Tapping Sound from Passenger Side Head?
Tapping Sound from Passenger Side Head? I have been working out the bugs on my turbo install for a while now, but this is something new. The turbos are passing
oil through the intake side. I haven't determined if they are not getting scavenged properly or if they (or just one) are bad and need to be rebuilt. Either way, they (or something else) is causing oiling and cooling issues with the motor. Even after checking the thermo and having the cooling system flushed and vacuumed, it still gets up a little over 210 degrees after being driven for a bit and warming up and stays there. Around the same time that starts to occur, the oil pressure begins to drop and it sits at about 5 psi or so at idle. It is at this time only when this tapping sound begins. It's coming from the top passenger side of the motor somewhere. At first I thought it might be the alternator or relocation bracket or the water pump, but it really sounds like it's coming from somewhere inside the head itself. If the car is turned off for a good while and allowed to cool off, the sound goes away and everything seems normal. When it gets warmed up again, all these same old symptoms come back. The oil was just changed and the level still looks good on that as well so I'm at a loss as to what to do now. I need to know if this is a sign that some potentially serious, permanent damage has been done to the motor, or if it's just and oil starvation or overheating issue that will go away when the source of the problem is discovered and fixed. Here is a video I took to try and give you all a good idea of what it sounds like and where it sounds like it's coming from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKUtS...e_gdata_player
oil through the intake side. I haven't determined if they are not getting scavenged properly or if they (or just one) are bad and need to be rebuilt. Either way, they (or something else) is causing oiling and cooling issues with the motor. Even after checking the thermo and having the cooling system flushed and vacuumed, it still gets up a little over 210 degrees after being driven for a bit and warming up and stays there. Around the same time that starts to occur, the oil pressure begins to drop and it sits at about 5 psi or so at idle. It is at this time only when this tapping sound begins. It's coming from the top passenger side of the motor somewhere. At first I thought it might be the alternator or relocation bracket or the water pump, but it really sounds like it's coming from somewhere inside the head itself. If the car is turned off for a good while and allowed to cool off, the sound goes away and everything seems normal. When it gets warmed up again, all these same old symptoms come back. The oil was just changed and the level still looks good on that as well so I'm at a loss as to what to do now. I need to know if this is a sign that some potentially serious, permanent damage has been done to the motor, or if it's just and oil starvation or overheating issue that will go away when the source of the problem is discovered and fixed. Here is a video I took to try and give you all a good idea of what it sounds like and where it sounds like it's coming from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKUtS...e_gdata_player
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From: Euless Tx
Man, that kinda sounds like a pushrod is hitting the valve cover. This may be a dumb question, but if you put your hand on top of the valve cover, can you feel it hitting? May be a shot in the dark, but give it a try. It could also be a sticky lifter since you are having an oil issue. I could be completely wrong though.
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From: Euless Tx
No, if it's a pushrod then your block will not be ruined. In fact, pray that it is just a pushrod. I can say from experience that the one time this has happened to me, it turned out to be a lifter. (It would only start tapping when it was warmed up) but once it started, it was a constant tick, unlike yours. That's why I was saying it could also be a sticky lifter. First thing I would do is pull the valve covers and go from there. Good luck
I just went out and started it up and it wasn't doing it at all. Like I said, it only does it after it gets pretty hot and the oil pressure starts to drop. I'm thinking maybe my fans aren't coming on, or at least not coming on when they are supposed to, but how can I tell from up top if they are or aren't? I cant really see them and the belts are in the way to try and reach my hand down there. Does this kind of thing normally happen when a motor starts to get too hot or starved for oil? I would think that it would be doing it in more or different places if that was the case though but it's always from that same spot.
Last edited by bluebird71; Sep 5, 2010 at 01:46 PM.
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From: Euless Tx
Yeah, if it was a bent pushrod then it would be doing it the whole time it was running. If it was a pushrod hitting the valve cover, then you would also have a rocker loose so it probably isn't either one of those things. My guess would be a lifter then. If they aren't getting enough oil like you said, then they aren't pumping up. Could be a lot of different things. Maybe your oil pump is on it's way out?? Not sure man, maybe someone else will chime in.
When you say that once your lifter started tapping, it was constant, did you mean from then on no matter how long the engine cooled or sat that it did it even on the next startup or did you mean for the duration that the motor ran during that session? Mine doesn't stop until the motor sits for a long while and totally cools down.
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From: Euless Tx
No, when mine was just started after sitting for a while it wouldn't make a tapping sound. Sometimes it would take up to 5-10 minutes before it would start tapping but then it wouldn't stop. Once I shut it down and let it sit over night I could start it and it wouldn't make a sound. Once it warmed up, it would start tapping again.
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From: Euless Tx
Hmmmm. Probably would be from start up. I just listened to it again, and if I were you I would start by pulling the valve covers. It really sounds like it's coming from right underneath them. Rule that out first and go from there.
ive got the same thing in my 02 TA sounds like hell, way louder than your ticking though. it shakes the whole engine but it drives fine. its more of a pinging sound, cant really explain it without you hearing it.
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From: Euless Tx
no ill try and take one tonight and post it.....it drove fine the other day, drove it hard thursday night but no noise, then friday morning i started it up and clank clank clank. i thought it was my headers rattling up against the underside of car but i jacked up the car and looked and it wasnt anything. It then proceeded to get worse than it was when i first started. take a hammer hit it on a piece of 1/4 inch steel thats what it sounds like.
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From: Euless Tx
are we fixing ls1's or mustangs? cant say ive ever seen an ls1 car held together with duct tape and water hose. I have seen a few stangs covered in the stuff though!
What kind of rocker arms are on the engine? stock factory? or some sort of upgrade factory/aftermarket arm? When my factory rocker arm failed the sound was similar, but more rythmic, if that makes sense. Either way pulling the valve cover is a pretty easy deal and if it was something obvious like a rocker arm being loose or hitting the valve cover it would be right there to see.
Chris
Chris