wayland1985

Trying to hunt down a little noise on the drivers side of the engine.

The heads/cam/lifters/oil pump, etc were all replaced this summer. There seems to be a bit of valve train noise on the drivers side that's bit louder Than the passenger. It seems most pronounced, when you put your ear near the front tire, and listen through the wheel well.

I have about 60lbs of pressure, but I've heard that a slightly pinched o-ring can lead to aeration and lifter noise? But would you still see oil pressure? And would the lifter noise be one sided on the motor?

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

if you have 60psi oil pressure I would not think the O ring is pinched.

the404man

I had the wrong sized O ring in-which caused aeration and lifter noise all around randomly, that would come and go, the oil pressure was slow building, and wouldn't hold at idle, but it had 80psi at full throttle, even then the lifters made noise.. checking the dipstick you could clearly see lots of bubbles.. take from this what you can..

If you can get a video it would be most helpful..

RockinWs6

Bubbles in the oil when hot is a sure sign. Another sign is lifter noise that comes and goes. Also I noticed if I left it idle for a few mins it would quiet down but the lifter noise would return as you drove it.

wayland1985

Okay. So it may not be an o ring after all... That's a relief.

It's raining good today, so I'll see if I can capture a video.

Since it seems so one sided, it has me a bit nervous.

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

what lifters are you using?

wayland1985

New Ls7 lifters

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

I'm a guessing there is a possible bleed down issue on a couple of the lifters due to the higher spring rates. I imagine you are running BTR platinum springs?

wayland1985

They are BTR springs, but I'd like to think he's used them before, as he did build my package with the LS7 lifters.

And do you think they'd still leak down when seeing that much pressure (honest question: this is all new for me!)

gagliano7

Make sure you check for a header leak. When you measured for pushrods were the passenger and driver side the same measurements?

wayland1985

There was maybe an extra 1/8 turn to torque on the drivers side over the passenger side. I did question it at first, but was told that to within the tolerance of the lifters. I wonder if this could be it?

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

If BTR spec'd the setup then I would expect it to be sound. the extra 1/8 turn could be the culprit.

wayland1985

Okay... I'll chalk it up to slight variation between the left and right pushrod lengths then? Different lengths could mean louder valve train noise left over right...

I may replace the header gasket as well, over the spring, just to be sure. I don't see any soot yet, but it's tight quarters so it may be the culprit. Plus I'm too chicken to stick my hand in between to feel for a leak while it's running.

In the meantime: anything I should be looking for?

(I may just be over paranoid, but this was my first build... So every new noise gets me worried!)

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

This is a very effective way to check for exhaust leaks without burning yourself on a hot engine.. About 10-15# pressure. Because of my X pipe one side is blocked off and it pressurizes both sides at the same time. It will bleed air through some valves that are open but you can find even pin hole leaks

wayland1985

Interesting.... I may have to try that... Do you think that it'll do any damage though? Maybe dislodging something and forcing it towards the motor? (Though I'm sure whatever is dislodged would be just carbon...)

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

No there isn't that much air flow and anything that loose would have come out under WOT

kinglt-1

iTrader: (26)

With more aggressive lobes and higher spring rates, you are going to hear the valves closing...mainly from the side of the car by the front tires. The engine bay will sound pretty quiet except for the injectors...The headers simply amplify the sound. The chirping, click, tick, and whatever else noises you hear coming from the headers is normal. H/C/I LS motors simply make more noise then stock all around...nature of the beast. I had some sewing machine sound when cruising between 15-2k rpm that you could hear through the firewall initially, but quieted down a lot after everything broke in. I would say if you hear no substantially loud ticking, clacking, or knocking, that stands out from the rest of the engine noises, you are good.

wayland1985

Thanks. That's reassuring. I expected some noise, but was worried because of the louder noise on one side vs the other. But I guess it's all to be expected.

gagliano7

I found my header leak when i i pulled a few plugs which were new and had black soot on the white part.