Well when im driving and the hotter the car gets the louder it becomes is a ticking noise. Its very easily noticable especially when hot meaning the motor. I think its coming from the center front by the passenger side. The motor runs smooth when i pop the hood open i hear nothing out of the ordinary i had a guy rev it a few times and cant hear anything coming from the motor that is not normal. I know our cars have valvetrain noise but this is much much louder especially lower rpms when you put load on the motor.

I spoke to the prior owner who is a mechanic at audi and said he never heard it and if there is some its normal for these cars but this is much louder then normal. I asked him if he had an exhaust system put on the car, since the rear bushings show signs of the exhaust system going right to left not fitting properly and cutting the bushing hole bigger which in turn causes the back tips and muffler to go right to left too much, meaning too much play.

He said he had a SLP exhaust system on the car he pulled off before putting it on the lot for sale. It doesnt sound like a broken valve spring because it would be louder and the motor would probably run like crap. The motor runs smooth builds revs easily and car idls fine no shakes or anything from the motor at all. I made an appointment at my local dealer for this saturday to have it looked at.

One more thing i wanted to add that i didnt realize but it was doing. If your at a stop car in nuetral and you rev it a bit, as the rpms drop down you here a slight rattle or seems like a bolt loose or something, metal rattling underneath the car at the center or front. Sorry guys im trying to be as specific as possible and apologize for the long story.

 

Could be a couple things, I'm not real tech savvy with engine internals, I was just browsing the section, so not sure if this will help at all.

Could be piston slap, but usually IIRC that is an issue when the engine is cold and lessens once it warms up.

Could be a lifter issue, my Taurus has a slight lifter tick

There are most likely other causes but those are the 2 that come to my mind. If the exhaust was modified, heck even if it wasn't, you may also be hearing an exhaust leak, that can make a ticking sound.

I put ARH LT's and ORY mated to a Borla catback on my car and after the initial drive home I noticed a ticking sound. It worried me (thought maybe I had hurt a lifter or something) so I went to my mechanic and he stethoscoped it and didn't hear anything wrong, put it on a lift and did it again and he said the noise was comming from somewhere on the passenger side in the header area. He had no idea what it could be though. From what I've gathered it's either a tiny leak, or someone else told me that he knows guys that have that issue after installing headers and he said it may be detonation you're hearing because the header steel is usually thinner than stock exhaust manifolds.

You could try sending your PCM to Frost for a mail tune and see if maybe that could take care of it. I believe a Frost mail tune runs $150.

 

Sounds like a lifter bur a video would help. When you rev the motor does it tick faster?

 

Try to figure out what side its ticking on or maybe both. Then pull off the valve cover check all the rocker arms make sure they are tight and take out the pushrods and roll them on a flat surface and make sure they are flat. If all checks out there its time to check the lifters. You would need to remove the heads to get to the lifters.

 

I honestly cant say it ticks faster for some odd reason and i should've been paying attention i havent to see if it gets faster or stays constant. I did a vid of it on my phone but i doubt very much if it will be good enough to hear it but ill try to post it very shortly

 

I dont have an exhaust system even though in the vid it might sound that way. I can only get on the throttle for a couple of seconds due to traffic and i was holding up cars behind me so i can make distance in front to kinda gas it a little. Its very slight ticking noise in the vid but you can definitly hear it in the car no doubt. From what i can tell it seems like it gets faster as i apply more throttle, also when you get past 4k rpms it drowns out by probably engine noise or exhaust because i cant hear it after that.

 

I took it to a reputable exhaust shop and all he can tell me after the test drive was that it could be an exhaust leak since the exhaust gets warmer the leak gets worse because the opening expands. He goes if its motor you would notice your motor atleast running rough and wont build rpms smoothly. So im not really sure. Either way i made the appt. at the dealer for this saturday. The problem doesnt get worse and isnt causing any issues as far as drivability. I have a powertrain warranty so if its motor i should be ok, i hope lol.

 

Any notice in performance lose?

