VTtransam

Ok, I'll describe the noise again. After about 20 minutes of normal driving (shifting at about 3500 rpm), I'll hear this ticking noise coming from the passenger side of the motor. I'll pull over and let it idle a minute and the noise will go away. It will also go away if I drive around under 2000 rpm for a few minutes. The noise is never there on start up, only after about 20 minutes.

I tore it apart last week and installed new comp r lifters, still got the ticking afterwards. Rockers, springs, pushrods are all fine and installed/torqued properly, oil level was good, oil pressure holding steady at 40 psi hot.

I never had this noise untill Memorial day. I had about 250 miles on my h/c setup with no problems. Mods added close to onset of the noise- LS6 injectors, LS6 pcv.

I called Mike today at Rapid and he told me to add some Lucus oil additive, I did that so we'll see what happens. I called Thunder too and they were totally stumped, they had no idea and have never heard of anything like it.

I'm totally stumped right now The car only has about 20k easy drivin miles on it. Any help would be extremly helpful. I'd like to get this straitened out before I go for tuning on Thursday.

Thanks
Matt

VTtransam

Also, I pulled off the AIR system and still had the ticking, so thats not it.

Matt

DaleMX

iTrader: (4)

Exhaust leak? Piston slap?

chino_man279

iTrader: (7)

I have the same problem after a head/cam swap!! Mine basically only happens when the engine is driven/warmed up. It is almost like it is not getting oil at higher rpm's(above idle), but my oil pressure is right around 55 PSI when the ticking starts. My noise seems to come from the passenger side sometimes, but it seems more towards the center...maybe a cam bearing or something? This is all I can think of because it happened after a head/cam install....

Help us out!!

chino_man279

iTrader: (7)

I doubt this has anything to do with it, but I used the same cam as you, resulting in the same mysterious noise. I also swapped out my lifters with the install as well.

VTtransam

Header gaskets are new and torqued properly, I double checked everything when I put it back together after the new lifters, so I am ruling out an exhuast leak. My car never had piston slap before, would it start all of a sudden like this?? Oil pump is stock, I've never had a problem with oil pressure and it's still pretty good- bout 40 psi hot, never dips below.

Chino man- this sucks doesn't it?!!

chino_man279

iTrader: (7)

I am pretty sure it is not an exhaust leak also. I have double checked everything. All gaskets are new and all bolts are torqued to spec. I have my stock oil pump on that I ported myself and shimmed the relief spring. Oil pressure definately is not a problem. On cold start-ups it is almost 80 PSI!! Mine ran perfectly fine for a few hundred miles after the swap, but after about 2 days it just started for seemingly no reason.

What I do not understand with this noise is that it goes away after a short period of idling even though the engine is obviously still hot.

My noise is more of a combination of a tick and a squeel. I know the plain old tick is normal with the cam swap, but this is clearly something more than changing to a more aggressive cam.

Very weird and nobody knows what it is???

DaleMX

iTrader: (4)

Maybe with the random misfire and ticking it adds up to a bad injector. Just a guess. Take a look at the plugs while the ticking is happening. Could also be a bad plug wire. In the dark while it's ticking look for an exposed spark.

Mustang Hat'r 2

iTrader: (24)

I had this same problem with my car. Would not make any noise at idle drive down the road and it would start ticking come to a stop and it would go away. It ended up being the o-ring on the oil pump pick up tube. It had a small peice missing out of it and caused the oil to foam and thin out. My oil pressure was 40 PSI hot, change the o-ring and the noise went away and still have the exact same oil pressure. Take you car for ride until it starts tapping, pull right over, shut it off and pull the dip stick if you got a bubbles in the oil thats probable your problem. Good luck

chino_man279

iTrader: (7)

I thought it could possibly be an injector also, but that was my "out in left field" guess as to the cause of the problem.

I am trying to find some 98 injectors for sale at a reasonable price to swap them, but no luck so far.

Mustang, I will check the dipstick when the ticking happens again. It could be the o-ring. I made sure it was there when I put it back on, but it could have gotten eatten up somehow. Could my high(almost 80 PSI) start up oil pressure cause the o-ring to blow out?

VTtransam

Mustang Hat'r2- I think it might have something to do with the oil pump too. I drained out all the Royal Purple and put in Castrol GTX (non synthetic) along with Lucas oil additive like Mike told me to, and behold the mysterious tick was gone. Even after 30 minutes of fairly hard diving (I was trying to provoke the ticking). I did damage my factory oil pump pick up tube O-ring when I was doing the H/C swap. I replaced it with one that appeared to be the same size. Perhaps thats the problem. Today with the Castol oil and Lucas additive my oil pressre was about 50 psi hot. I'm thinking that the Lucas might have sealed any deformaties in the O-ring. Is there any logic to my thinking?? Anyone have any explainations?? thanks for the replies guys


Matt

MYBLKSS

iTrader: (1)

Can you mix the lucas oil additive with mobil 1 full synthetic

Mustang Hat'r 2

iTrader: (24)

chino-man
Never heard of an O-ring blowing out, I used a new one when I did my cam install and still ended up tearing a peice out of it. I guess you just got to get lucky.

VTtransam
The oil you put in might be thicker and just covering up the problem if there is one. Then again it might just be a lifter going bad and the heaver oil is helping it out. Its so hard to tell with these cars, 100 problems and they all give the same symptoms.
Good luck getting your cars fixed.

niphilli

This is what I was thinking. Full synthetic will exagerate noises, oil consumptiuon,.... Neither Mike nor I care much for synthetic oil in LS-x applications. Run it for a while with the Lucas oil then change the oil back to non synthetic (5 or 10-W-30). If the tick is still gone without the additive dont sweat it. But I really have no idea what is causing this so TTT 4 ya.

Quick98SS

I have the same ticking noise coming out of the passenger side of the car. And it is definatly not an exhaust leak. It almost sounds like it has a rhythm to it. I was told it is a bad lifter, but im still unsure. Please help.
Thanks
Tim

FrankSS

iTrader: (18)

did yall check your rocker arms when you did your h/c swap? that is a common problem with these to come loose if you dont torque them down all the way...just a thought

DrkPhx

iTrader: (15)

I noticed a slight ticking from the driver side.
Switched to 10w-30 and it dropped down alot. Which leads me to believe either bad lifter or cam bearing, though my oil pressure is fine.

VTtransam

Thanks for the replies! I checked the rockers a few times and all are torqued correctly, none show any signs of damage. I'm going to run this castrol for a while then go with a non synthetic again.

Nick- What oil do you use, I remember you saying your car doesn't have any oil consumption.

Matt

chino_man279

iTrader: (7)

I've also checked all my rocker arms, pushrods, springs, etc... again and again and again.

I am lost on this one.

How hard are cam bearings to change? How long?

VTtransam

Chino man- Try adding the Lucas Oil additive. I did and my tick has gone away, I think its just covering up the problem though. It might help narrow down the possibilities. I think mine has to do with my oil pump O-ring. I'll change it out in August when I have time to put in a ported oil pump. I'm going for tuning tomorrow so the car should see 6600 rpm a couple times. We'll see if it falls apart or not, I'm reeeeaaallly hoping not!!

Matt