DarkCharisma

I noticed a real soft ticking coming from the drivers front. Ls6 nuance or should I prepare for a top end rebuild?

FuzzyLog1c

iTrader: (4)

Rebuild. You may have a dead lifter, or if you had dual springs, you may have broken one.

Bowtie70SS

iTrader: (10)

Sure it isn't a exhaust leak? Is it accompanied by a misfire? Could be a coil arcing out or a loose spark plug as well. Also a rocker arm could have come apart. It is about a 10 minute job at the most to pull a valve cover.

rand49er

Do you have headers? Didn't see 'em in your sig, but if so, could be leak.

RADEoN

iTrader: (12)

holy ****, i wouldn't be talking rebuild yet. could be normal lifter tick, injector pulsation, exhaust leak. jeez oh man.

RADEoN

iTrader: (12)

if you have a broken valve spring, you'd be hearing plenty more than a "tick", and a wasted lifter would likely collapse before being able to open a valve, causing a misfire condition.

FuzzyLog1c

iTrader: (4)

I had half of a broken valve spring lock, and the only warning was a ticking sound. If I had let it go, and the other half of the lock had broken free, I would've been down an engine.

But maybe I'm paranoid.

wcryan

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, dont get to crazy at first. My car had LS7 lifters, but my headers made it "sound" like it had a crazy tick. Posting a video would be great. But a lifter job isnt cheap, so lets try and get to the culprit first

DarkCharisma

I don't have any misfires, the car seems to run great as always--I did several 4th gear 120mph pulls in the last couple days, no problems.

I'll pull a valve cover and check.

I don't, but I did remove the exhaust at the collectors recently to get to my trans mount. That could be a possible point, thank you for the suggestions.

cwalker2006

iTrader: (11)

If it is a lifter it won't be hard to replace those. It was easier tearing the motor apart in my v than my gmc sierra. Hopefully its just a little exhaust leak tho.

NIKDSC5

iTrader: (10)

All yes. My bet is an exhuast leak. Especially if you have headers, my car has one. Lifter tick will remain constant with RPM and change sounds with cold or hot engine starts (oil viscosity). Exhuast leak may go away/change in certain conditions. I hit a bump sometimes and mines goes away, only to come back later. If no headers check your manifold gaskets.

And like said earlier post up some videos and I'm sure it can be better diagnosed.

DarkCharisma

Here's a vid. Today it got real bad. Still no decrease in power that I can perceive .... Kind of thinking maybe I have a bad plug, wire or coil pack though. No SES lights, but I think I am going to replace them all and see if that helps.

On that note, what's OE for the LS6 ?

Bowtie70SS

iTrader: (10)

Sounds like a exhaust leak to me check ur header bolts.

jmargo

iTrader: (10)

You really need to pull off that engine cover to help pinpoint the sound.

DarkCharisma

Will, check, thanks.


Will pull it off and record another video, thanks for the tip.

07CTS-V

iTrader: (6)

1. Look for evidence of an exhaust leak around the header gaskets. Use good lighting and a mirror. If there is a leak you will see black soot.
2. Replace plugs and listen again.
3. Swap coil packs to the other side of the motor. Listen to see if the noise follows to the passenger side.
4. Seap wires to the other side. Listen to see if it follows.

5. If those fail to change it, pull the valve cover and see if any rocker arms pull off the valve stems. You will have to rotate the crank to put individual lifters on the base circle of the cam to check each one.

Bowtie70SS

iTrader: (10)

Just retorque all your header to cylinder head bolts and your collector bolts and see if it stops

RADEoN

iTrader: (12)

might as well pull the valve cover while he's swapping coil pack locations.

DarkCharisma

I replaced plugs and wires.... Ticking seems to have gone away.

07CTS-V

iTrader: (6)

I think you should have rebuilt it for $2000. Haha. Glad it was only plugs.