Black01Bird

Ive read a few times that LS1s are very noisy engines, but im not sure if this is normal or not.

Ive never noticed this before, but sometimes i seem to hear it, and other times i dont, i changed the oil a week ago and switched to Rotella T 15w-40, a day or two later when i was driving through town with the radio turned down i heard what sounded like a slight tick, so when i got to work and parked next to a car i rolled the window down and i didnt hear anything echoing off the car beside me so i held the rpms up a little (maybe 1500) and i could hear what sounded like a slight tick or something.

Im kinda worried about this due to being able to hear it while driving at low rpms, im not sure if im just worrying to much or if something is actually wrong.

I opened the hood last night with it running and everything sounded normal (beside the typical sewing machine sound when you get close to the valve covers) but when the hood is shut you can hear a very slight tick or rattle maybe around the wheel wells on both sides.

So is this normal for a 115k mile LS1? Is it the oil causing this somehow? Am i worrying to much? lol

Thanks for the help once again guys!


edit:


it actually sounds just like this, but doesnt go away cold or warm, and it doesnt go away after idle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=8HXXNh2Fzbw#!

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

That is some really thick oil for an LS1. I don't know that it'd cause any ticking, but if it started when you changed it, perphaps there's something to it.

The noise in the vid sounded like typical lifter tick, which isn't "normal" for these cars, but doesn't constitute an emergency either.

Black01Bird

Seems a lot of people run this particular oil in Ls engines and 40 weight oils in general with no problems, that's why I don't understand why it would be the oil doing it, and I thought "lifter tick" was much louder and more violent???

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I haven't heard of too many people using Rotella T 15w-40 in a stock short block LS1.

The typical "40 weight" oil that people use is M1 0W40, which is on the "thin" side of a 40 weight, and is pretty comparable to a "thick" 30 weight.

I don't know what the specs are on Rotella 15w40 though.

Noise such as piston slap is normal for LS1s and would not worry me in the least. However, as RevGTO mentioned, lifter tick is not a normal worry-free issue.

Black01Bird

So should I change the oil? I used valvoline 10w30 last time and didn't like the oil pressure hot using that oil, so what would be recommended? And I know lifter tick isn't a worry free issue, but is that even what this is? As I said isn't lifter tick usually much more violent/loud?

xxrillixx

iTrader: (118)

Im not a fan of valvoline at all. I have a close friend that has been using it since 45k miles, now has 118k. Only using valvoline... I just did her oil pump and timing chain... wow. looked like the carbon build up you would see on a piston (hard dark deposits) all over the inside. Large clumps of carbon spots stuck to the block and the front timing cover. She usually tops it off with a non-name brand oil filter. Not sure why people do this when a ACDelco one is like $5. I know fora fact she is religious about changing her oil on time, and she probably never gets over 4000rpm.

She was losing oil pressure as if her oil pump was going out. Would start okay but took 7-10 seconds to see oil pressure, then as it got warm it would drop down in pressure pretty low. Being worried about it we did the oil pump and timing chain (it was time anyways), did good for a little, but did the same thing. saw that the oil sending unit was broken, replaced it... same thing.

As a last ditch effort before condeming the block, we changed the oil filter. FIXED! It was the damn cheap oil filter that caused her oil pressure to drop to 0 while driving. Thank God it didnt do any serious damage.


Something to think about as a far as oil pressure...

What kind of pressure are you seeing? 15/40 is very heavy. I use 10/30 as it gets really hot here in vegas, 5/30 or 0/30 is just way to thin for me.

Black01Bird

My oil pressure with this oil is 60/cold idle, 42-45 hot idle, 55-60 cruising at about 2000rpm

with the valvoline it was about 55-60 cold idle, 35-40 hot idle (this i didnt like) and 50-55 cruising at 2000rpm.

