silent_soul

iTrader: (2)

So all joking aside im about to lose my mind.

I a while ago developed a very slight tick. Almost 2 years ago. Car drives usually pretty good.

The tick doesnt get louder or change much with engine acceleration, engine braking or at idle. It does speed up alittle but barely.

The tick used to be louder and less consistent. Usually long periods of idling would bring a flashing check engine light. As soon as I would accelerate it would disappear. The Light anyways.

I replaced the pushrods thinking maybe one was slightly bent. When pulled 1 or 2 seemed just a hair off. Extremely minor but replaced. The sewing machine noise was way quiter but the tick and the light was still there.

I was told it may all be from a leaking exhaust gasket. I pulled the driver side(where i feel the noise is coming from) and sure enough it had soot marks indicating a leak. Once replaced the tick got quiter, but the check engine light would come on more consistently and the car now idles or runs noticeably rougher when the check engine light is flashing.

I get the codes run, and only have a Random cylinder misfire. I have full exhaust and the egr codes are there but whatever.

Anyways, I replaced Coils, plug wires, spark plugs, O2's and still get random cylinder misfiring. Nothing new.

All plugs looked light brown IE lean but not crazy lean. All except cylinder 3. That one looked alittle rich/oil on it. I have seen oil fouled how are you running kind plugs not have issues. This one was lightly covered with alittle oil and looking the color of a rich plug.

I am under the impression maybe a valve isnt seating nicely or a lifter may be sticking. HOWEVER I really dont see any power lose, the light and noise are anything but consistent and when cold I hear nothing. Once the car is driven or left to idle for a few minutes will I see the light or hear anything.

Again usually the noise and light go away on hard acceleration but the noise is fairly quiet and maybe I just cant hear it.

With everything said in mind I am beginning to think I may have a couple bad or clogged injectors. The ticking noise is not a tapping noise and isnt a pulley(noise is present with no belts on) and I know its not piston slap as it sounds nothing like my vette that had piston slap.


Sorry for the long post but this has been plaguing me for over 2 years.

Velle72

And no crack marks huh on that driver's manifold you pulled off? If you saw those soot marks there should be a leak somewhere on that side.

silent_soul

iTrader: (2)

gasket was damaged and soot around the damaged area. The head mounting surface looked clean, smooth, and intact.

G-X-P

Check for intake gasket leaks, not going to help the noise but maybe the misfires. You can check your fuel trims also to see if has been compensating for a leak.

Velle72

Or could also be a arcing spark plug maybe a cracked insulator or a bad wire arcing. Checking that at night time you might be able to see an arc coming from the source. It'll prob be something dumb in the long run.

silent_soul

iTrader: (2)

im not too worried about the noise, it clearly doesnt matter as i have driven the card hard as hell on occasion figure something will break and ill figure out what was wrong. I will check the intake tomorrow.

I would imagine new plugs and wires msd and ngk wouldnt give the same results as old oem/old msg plug wires and old plugs think bosch.

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

Have you done a compression check on all four driver cylinders?

Also if you have a capable scanner, you can disable one cylinder and see if disabling one particular cylinder has less or no effect vs the others

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

vacuum leaks......still have the stock PCV system? intake gaskets....they get hard and brittle....O rings on injectors....hard and brittle.....exhaust leaking from loose or missing bolts....I had 2 broken bolts on mine ! ...gasket behind throttle body....hard and brittle....compare any of the old gaskets to new and pliable ones and you will see what I am talking about