Quickshift_C5

I'm chasing a ticking noise I've been hearing forever and started tonight by checking the torque on all the rockers. They were all 22lb-ft, just as they should be. Everything appears to be in good visual condition from what I can see. Springs and rockers are in perfect condition anyway.

I want to check the Valve Lash next. I purchased a manual to give me an idea of what I'm doing as I'm still new to working on cars. I've been reading through it a bit, and am not sure I understand exactly what needs to be done.

Can someone explain, step-by-step, the procedure on checking valve lash so that I can make sure everything is where it needs to be?

Arc00TA

iTrader: (17)

You can adjust valve lash until you're blue in the face and it will still tick. Thats what LS1s do. Every LS1 ever made makes a ticking sound, some more so than others.

Quickshift_C5

Nope, refuse to believe that what I'm hearing is suppose to be there. It's far too loud.

Won't believe that until I hear another LS1 with the same exact noise with a clean bill of health.

Arc00TA

iTrader: (17)

If its real loud its possibly a slightly bent pushrod. Let me go get a video of mine.

EDIT: scratch the vid, the camera can't hear the ticking over the exhaust.

Quickshift_C5

I'd love to hear it, thanks.

Arc00TA

iTrader: (17)

Heres one you can hear it pretty good, I took this the other day about my water pump.

http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x...t=MVI_0091.flv

Quickshift_C5

Mine sounds a lot like that actually. Maybe not quite that loud, but just like that.

Could a slightly bent pushrod cause other problems? If one is bent, I'll definitely be replacing them all, but what I'm wondering is if I have a bent pushrod...did something else also break or get damaged when that happened?

Thanks for posting that video. Now I'm thinking of just going ahead with removing all the pushrods tomorrow.

How bent is that pushrod making that noise?

RyderTA

iTrader: (3)

Bent pushrod, if they're stock, could happen from simply over revving it. I have a small tick, but that's pretty normal, expecially on a h/c car. No sense in just replacing the pushrods, might as well do a h/c swap while your at it.

Quickshift_C5

Swapping out just pushrods for $140 and 15min of time is a lot different than spending thousands and the time it takes for a head/cam swap.

I'll be doing head/cam, but definitely not now or anytime in the near future.

chaman

iTrader: (5)

Mine sounds like that also, specially in cold mornings...

RyderTA

iTrader: (3)

Oh come on, it's time well spent and worthwhile too. You could pull your pushrods out though and roll them on a flat surface and that would tell you if they're bent.

Quickshift_C5

This isn't piston slap or normal valve train noise, I need to get that cleared up. There is an issue.

It's loud enough to be extremely irritating, I can hear it over my B&B Bullets while on the throttle. It's only coming from one cylinder it sounds like, and it's on the right side. It doesn't matter how long the car has been running or what the temperature is, the noise is always there.

I'll be yanking the pushrods today.

Quickshift_C5

Definitely man...I would LOVE to!!

chaman

iTrader: (5)

You checked cylinder pressures?

Quickshift_C5

Nope, don't know how.

What do I need and how do I do it? Why should I check cylinder pressures? What will it tell me if they are off?

I'll check my book here and see if it covers that.

Quickshift_C5

Just yanked all the pushrods from the passenger side where the noise was coming from.

All of the pushrods have a slight bend to them. When placed on a flat desktop surface, the middle bows up just a bit. I'm checking each of them right now with a feeler gauge to determine the exact gap amount.

Does anyone know what the tolerance is?

I'm checking my rebuild manual right now to see if it says.


EDIT: My manual says .008 is tolerance.

studderin

iTrader: (28)

.008 over a long pushrod, you can flex that much.
Sounds like yours are bent if you can see it.

Quickshift_C5

I checked each of them, and they were all below .008

I can see a gap between the pushrods and the desk, but I can't visually see them bent.

Arc00TA

iTrader: (17)

Put it on a board or something so the ends aren't touching, then check. I'm not too worried about mine because it gets a lot quieter when the car warms up, and I will be doing H/C soon and replacing everything anyways.

Quickshift_C5

In 7 of the 8 pushrods I checked, the ball ends weren't touching the desk. The .003-.005 gaps I measured between desk and pushrod were shaft only.

Put everything back together for today, going to go for a test drive for a bit.

I would like to note one thing I found peculiar when reinserting the pushrods. The 2nd cylinder from the front on the passenger side, the exhaust valve pushrod...I could feel a grinding sensation when rotating and setting it against the lifter. I could not feel anything even remotely close to this with the other 7 pushrods. I coated it in a bit of oil from the top of the head and put it back in and pulled it out and there "some" metal shavings stuck to the oil on the end of the pushrod. I pushed it down again to see and I still felt that wierd grinding sensation, almost like tiny metal flakes were between the lifter and pushrod ball end. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. This is the only odd thing I noticed today.