 

The exhaust leak would make a poping noise. Check the exhaust while running if you can hear it or feel the air coming out. Easy way to check exhaust leaks yes this a good way get a fog machine turn it on in your grage door closed then once it fills up open grage start car and you can see where it is at. But thats the hard way. I cant tell from the vid

 

nope not at all it pull hard up top, it did this from day one of buying it. When i test drove it, it was very slight hardly can tell since it was cold. Figured it was normal since our cars have valvetrain noise. When i was driving it home it got worse the ticking noise. The car to me pull harder then my full bolt on camaro for sure. Revs very smoothly and quick. The only thing i can tell because i havent driven an LS6 car before just my camaro feels like it has better throttle response and more torque bottom end this car feels like it has less torque in the lower rpms. Maybe im just expecting more from the motor at lower rpms.

 

I'd say either a exhaust leak and/or the exhaust or something it's touching is making the noise.

 

Thats another vid on the highway, skip to 25sec. I should also say it only does this when there is load on the motor. It wont make a ticking noise or i should say hardly make any noise when your in nuetral reving it at a stop or on the highway, not sure if that helps or not either.

 

I've heard exhaust leaks sound just like a lifter. It's kind of weird like that.

 

I still think it's exhaust related, leak or loose(including the heat shields).

 

im leaning towards lifter since it gets worse as the motor warms up and exhaust leaks from what i know get better when the exhaust gets warm. Not sure but i should find out saturday i think. What i need to do and if i had the time or a lift is just get underneath the car and see whats going on.

 

Its just odd, if you look at the carfax anything thats gone wrong with the car fixed at a dealer and all maintenance is done on the car to a T. The person who had it before me was a mechanic at audi and actually wanted to personally speak to me when i called in regards of this issue, which is rare because the mechanics i know at the dealer i workedd at avoid customers like the plague. I asked him did you hear a ticking noise kinda loud he stated no, but LS motors have some Valvetrain noise but not the loud i was talking about.

I asked if he had an exhaut on it before he said yes and took it off right before putting it on the lot for sale, SLP catback. Which makes me think, ok this guy was a mechanic(not someone there that does oil changes or tire rotations) took pretty good care of his car from what it looks like and carfax, so im sure he wouldve addressed the issue right away since its noticable, also him having an exhaust swapping it out and stuff could possibly have not tighten something or put it back together wrong or through heat cycles the nuts or bolts loosend.

Who really knows im gonna go on my lunch break see if i can pay a local mechanic 20-40 bucks and use his lift just to look underneath the car. I hate it when my car doesnt run right and i gotta fix it, makes me feel like im neglecting the car and can care less if it blows up. Ill see what i can do on my lunch if its possible.

 

well i go to the mechanic, the damn lift is not low enough. Off by 3 inches, lol.

 

That ill do it good luck

 

went to the chevy dealer i use to work at and we put the car on the lift. Found out a couple of things the clanking noise from the rear is the endlinks out back, it has a MSD starter that might be clearing the headers by a milimeter or two lol. It doesnt have gaskets were the rear TI exhaust connects with 3 bolts to the H pipe. The bolts from the headers to the Hpipe seem like the threads are messed up and thinks it could be leaking from there, since it looked to him a couple of the bolts were not stock. When we drove the car he was pretty sure its an exhaust leak and not lifters or valvetrain. I do admit after him attempting to tighten the bolts the sound got a tad worse. I ordered all new bolts, gaskets, endlinks so to take care of all that before i start modding. Im still gonna go to the other dealership to have them check the motor just in case. Since i have warranty why not to be on the safe side.

 

Hey so did you ever find out what the noise is I have a similar issue and I have after market headers as well. I cant view your videos cause they are private and Id like to hear if your car sounds the same as mine. But like u said noise gets louder as engine gets warmer and pulls hard like the day I bought it mechanic plugged up his computer and ran it down the road said he didnt get any misfire codes only o2 sensor codes but thats not the issue. Thinking about working with my mechanic to pull out the rods sounds driving me insane. Didnt make the noise till a month or so after installing headers which I did myself and was a pain cause I dont have a lift.