Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

I got a '93 Z28 a couple weeks ago and right now I'm trying to figure out what a certain ticking noise is that's coming from the engine bay. It is definitely coming from the passenger side. It isn't extremely loud, but loud enough that I can hear it in the drivers seat while driving. The car does have a small exhaust leak just after the catalytic converter, but the sound that I'm talking about is definitely coming from the engine area. The ticking noice goes exactly once per revolution. Idling at 600rpm I was counting 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 every second. I took a screw driver around and touched a bunch of different spots to see if I could feel it ticking in there somewhere, but the only place I could feel anything was on the fuel rail, and i would assume that is pretty normal (it didn't feel exactly timed right for the tick either, but close). It does sound like it gets a tiny bit louder with more throttle, but it doesn't change a ton.

Any ideas what it could be? If you have specific questions or something you want me to check I can head out to the shed and check it for you.

Let me know what you think! Thanks.

skifast87

I would guess that its a lifter. Then again i do not know a great deal about the LT1. Thats my guess.

Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

Anybody else have any ideas?

Gun5

iTrader: (37)

lifter, change oil to 20-50 or something of the sort and drive the **** out of it helps a tad for all engine noises im sure u know your LS1 is a noisy beast the LT1 isnt any better..

my new engine i reused my old lifters well 800 miles into the engine being together a cold lifter noise for 5-9 minutes till warm up.. well did that for 2 weeks until i drove the living **** out of it doing a few 40-100+ rolls with a friend

almost 2,000 miles later still all good

Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

Actually... the LT1 is MUCH louder than my LS1. My LS1 is actually very quiet o_O. The only noise I really hear from it is a little whine when I get pretty deep into the gas (intake air). Other than that all I hear is the exhaust. With the LT1 I actually hear the engine as much or more than the exhaust. That is with the stock exhaust though (really loud for a stock exhaust though... doesn't seem right...)

Red97LT1

iTrader: (8)

I was having the same problem. It was my lifter. The ticking would happen after the car sit awhile,but after it ran for around 5-10 seconds it would stop ticking. Then it didn't stop ticking at all after a couple days until I drove it for 10-15 mins.Let it sit and it started ticking again.Mine also gave me misfire codes because it was so bad.Good luck.

skifast87

I think that it is because there is not enough oil pressure at idle to pressureise the lifter. I would not worry about it to much. Unless it gets really loud

Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

Its not just at idle, or just for a few seconds or minutes though either. It happens all the time. It will happen all the way from when I start it to when I get back from a 30 minute trip.

Somebody on my car club's web site told me "Mine was just like that until I pulled the valve covers and set my rockers at zero-lash. Rule out an exhaust leak first, then set the lash on your rockers."

Any thoughts on that?


Edit: BTW, I just took a stethoscope and touched it to a metal ruler and touched some different stuff in the engine bay listening to stuff a couple days ago. I couldn't hear the noise anywhere loudly, but I did hear what i think is the noise when I would touch the passenger side exhaust manifold. It wasn't any louder through the stethoscope than what I could hear outside of the car, but is it possible to get a leak on the manifold? Or do you think it is all caused by the leak back by the cat?

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

Funny thing is we had the same issue on my bud 93 t/a, not an exhaust leak, but a tick, when we put a cam in the #8 intake lifter was wiped out.

96mikez28

Check your valve lash, i heard that same ticking and it turned out to be a loose rocker

Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

I just listened to some stuff with the stethoscope again the other day. I can hear the ticking on the catalytic converter, and in the exhuast pipes in front of it . I can also hear it a little bit in the passenger side manifold. I also can hear it in the bolts on the top of the head, but not on the black part around it.

I am confused by all of this. I would really like to get it fixed too..

Speedmonster185

iTrader: (1)

Ok, well I have figured it out... Much simpler than everyone was guessing. I finally jacked up the car and looked underneath of it. I looked all around and finally saw a spark plug wire wiggling a little bit. I didn't think anything to begin with, but then I thought to myself "the exhaust is attached to the engine too and it isn't moving this much...". So I called to my brother to find me a long piece of metal so i could reach up in there and touch it. Well guess what, he handed me the handle from the jack and I reached up there and touched it, felt it move up, and no more noise . Problem solved. Now I just have to wait for the pipes to cool down and find a way to reach up there and tighten it down and I should be good to go.

Only problem is I found a nice big exhaust leak thats on the top side of the cat. It looks like they tried to put a cat with a bigger diameter piping than the pipe going into it. It has about a 1/8th in. or so gap there that needs to be filled in somehow. Is there any way to do that other than just taking it to a shop and having them reweld it for me?