought it was a lifter too. Ended up consting me $2k because I didn't expect it to be what it was. Stop driving it and pull it apart.

SStheBest · 01-02-2007, 01:46 PM

oh wow yea man...my dad and me did an intake on his truck and ended up dropping a washer in it(didnt know this)

...and yea that costed a bit....i too have a tick, infact mine just started yest. but u can read my thread "Valvetrain more noisy than normal"...but its hard for me to tell it doesnt sound quite like mine...then again i didnt i havent changed anything since ive had it either

(other than normal maint. oil, air clean, fuel)

melchoir · 01-02-2007, 03:24 PM

The tapping did not immediately start after my LS6 intake swap.

The tapping started after I did a WOT run. When I took my foot off of the peddle the wire came off of the #7 plug, and the car was misfiring bad (obviously). Ever since then the car has tapped. (Probably 1000 miles, 20 WOT blasts.)

The screech in the backround is a belt from the dew in the morning, and the rattle is the exhaust. The tapping/ticking is unknown, but believed to be within the valvetrain.

It would really be hard for me to believe that I left something in an intake port that taps, but has survived this long, and not broken something else... the car has no misfires, and runs pretty close to expected in the 1/4, but I don't know, that's why I'm posting here. That is also my full list of mods.

black01_WS6 · 01-02-2007, 09:33 PM

this is why you should of bought my heads when you had the chance and had another reason to tear apart your top end. I don't think that you are going to truly know what is wrong untill you take it apart.

I have heard this in person, and it is defiantly a tick. it sounds the same from both sides of the engine bay.

I am thinking he wants to know if this is something that he can tackle on his own as the shop around us is backed up.

melchoir · 01-02-2007, 09:43 PM

I'm still hoping for a bent pushrod or something simple.
Obviously the car has run fine for 2 months like this so I'm not very worried, but I would really like to know.

heavymetals · 01-03-2007, 02:13 AM

Hate to be a kill joy but it almost sounds like a rod knock.

melchoir · 01-03-2007, 03:03 AM

The tapping in the video is quite exaggerated due to the microphone on the camera and camera placement, it is more of a light tick then anything else in person. Most people don't notice it, I've had one of the best local shops for working on LS1s take a listen, and they said it sounded like "something in the valvetrain".

Unfortunately that leaves a lot to be desired as far as pin-pointing the problem.
And since you cannot hear it while driving, and it drives fine as is (so far) I've not worried about it very much. But, I'd really like to have a better idea of what it is, and if if I need to.

2001bluerata · 01-11-2007, 11:49 PM

Just pull the coil bracket, valve covers, and rockers...pulll your rods out and roll them across a flat surface, you should be able to tell if one is bent! It shouldn't take long to do this, and you can rule them out if none are bent. My TA has a lifter that doesn't hold it's preload, and when I start it up it ticks pretty good. But after it idles for a few mins. and warms up it stops. I just have normal valvetrain nosie after this, well maybe a little more than normal w/ the cam! Seeing as how I will be installing heads in the near future, I will be replacing them at that time. But Hey,Good luck to you, and I'm hoping it's not a lifter.

silverbrick · 01-12-2007, 12:08 AM

I have a VERY similar noise. If you wanted you could search under my name at Pt.net . there are quite a few threads....I bought new LS7 lifters and replaced my heads and it never went away...I almost think it's a really bad exhaust leak but probably am wrong. I replace my 90k mile rockers with used 30k mile rockers and the noise didnt change either. I havent checked the oil pump o-ring but in June it was pulled apart to do a double roller swap and it didnt tick right after so I doubt it's that (concerning me). Our noises are very similar... Does yours come and go sometimes? Vary in loudness/intensity?