Rev'ing then Ticking.....
 

Hey guys, new the board. I searched and searched and can't find anyone with the exact same story.

So, two weeks ago a buddy and I were coming back from a party and decided to do alittle stop-sign action in the middle of nowhere. He was on his warmed over GL1100 and I was in my '99 Z28 (T-56).

Anyway when I launched I had zero traction and rev'd the motor little higher than I meant to. I didn't hit the rev limiter, but don't know how high it went either. He hooked and dusted me.

Two seconds later I could hear a ticking noice from under the hood. I drove home 5 miles away and parked it until today. Its just a weekend only car.

When started cold the tick doesn't seem to be there, or at least not very loud. Soon as the car warms up, the ticking noise is clearly present. It seems to be coming from the driverside bank, around #1 cylinder. We checked the spark plugs/wires, removed the belt, etc. We have not removed the valve cover(s) as yet. The oil was changed less than 200 and 1 month ago with Chevron oil/filter.

One buddy thinks I might of broke and/or bent something with the rev stunt.

Another buddy seems to think it could be a sticky lifter due to some trash in the oil or from sitting for weeks at a time. He also suggests running some of the 'engine flush' stuff you add to the oil before changing it. However, he also admits he doesn't know GEN III's compared to the earlier GEN I/II's.

The car has 80,000 miles, 3" exhaust, SLP lid/MAF, LS6 intake, 3.73 gears, and a K&N filter.

At this point I am lost and seriously considering taking it to the dealer to figure out what the problem could be.

Any thoughts before blowing money at the dealer? Any help is welcomed and thanked in advance.

It could be a spun rod bearing, mine happen last saturday, Could be a rocker arm, i would pull the valve covers and check to see if anythings there, if not, its deeper, good luck.

prolly a bent push rod.

eather that or you have en exhaust leak...like part of the gasket is gone on the exhaust manifold....happened to me

probably an exhaust leak, who knows

Pull the valve cover, check the pushrods. With 70K miles, you springs are likely pretty weak.

Well we got it apart, bent pushrod.....

10238852 and $12 for a new one.

Thanks!!

might as well get chromoly. it can only happen again.

Best to use stock pushrods on a stock valvetrain. Every time you bend a pushrod instead of a valve, youve gotten lucky. Hardened pushrods eliminate any chance of getting lucky again. Upgrade your valvesprings and its a different story.

I agree with keeping stock PR's in a stock engine..

Got it all back together, runs great again.

I was serously considering a larger cam before this happened and since my stock valve springs are alittle soft anyway, this seems like the perfect excuse to do the cam swap w/new springs.

Any recommendations for a larger, but still streetable and Cali SMOG'able cam?

This may be a stupid question but, what would happen if the engine was started with a valve cover removed? Does the oil sqirt all over the rocker assembly or does it ooze over it? Would it be a mess?

I think as long as you don't rev it, it shouldnt get all over.

Just splatter at idle level RPMs. Rev it some and you'll be wearing some oil. ;)

you will have one hell of a mess and its kinda hard to run without the coil packs on and spark plug wires hooked up. :D

I had that same problem with pushrods.... Kinda funny but everyone kept telling me it was piston slap. switched to comp hi-tech pushrods and haven't had a problem.

What he said. The oil flows up the pushrod and spits out the hole in the rocker. You can get away with simply not having the valve covers bolted in and cracking it open about an inch or two, which should mostly contain the oil. Just wants that the valve cover bolts are removed so they dont accidentally hit up against a rocker or spring.