1SlowZo

Well I started hearing a loud ticking noise coming from what sounded like in the head last night after driving it a little hard (no overrevving though). The best way I can explain the noise is it sounds like a LOUD typewriter above 1500 rpm's and only at part throttle and when I let off the throttle (this is not just the normal noisy valvetrain). It DOES NOT make the sound at idle or at close to full throttle. There is no smoke and the car drives/idles as it did before.

Things I've done already:

Took the valve covers off and looked over everything (I only unbolted 3 rocker arms and checked the 3 corresponding pushrods, they were fine). Everything looked normal. Checked all the rocker bolts to make sure they were tight and they were, nothing was broken off and all the springs looked fine.

Next, I drained the oil and it only had 3 quarts in the car!! I bought the car 3 months ago and thought that the oil level sensor was not working because I would check the dipstick and it was always in the range it should be. However, after reevaluating the dipstick it seemed as though built up oil in the dip stick tube was making it appear that way b/c I would only take the stick out once, wipe, then dip it and check it. Today w/ the oil drained it said I had oil in range on the dip stick!!! So I actually had to stick the dipstick in and take out and wipe around 3 times to get an accurate reading ( I assume by then all the oil was out of the tube).

SO, it does appear the sensor was working correctly and I've been driving on low oil for a while.

Filled up the car with 7 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic oil.

Took off the lower oil pan (aka the batwing) and noticed some metal shavings in it. I have around 50k miles on the motor and it has never had a magnetic oil pan plug. There isn't a whole bunch of metal shavings but there is some.

Here's a picture to go with it, the red is just the casting of the pan that looks like shavings but they aren't. The green circles indicate the metal shavings.
http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oilpan1vc6.jpg

Now my questions:

What do yall think of the noise? What other things can I check? I've been told it could be rod knock, slipped bearing, etc...

I don't think it could be rod knock b/c I've read that rod knock is all the time and this noise isn't. I also don't think I slipped a bearing as my oil pressure is still normal (~40psi)

Thanks guys.

z28berryhill

iTrader: (26)

i think you should eleminate the prob and trade me my 98 ls1 camaro lol but really

Daryn

iTrader: (19)

all i can think of is maybe a lifter problem?... take all of your rockers off and makesur eit isnt a bent pushrod or bad rocker ( check the rockers bearing sidexside and up and down)

1SlowZo

how exactly do you check the bearings? i could move the rockers slightly side to side while still bolted down.

GMmexican

iTrader: (7)

check to make sure your spark plugs/wires arent loose..... my car was making a weird ticking noise and i found out the spark plug in cylinder #1 was loose.......all i did was retighten it and the ticking went away

and make sure your using premium fuel

Daryn

iTrader: (19)

if they all feel the same then theres nothign wrong with them
make sure they have no cracks in them also!

Psychopjv

iTrader: (16)

if you ran the car low on oil the lifters are going to become noisy. have you tried filling it up to the proper amount and running it? no oil = lifters won't pump up. sounds like a lifter issue to me.

1SlowZo

Yes i've since filled the car w/ 7 quarts of mobil 1 synthetic and it is still making the noise. I only drove it around the block once though. Do you think I need to do more driving to see if the ticking goes away?

1SlowZo

anyone have any ideas?

Shawn MacAnanny

iTrader: (12)

When i broke a valve spring on my 01 it sounded similar to that. I took my valve covers off couldnt find it had to have the engine running to see it. Try adding some CD2 oil additive (sell it at wal-mart, yellow bottle) this will make lifter noise go away if that is infact the problem. I had a TT 3000gt DOHC with about 190k miles and man was it's valvetrain noisey. Added that and it halfed the noise. I dont meant to use it as a fix, just as an elmination tool.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

Well, if you only went around the block after refilling with oil, chances are the oil never came up to full operating temp. Take it for a nice easy drive, and let the motor come to full operating temp and then recheck to see if the noise goes away. I agree that it sounds like it is a lifter issue.

1SlowZo

UPDATE: I drove it for the first time yesterday to school which is about 20 minutes away. About 2 minutes from school the ticking stopped and hasn't came back. I assume the lifters were to blame and I just hadn't drivin it enough after my oil change for the lifters to adjust.

Either way, I'm more than happy that it fixed itself and have a love for the car again!!!

DarkJuggalo

iTrader: (6)

gratz bud glad it wasnt nothin serious =)

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

Great to hear. Lessons learned with checking oil level.