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I have a 2001 Camaro Z28. The car has 88,000 miles in it, but in the last 15 years, it has only been driven between 10,000-15,000 miles. Does the motor sound like it has an issue? No power loss, and is seems to disappear with RPM. That or its just too hard to tell if its still there.
It sounds like lifter tick to me, which a car can often live with for a long time without a big disaster taking place. Was this taken with the car fully warmed up? And if not, does the noise get quieter as the car warms up?
This was taken when the car was still cold, but the noise doesn't change at all when it warms up. I think I recall reading somewhere that using marvel mystery oil or ATF can sometimes "unclog" the lifters, but I'm not sure as to how much truth is behind that. Do you have any experience with that?
Have you owned the car over those 15 years or is it new to you? If you're going to drive infrequently as it has been, I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, I wouldn't worry about it much at in any case. Some of these cars just seem to have a noisy valvetrain. My M6 car has a noisy valvetrain, but very little piston slap, while my A4 car has bad piston slap when cold but a fairly quiet valvetrain. Both of them have continued to run great, 11 years for the M6 and 17 for the A4.
I've heard of the ATF/Marvel Mystery Oil tricks, but I've never used any of them. I know some guys swear by that kind of stuff. But I would be concerned about doing more damage using snake oil than the problems you are seeking to fix. Those are not approved lubricants for your motor.
History of the car: My dad bought the car in 2004 with like 72,000 miles on it (I think), and currently the car has around 88,000 miles. Now that I am the owner of the car, I plan to drive it a lot more than 1,000 miles a year.
Soon I plan to freshen up the motor with a cam, and all supporting mods, so maybe i'll look at doing lifters as well. I was just curious as to if this sound is normal, harming the motor, or what have you.
Sounds like a plan. If you're going to do all that, then that would be the time, especially since the heads have to come off to swap the lifters. But you can watch how it sounds and runs in the meantime, and then decide what you want to do.
My ls1 sounded like that for a while. Soon it got louder and louder. Pulled motor for ls3 swap at 95k miles and found the lifter tray cracked causing a rear lifter to twist (not good, roller lifter). Ruined lobe on cam too. Buddy has motor now, rebuilding/refreshing w mild cam. No significant internal damage.
From: Poway, Ca. where GOD and the sun always shines
Sara (2001 Z28) has 55K original miles on her, we drive the highway of life once a month. Upon startup she has the same tick (which we belive is piston slap), which goes away when she is fully warm.
I would do a seafoam (into the intake or brake vacuum line) cleaning then change the oil with pure synthetic oil. see if it quiets down after 50 miles.
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Normal LS1 noise or do I have a problem? 
