Hello! First time posting so bear with me.

Ive been on every forum, everything thread, everything trying to figure out the source of my ticking.

Now I know my truck doesn’t have an LS1 in it but I’ve seen this community is extremely helpful and was hoping for some insight.

LQ9
273 Heads
Z06 Springs
Texas Speed Stage 2 truck cam
LS7 Lifters
Trick Flow 7.425 Pushrods part #TFS-21407425
Trailblzer SS Intake
Bigger injectors (forgot what they are sorry)
Pace Setter LT’s w/ full 3.5 inch exhaust

Im in the military and I got stationed out in Phoenix so I bought this truck off an extremely great family friend who gave me a killer deal and was extremely helpful.

I bought the truck and I noticed it had a slight tick. No big deal took it back to him and we replaced driver side rocker arms (all 8) with 8 other OE style from a different LS (4.8) that didn’t tick. It seemed to had gone away until the next moring I started it and I heard a slight tick for a second but it went away. I get to driving and it returns . Okay again not too upset as this is what happens with aftermarket parts in an LS. I drive the truck 2,200 miles from Florida to Phoenix and I had a hiccup on the way here. I noticed that it was dripping oil from the bellhousing (not a lot but more than is acceptable) so I was like “okay well rear main seal”. Get here and it immediately stops leaking. Haven’t had to put oil in it since (which I had to put in 1/4 quart every 100 miles on the way here, yes which I know is a lot).

The ticking hasn’t gone away, but it hasn’t gotten worse.
I do some research and all signs point to lifters. Again I’m not too worried, it’s a Chevy. I replace the lifters with LS7 Lifters and LS2 trays, (all lifters looked okay besides some normal wear and the cam looked good too, just normal wear. No pitting, scratching, or anything to be worried about) fire it up and it still ticks. I let it run for 15 minutes to see if the noise would disappear and it did not. What’s super strange is that I don’t hear ANY noise at idle but anywhere from 1,500 RPM to about 3,500RPM (where the exhaust gets louder than the sound) it’s extremely loud. Like possessed sewing machine wielding a knife mad sounding. But it doesn’t go away when warm. Cold, warm, doesn’t matter. Same noise, same RPM range. Different oils doesn’t matter. When coming over a crest with cruise control on in 4th gear the engine is still at 2,000 rpm but the exhaust isn’t louder than it so I can clearly hear it, but if I give it a little gas to have the engine “catch up” to the speed of the tranny and everything else, the sound can’t be heard.

So at this point I’m disappointed. I’m still researching and come across lifter preload. Aha! My answer! Or so I thought it would be. Got a comp cams checker, and lo and behold I’m running stock 7.4 and it says I need 7.425! I go overnight some trick flow pushrods, slap them in, and fire it up. And the same. Exact. Noise. (I should mention now that I have replaced the starter because the bendix did go bad, but it didn’t help with the noise. I didn’t have a lift at the time so the mechanic I took it to said the TC bolts are also tight because that’s what I originally thought it was)

At this point I’m ripping out my hair. It seems nothing I do helps. I’ve run (all Mobil 1) 5w30 synthetic, 5w30 synthetic with synthetic lucas oil stabilizer, 10w30, 10w40. The noise does quiet down EVER so slightly when going from 5w30 to 10w40. Cold has 80psi, warm I sit idling at 45 and cruising at 55-60psi. I read on here that it could possibly be the oil pickup tube o ring causing air to get into the oil, but Ives never gotten below 40psi (but my needle does fluctuate a good 10-15psi when cruising at a steady rpm). All my rockers are tightened to 22 lb-ft. They don’t wiggle up and down but there’s no guidelines on how much side to side movement they can have and I don’t know what’s too much, because they all do wiggle, but not a tremendous amount (or what I would think not to be too much.)

The only hope I have left is upgrading to roller rockers, but I’ve heard that sometimes that makes it louder.

Thanks so so much I’m advance.

 

When you did your length check did you add in for the preload of the lifter?

 

Yes Jgaines8679, I double checked everything. I don’t think it’s an exhaust leak either I used MLS header gaskets after I put the heads back on.

 

Do you have a stethoscope or long tubing you can use to try and pinpoint the source of the noise? Sometimes an exhaust leak right at the head can tick and sound like valvetrain noise.

 

s30.hybrid I’ve checked and triple checked. I’m at a complete loss. I know LS motors are undeniably noisy but this isn’t an acceptable amount of noise IMO. If it was a small tick I would just shrug because of the amount of aftermarket parts, but it’s sometimes louder than the exhaust and the sub in the truck combined!

 

You only replaced 8 rockers? Well if it's a bad rocker, that's only a 50% chance you would have found it. If you didn't throw out the old ones, you could put them in to replace the other 8 and see what that does.

 

What kind of fuel do you run? Could it be spark knock you can hear through the headers?

 

Pat, I only replaced driver side because that’s where I thought it was coming from. No change.

And jgaines, I use 89 or 91 depends on how I’m feeling

 

heres a sound clip I took, not the best but it gives you an idea

 

Has it been tuned? Almost sounds like spark knock, but then again, rare at idle unless you're putting stupid amounts of advance in. Try some 93 (if you can) or some octane booster. I'd have to pull the specs on the cam, but often they add more compression into the mix, since that's where the power comes from at the end of the day. With added compression comes the need to adjust some things, primarily spark advance. I always have to pull timing somewhere off the stock table when going to bigger cams. Pretty typical.

You could also try some seafoam too, to clean up the lifters, could have a weak one in there.

