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Seafoam in oil

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Old Feb 17, 2012 | 04:49 PM
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Jimmy WS6's Avatar
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Default Seafoam in oil

I have a 2000 trans am ws6 and when I start it cold, it makes a knocking sound for about 5 or 10 minutes until its warmed up. I heard a lot of ls1's do it and that I shouldn't be too worried, I was also told that it is lifter tick. Would gunk build up cause this? Would seafoam in my oil help the problem? I hate that it knocks like it does.
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Old Feb 17, 2012 | 04:55 PM
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They call that piston slap. I refused to buy a car that had it going on regardless of how common it is. Mine doesn't do it.

If you use Seafoam, don't drive around with that **** in there, it's meant to be a cleaner, not an additive, afaik.

I've heard of some people using that Lucas stuff though, sounded like it worked well but there are always people that don't like something.
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Old Feb 17, 2012 | 04:55 PM
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Seafoam probably won't help the knock. The knock is most likely piston slap which is common in LS1's
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Old Feb 18, 2012 | 02:19 AM
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Mine did it since the day I bought it off the showroom floor, but it only lasted a couple minutes till it stopped. I think what causes it is in the valvetrain, either the lifters or incorrect size pushrods. When the system is pressurized and everything gets filled with oil the sound stops. After my H/C build last summer it no longer does this, I put in LS7 lifters and was very careful measuring for pushrod length.
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Old Feb 18, 2012 | 11:54 AM
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thanks guys.
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Old Feb 18, 2012 | 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by sepsis
They call that piston slap. I refused to buy a car that had it going on regardless of how common it is. Mine doesn't do it.

If you use Seafoam, don't drive around with that **** in there, it's meant to be a cleaner, not an additive, afaik.

I've heard of some people using that Lucas stuff though, sounded like it worked well but there are always people that don't like something.
Originally Posted by egott_91
Seafoam probably won't help the knock. The knock is most likely piston slap which is common in LS1's
piston slap is very common on LS engines but so is lifter tick.... and yes you can hear the difference!

If it is lifter tick then seafoam may or may not help... it didnt help me... put in like half of a can and drive the car for a MAX of 500 miles... if it doesnt help then the only fix will be replacing lifters....

if it happens to be piston slap the only fix is prretty much to pull the engine apart and rebuild with new pistons!
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