Im just worried about this faint ticking noise lol

Blk98Vert

iTrader: (2)

There is no reason to be running that oil, but it won't hurt anything. That's a common oil for boosted cars to run. In case you weren't aware GM spec for minimum oil pressure at idle is 7psi, with a 10 psi increase per 1000 rpm.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I think some people are far too worried about idle oil pressure, and convince themselves that a certain number is "bad" even when it isn't.

35-40psi at hot idle is perfectly fine and won't hurt anything at all.

More pressure is not always a good thing. You could get your hot idle pressure up to probably 60+ psi if you filled the engine with gear oil, but this would not be desireable.

Exidous

iTrader: (11)

Mines noisy......But the XE-R lobe on the exhaust causes the valve to close fast enough that it sounds like a ping. This is a side effect of the cam.

I live in Hawaii and use regular old penzoil 10w-30. In a colder climate I'd use a 5w-30 or 0w-30. If your pressure was in the teens or lower I'd start to worry but avg is about 25-35psi at hot idle. An oil filter can sway the pressure anywhere from 1-10psi as well. I usually get 28psi and I used a fram once and got 36psi on the same oil.

ajwoodtransport

Rotella is normally used for diesel engines. I don't think there is much difference other then that it's suppose to help suspend particles (blow by, soot, etc, etc,) so they can be filtered out before settling somewhere in the engine......but other then that I think it's pretty much the same as any other type of oil. I heard people both in cars and motorcycles using it mostly with ok results, but I've read that on motorcycles with a wet clutch it may not be as good as some other types of motorcycle oil. Maybe there are some conditioners in the oil that are foaming up and causing issues with these LS1lubrication systems or maybe it's not as slippy compared to conventional car engine oils despite what the weight may be. I don't know...just a guess. Good luck.

Black01Bird

UPDATE::

Went out and bought german castrol 0w30, changed the oil, kept the filter i had on it since it was just changed.

Started the car and still heard the ticking sound, but it seemed louder.... so i got a long screwdriver and started poking around to try to narrow it down where it was coming from, top of the valve covers i couldnt hear anything but normal valvetrain noise, went to the heads and could hear the noise a little, could hear it on the sides of the intake, and could hear it on the exhaust manifolds. So i was scared since it was now louder, so i gave the car a sustained rev to maybe 2500rpm to see if it got worse, and it never got worse, and when i let off the throttle the noise was completely gone... i could no longer hear that tapping noise AT ALL, so im wondering if it either is A) piston slap, or B) a lazy lifter that wasnt pumped up due to the other oil, and after revving it it pumped the lifter up, or the new oil reached the lifter and all is happy now..... im still very worried about this problem...

What do you guys think about all of this? Should i just say **** it and stop worrying? Car runs great, no power loss, nothing like that...

ajwoodtransport

My vote would be not to worry about it if the noise is gone. I don't think the rotella is as slippy....hence why it does better then regular car oil in wet clutch systems but maybe not as good as true motorcycle oil that's designed for a wet clutch, therefore it probably just didn't agree with your LS1.

Black01Bird

Well the noise is still there, so the oil weight has nothing to do with it I don't think, I'm just not sure if this noise has always been there and I just noticed it or if it infact did just show up. Like I said in an earlier post, with a long screw driver I can't hear it in the valve covers, I can hear it a little in the actual head casting, I can hear it the loudest on the sides of the intake manifold, and both side exhaust manifolds, as well as the belt tensioner.

So what are the chances that a lifter failed or I bent a pushrods on both sides?? Also seems like it would be much harder with an auto car to bend a pushrod...

Any ideas guys? I'm lost

Black01Bird

Checked the rockers today, maybe this is normal but it seems as if it would make the noise im hearing maybe?

Every rocker on the drivers side but 1 i could like slide side to side, not on the pushrod or the valve, but like the actual rocker would slide side to side on itself?? dont really know how else to explain it lol

kvrL33

iTrader: (2)

Justin_2000z28

Yes ls1 are normally noisy on start up. When I do a cold start on my car there's a tickin/nocking noise. But when the motor warms up it goes away and I run 5w 30 valveline high mileage in my camaro 193,000 miles strong!