Ticking, Possibly lifter, Need assistance
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TECH Apprentice
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From: Junction City, Kansas
Ticking, Possibly lifter, Need assistance I just installed some headers and exhaust on my wife's 01 trans am WS6 this past weekend. Other than a small leak where the collectors attache to the high flow cats everything seemed good. Yesterday it started ticking and I was thinking it was an exhaust leak. So I took it to an exhaust shop today and put it up on a lift to have it fixed. The ticking isn't from the exhaust. It is high up on the passenger side. I am thinking either a loose rocker or a bad lifter. The ticking is getting louder and frequency increases with rpm. It drowns out from the TSP exhaust when more throttle is added. What are the signs of lifter failure? Turned lifter? Collapsed lifter? The engine operation doesn't seem to have changed other than the loud and annoying ticking.
I am thinking that I should check for metallics in the oil first, then pull the coil packs and valve cover and turn it over without the coil packs plugged in to try and identify the cyclinder location. From there all I can think of is to check the rockers. After that it the head probably has to come off so I can check the lifters but I am not sure what to look for besides a turned lifter.
Mods on the car are OBX headers, TSP rumbler cat back, and SLP lid. Car has about 53k miles on it and doesn't get driven hard. I did however get on it a couple days ago for about 75 yards. Any thoughts?
I am thinking that I should check for metallics in the oil first, then pull the coil packs and valve cover and turn it over without the coil packs plugged in to try and identify the cyclinder location. From there all I can think of is to check the rockers. After that it the head probably has to come off so I can check the lifters but I am not sure what to look for besides a turned lifter.
Mods on the car are OBX headers, TSP rumbler cat back, and SLP lid. Car has about 53k miles on it and doesn't get driven hard. I did however get on it a couple days ago for about 75 yards. Any thoughts?
An exhaust leak at the head will sound just like a ticking noise. If you have done nothing else besides a header install I would be looking at that first. It's not that uncommon after putting on headers and the noise it makes is very similar to the ticking you describe.
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
iTrader: (15)
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 399
Likes: 0
From: Junction City, Kansas
I was getting ready to pull the valve cover off and check stuff and noticed the back spark plug wire kinda wobbly. So i popped off the wire and the plug was loose. I tightened it up and everything was good. A simple fix that sounded a lot worse than it was.