I second the tubing/stethoscope for narrowing down where the noise is coming from too. Even a broom stick works, but a pipe works better.

Unfortunately with moving parts, could be a number of things. Valve train is usually #1, followed by pistons (slap), wirstpins, and even crank end play, which should be under .007", but I've heard of it being as high as .020" with no noise, fuel type (spark knock) so forth.

With the knock, again, unlikely at idle, but definitely something you would hear while diving (stock exhaust at least lol), especially between 2-4k rpm, when compression (not physically, just more air in there to squeeze) is changing from cylinder fill (VE) in theory. Spark usually climbs up through this range to increase power and torque, but then must be pulled back out as flow increases, then eventually added back in towards WOT. Spark is always highest in the mid range rpm band on most tunes, stock included. You would definitely hear it there if you were getting large amouts, or when stabbing the gas quicky, you will hear a rattling noise similar to shaking a can full of bbs.

Easiest way to check is look at your spark plugs. If they are not tan colored, then there is something wrong with your fueling or advance, or mechanical problems (oil leaks). Too white means they are getting hot from running lean or knocking (which also increases heat), too dark means too rich, wet is a oil leak, pitting or metal present indicates LOTS of knock. That's melted bits of piston on them at that point.

Not sure if this was helpful or not. At the end of the day though, if it's running strong, might just have to turn up the radio lol.

 

I can't tell anything from the video.

Listening with a stethoscope, could it be a fuel injector ticking or exhaust leak around the exhaust manifold /header gasket or other exhaust area? Sometimes air check valves can tick if your truck has them from what I recall.

 

Maybe you should try to pull your serpentine belt and see if it's the idler pulley bearing ticking I've had that happen before. It would be one thing to eliminate.

 

Do the CHE or Smith Brothers bushing up grade to your rockers. It is reported these will help with the "Sewing Machine" noise.

 

ChopperDoc, when I pulled the heads all the spark plugs were tan. No carbon on the pistons or anything (the original 4.8 that was in this truck the block had cracked so I built this 6.0 up and put all new bearings in the bottom end (main, rods, cams. ARP headstuds, whole 9 yards.) Its been "tuned" with an HPTuner. EGR delete, rear O2 sensors delete. No CEL and truck runs strong. It runs off the O2 sensors so it isn't running off a base map and it only has mild timing (like a couple degrees advanced nothing major at all). I'm gonna take the belt off later today and see what happens. I also ordered another muffler that's the same one I have on the truck (and run a true dual) to eliminate as many connections as possible. Now that I think of it that mid pipe doesn't slide in to the "Y" pipe, they're just kinda butted together and clamped. I don't think that could cause a ticking noise?? could it? It has no ticking or knocking at all at idle, but gets louder as you accelerate, or give it gas. It does it all the time in park, neutral, or drive. Does that sound like an exhaust leak? I mean I'm super happy with the performance, I walk stangs all the time LOL, just that dang tick! It sounds like a diesel and it just sounds like somethings about to break! Sounds like metal on metal ticking is why I thought it was either flexplate/TC or valvetrain. Thanks for all the useful info aswell.

Also I see you said that cams add more compression and I should aslo mention I'm running flat top LQ9 pistons, not the dished LQ4 pistons. So I do have more compression than a normal 6.0

 

I can't hear anything of concern in the video. I did kinda hear what might be a little piston slap or rod knock. I didn't hear tapping/ticking. Videos are always tricky though.

Try unplugging one coil at a time or one injector at a time to see if you can get the noise to change or stop. If so it's in the bottom end. I would unplug the injectors one at a time myself.

 

^^^ Yes this too.

 

00pooterSS Ill do that today. I'm gonna take the pan off this weekend regardless to change the pickup tube o-ring. Gonna inspect the rods and see if any are bad and have play. really hoping not. I had a 2000 Lincoln LS V8 and that spun a rod bearing and this sound that my truck is making is WAY different than that sound. This is more of a hollow tap rather than a solid clunking. and it seems faster than the crank is spinning. no loss in power/misfire/CEL. the sound doesn't happen at idle, only when revving. theres no timing being redarded that I can see using a scan tool. it has great oil pressure too. ill keep it posted. My question is if it was bottom end after a cross country trek and putting more than 3,500 miles on the truck in a month, it would have gotten worse, dropped oil pressure, etc, no? The noise hasn't gotten louder or quieter this entire time, and I've never lost oil pressure.

also there was no metal shavings in the filter or on the magnet on the drain plug, didn't smell/look burnt, etc. Gonna see a culprit when I pull the pan regardless and that will either give me a big sigh of relief or someone's rebuilding a 6.0 ( I do have an oil leak somewhere though I think it might be the pan gasket. when the pan comes off I'm gonna take a look at the the flexplate and if she's wet then out comes the tranny to replace the rear main even tho it was just replaced 10k miles ago.

 

Check your wrist pins. Those knock or "tick" at the same rate a lifter does, 2x faster than the crank. Even a little wear will make a lot of noise, and it is obviously very connected to RPM as described. Had an LS1 do that once. Definitely sounds like a lifter, but no one wants to ever think it's something worse, like a wrist pin. Hopefully for you that's not the case. Thoughts and prayers brother. Good luck.

 

Do the test on your plugs/injectors first though. The noise might not completely go away if it is a wrist pin or something else on the bottom end, but it will certainly change. Also, wrist pins are really loud even at idle. Piston is banging up and down making lots of noise. From the video, I think we would of heard it.

 

Yeah, it’s almost dead quiet at idle. Like no noise at all other than typical engine noise. As soon as you Rev it
up is when the ticking starts