spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

I just got back from a little cruise. I ran into some cool Cobra and Lightning guys and talked to them for a little while and headed back home. On my way home, I noticed when I was at idle there was a strange ticking noise coming from my car echoing off of the surrounding cars. It just starting doing this maybe 15 minutes ago and I am pretty worried as to what it is My car only has about 13,400 miles on it. I did make what some call a "money-shift" earlier (when you are driving kind of hard and go into the previous gear instead of the next gear...In my case I was trying to shift into 4th from 3rd and hit 2nd instead ) My car idles around 800 R.P.M.s since I have a six-speed and the motor ticks about 2, maybe 3, times per second. It almost as if it is a "minor" knocking noise even though this isn't a very "minor" thing to me. I opened the hood while it was running when I got home and the sound appears to be coming from the driver's side of the motor. Has anyone any idea of what it could be???
Thanks in advance...

Rebelord

iTrader: (2)

Classic symptoms of bending a pushrod.

just-a-z

iTrader: (25)

Could be a lifter, pushrod bent or header leak. Pull the valve cover and take a look.

GuitsBoy

iTrader: (4)

after a mis shift and resulting over-rev, you probably bent some pushrods. Has happened to a lot of people on here.

Leave the spark plug wires on the plugs, just disconnect the coils. Remove the coil pack brackets with all 4 coils still intact. Pull the valvecovers and pull the rockers, youll probably find a couple pushrods bent. Get a few stock ones from the stealership or get some from someone on here, replace, torque rockers on to 22 ft lbs. put valvecovers back on and drive happily. Checking the pushrods should only take an hour or so, its pretty easy.

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the help guys. It's not exactly what I wanted to hear, but it's good to know what it is. What exactly causes a bent pushrod? Could something else be damaged in result to the bent pushrod (something had to bend it in the first place, right?)

Also, I plan on putting a larger cam in the future, so could I run some different length/better pushrods while I wait for a cam? This way I won't be buying pushrods that will be pointless later on. Or could different length pushrods not comply with a factory cam? Or could I just run factory spec pushrods with a larger cam?

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

Sorry, I forgot to mention which cam I was considering...

Thunder Racing's 224/224 .563/.563 112 LSA

nokeman

iTrader: (30)

i dont know if you wanna buy hardened pushrods right now because if you miss another shift, the pushrods wont bend, but this will cause the valves to take the brunt of the force, in turn bending or breaking those. You dont wanna do that. Stock pushrods are very cheap. I bought 5 from a member on here for like 4 bucks so...I would do that.

[__--MUD--__]

If you have headers, check your bolts, sounds like baseball card in bike spoke.

byler900f

iTrader: (1)

sounds like pushrods

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

I have that exact cam. The hardened pushrods from Thunder Racing are the same size as factory, 7.400. But since the stockers are so cheap, you might want to go that route, unless you promise not to miss a shift again until the cam goes in

Manny

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

I checked my oil last night just in case, and it turns out I am a little low (even though the oil doesn't smell burnt). The oil is also pretty thin from the oil change the previous owner performed. I am going to go change the oil in a few minutes with synthetic.

Also, just to gain some more knowledge: What is it that physically bends a pushrod?

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

What difference would it make to miss a shift without a new cam but with hardened pushrods as opposed to missing a shift with the new cam and hardened pushrods?

A little off topic, but how do you like the cam?

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

As nokeman said, if you overrev it with the hardened pushrods installed, the valve would take the brunt of the force, and that's harder and more expensive to replace than the pushrod.

I love it!

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

All our Fbody LS1s have a real noisy valvetrain from the factory. And a lil bit of piston slap...thats where oil consumption on our cars come in to place.

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

Thanks! I hope to get the cam soon! You wouldn't happen to have any videos or sound clips of it idling would you? I cannot find them anywhere

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

I was not aware that the LS1s consumed oil... Great to learn something every day

kenkaru

It's definitely a bent pushrod. If you don't fix it soon, it will break so take it easy on the engine.

When you perform a "money-shift" (I like that term ), you are basically doing extreme engine breaking. So extreme is the engine breaking that you end up over-reving the engine.
If you don't know what a pushrod is, go to howstuffworks.com and learn about engines.

GuitsBoy

iTrader: (4)

I like the term money shift as well. A bit of a misnomer though, since you wont have any money left after you pull one off. Actually, ls1 owners are lucky that the pushrods USUALLY bend before the valves do, however not everyone's so lucky.

spazzyfry123

iTrader: (4)

What is a general price range of how much it would cost for labor to replace bent pushrods? (People say this happens often, so I figure some know what it cost them)

So I take it I brought a new term to the forums?

nokeman

iTrader: (30)

If your pushrods is bent...will it be a VERY visible, because i checked all mine and they looked good but the ticking didnt go away at all. Im starting to think its an exhaust leak.