98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

Very similar to 1_meanZ28's post at least in regards to the oil pressure...

A little background. I purchased a '98 Trans Am WS6 5.7L M6 about a month and a half ago. About a week later, a ticking started becoming audible. Slowly through-out my ownership, the ticking has become louder and louder to the point of which I took the valve cover off this weekend (on both sides). The rocker arms looked okay, the springs looked okay, but one rod was bent. After calling up a lot of places for a pushrod, I finally got my hands on a pushrod from a Jim Bishop Dealership (Chevrolet).

That night, I was able to finish up and put everything back to normal. However, nothing in regards to the noise was fixed. As usual, the ticking noise started after I let the car sit for about 10 minutes.

After checking for anti-freeze levels, I discovered that I was extremely low. This was surprising especially since I had put antifreeze in about 3 weeks ago and it was full at that point. I had noticed an excessive amount of water standing by the car after going outside to do something several times during the prior weeks and thought it was just water off of the AC Unit. It was actually anti-freeze. Anyway, soon after figuring this out I replaced the water pump. With the car having 167,000 miles on it, it was time.

Tuesday's here and I've noticed that my oil pressures are acting up just a bit. Since I've owned the car, the oil gauge has always been "jumpy." It will literally sit there at idle or when I'm on the road and just move back-and-forth over a very small amount (can be seen in the video). Today I noticed at idle cold that I'm getting reading of 50 psi. At WOT it jumps to a little over 60. However, on hot idle I'm getting 35 psi (as shown in the video).

The video is taken right after I got back from classes today, so the engine has had time to warm and the noise is present. I apologize for the video quality (it was taken on my iPhone 3).

My questions are these: do I need to buy a new oil pump, and what could possibly be the ticking noise?

Thank you for your help in advance. I've got a busy day tomorrow with work and classes. I will address all posts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WOUJ...ature=youtu.be

1_MEANZ28

iTrader: (4)

As for the noise was it like that before u replaced the push rod?.. Are u sure u installed it properly? .. As for your oil pressure try these things in order . Do an oil filter change see if there's any change .if no change move on to replacing your oil pressure sending unit..2
When that replaced .if it still the same then I would do oil pump .. Gl on everything

98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the response 1_meanZ28. The noise was made before the pushrod was replaced. It was mainly the reason for me looking underneath the valve cover and trying to figure out what's going on. Basically since my ownership the noise has gotten louder and louder. As for proper install, I used allData and I'm 100% sure everything was done properly, including proper torquing of the bolts.

I was looking over your post about the oil and I actually went with the same setup for the oil and oil filter that you had. My oil was changed about 3 weeks ago, so I'm doubting it's the K&N Oil Filter that's making the noise at this point since the noise was very audible before the change and still is.

I guess I only have two options at this point: replace the oil filter and look in the heads to see if anything's wrong with them. My father owns an '07 Cadillac CTS-V which has the LS2 heads on them, so we've talked heavily recently about putting those on the TA, especially since he's wanting to get some LS3 heads for his ride soon.

Basically I was just wondering if anyone could pinpoint me in the right direction to get rid of the noise. It's absolutely driving me crazy at this point.

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like either a collapsed lifter or a rocker shat its bearings, if all the pushrods are straight as you indicated.

Check this video for an example of an LS engine with a lifter tick, and a somewhat unorthodox procedure the guy uses to fix it:


You'll want to use a mechanic's stethoscope (around $20) to find the source of the noise.

MT0911

Mechanics stethoscope will be your friend in this situation to find the source of ticking. Pick one up and listen to each cylinder. It could be a collapsed lifter if you see nothing wrong with the top end (spings, rockers, pr's).

98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

I failed to mention earlier in my first post that I have purchased a Stethoscope. The noise is coming from the driver's side front head. It was actually about 10 bucks. Not bad at all.

Today I swung by an auto store and picked up some engine flush and the recommended cleaner in the video. I'll most likely get around to knocking this out Friday night. I'll keep the post updated that way if anyone else in the future has this problem they can refer to the video's validity.

Thanks for the great posts crainholio, MTO911, and 1_MEANZ28.

98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

UPDATE: I ran the process that was demonstrated in the video posted by crainholio. The car is a lot more responsive now, however the sound is still present. Before running the clean-up in the video, the noise sounded like it was coming from the left valve cover (while using the stethoscope). The noise is no longer present on either of the valve covers and has change to EGR Valve. Could this be the source of the noise?

UPDATE: It is NOT the EGR Valve. I ran checks this morning checking it for failure and it passed everything I threw at it. First, there are 5 wires on top of the valve. There will be a brown wire that is supposed to run a voltage of 0.06 Volts when the key it turned (pass). Second, I remove the valve to check for carbon build-up and there was none (pass). Third, I ran the engine with the EGR Valve off (very very very very shortly) to check to make sure the computer hadn't made adjustments for a broken EGR Valve on the portion that I cannot check for myself. It hadn't. The engine produced a high idle and tried to stall out (pass).

UPDATE: I drove the engine this morning very briefly to go get some gas. On the way back (30 minutes later) I started trying to find the ticking noise. After looking for about 5 minutes, I noticed a huge water build-up. Anyway, a video below is what I saw. Sorry in advance for it being sideways. I actually think the angle of the view helped identify the water's location better (shrug). Is this a warped head? I checked the radiator fluid levels again today after refilling it last Saturday. I could not see the fluid (even with a flashlight) and had to fill the fluid back up just a bit before I could see it again.

NOTE: The AC IS ON during the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVgWB...ature=youtu.be




Thanks in advance.

OffspringZ28

iTrader: (8)

Oil pump O-ring?

98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

The oil pump is something I'm about to consider replacing at this point. At this very moment in time, I'm thinking that it's a bad lifter.

If it's a bad lifter, I was considering putting the following in:
*LS7 Lifters

*LS2 Trays

*LS2 Heads (father has some he wants to get rid of on his CTS-V)

*Camshaft (I've read, not sure if it's true that usually if you have a bad lifter then you cam may have been damaged). Not sure which cam to get with this combination. I'd need something that doesn't need beehive valve springs, etc.

*Pushrods. Not sure which to get with this combination. I'd like to get this replaced because from what I've read if you miss a shift, you're looking at bent rods easily.

Any input on a good cam/pushrod for this setup?

Thanks in advance.

SladeX

Its a collapsed lifter. I had the same issue for years. Stock 98 lifters, ran it until 1 day it chewed up my cam. It started with only happening in intervals, hard runs etc, then would sort itself out. It was like that for 5 years for me. Go to LS7 lifters, swap out heads if have some $$$ and it'll be fine.

98WS6Hville

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the reply Slade. Yeah, at this point, I'm pretty much wholeheartedly agreeing with you. Nothing else would really make sense. The car did sit for roughly about a year. I'm wondering if some trash got caught on the lifter or whatever and that's why it did what it's doing.

I'm changing the heads out soon. Here's my other post about what I'm going to be doing soon:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...re-buying.html