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The car had done around 185,000 miles. Oil changed regularly. I had a lifter fail a couple of years back, so put in some new ones. Over the last couple of weeks a similar noise has come back.
I did catch the exhaust on some blooming speed humps, and noise started soon after then. Sure enough there were some gaps. So all bolted up and good now. started the car, the sound was still there. So done a video, what do you think it could be?
Drained the oil at 10:30am, left it until 4:30ish, fitted the new oil filter, and popped in 5 liters of oil. Started up. The oil pressure looks better, sits at about 50psi, and stable. Perhaps there was an air bubble under the sender causing odd readings.
Noise still present.
I'll pull the valve cover to check the rockers. Thanks.
The oil pressure gauge could be going wacky just because you had the car at an angle and maybe the sensor wasn't reading properly. Was the car still on the jack stands when you noticed the oil pressure gauge going nuts? The oil pressure sending unit is located right behind the intake and isn't real hard to replace. Put the car level and see if that changes what the gauge is doing. If you do change the sensor i know you will need a special tool.
As for the ticking, have you checked to see if maybe your header has a leak. Based on the video though it does sound like the noise is coming from the top end as well. Hard to pin point. Start with the easiest and work your way up. Header leak after raking them on a speed hump would be my first guess only because its happened to me a few times.
Yes hard to pin point the sound. Going to try a handheld oil pressure gauge. I've changed the oil pressure sensor about 10 years ago, but was easy at the time as the intake was off. Just took a look now, looks like i may need to do the same to get good access. Intake and fuel rails and pipes not standard. I do have a custom socket made to go over the pressure sensor.
The sensor gives wacky readings while driving. At 1500prm I get a good solid reading. Not taken it much above that.
Someone mentioned it may be the oil pump playing up. I have a LS1 SLP Heavy Duty Oil Pump fitted about 40k miles ago. Perhaps it is on its way out, the stock one done about 120kmiles and I only change due to a heads/cam change. Would have thought the SLP one would have lasted longer. So not sure if it is the pump, so wanting to try a pressure gauge to verify.
The lifters have about 8k miles on them. It dose sound more top end and more drivers side now. It has a mechanical bang, the exhaust looks good in regards to leaks.
Originally Posted by Docrocket1967
Header leak after raking them on a speed hump would be my first guess only because its happened to me a few times.
Yeah I was hoping that, I took a look and there was a bolt missing from the header to the y-pipe, I was happy and sure that's all it was, fitted 4 new bolts. Darn noise still there.
I'll get the rockers covers off some time this week.
Will certainly keep this thread updated.
Probably turn out buying a short block, its done 180k miles, so probably getting tired anyway, and if the oil pressure reading is correct, then there will be points where oil pressure would be critical. However getting a short block shipped to the UK isn't gonna be cheap.
I'll try to do most of the work myself, but need to widen my drive way so I can work on it, as the 91 Camaro is in my garage.
Just pulled a high mileage short block and found a spun rid bearing last week (look at my other recent post on round 2 impala SS for the thread with a few videos). Sounded very different from yours, and my ticking didn't follow RPMs like yours seems to in that video. Based on research I did to try and troubleshoot mine Yours sounds valve train related.
What kind of lifters did you put in? If LS7 do you remember GM or Delphi?
during your oil change Did you look for bronze flakes/ "gold glitter swirls"?
Oil gauge is concerning, but seems like a sensor issue at this point. A number of folks on here were able to swap the oil pressure sensors with the right combo of extensions/ wobble joints. Check out those posts and maybe you can save yourself some time/ gain a little piece of mind.
Well I have an update on the noise. The rocker has some slack in it, its screwed on tight, roller and cup looks good. Pulled pushrod and its not bent. So it can only be a failed lifter.
The lifters were installed around 15k miles ago. Surely they cant have failed already. They are made by CompCams, not sure of the part number until I look back though the paper work. They were correct for LS1.
Took the car for a test drive, and all was okay. So went to a little local car show. Just idling it there.
Waiting in traffic there suddenly was an awesome banging noise. It was fromt he other side of the engine.
Luckily I could borrow some tools and whipped of the rocker cover. I can see what caused the noise now.
What kind of lifters did you put in? If LS7 do you remember GM or Delphi?
The lifters that were in there are "Comp Cams High Energy Hydraulic Roller Lifters" part number 850-16 , these were put in when I changed the heads/cam. However failed 3 years ago. They done 40k miles, so not too bad.
Then purchased more Comp Cam lifters, for the LS1. I cant find the part number, but they are slightly different. The old ones have a metal wire clip, the news ones a slightly different design.
These lasted about 15k miles.
I will need to get new lifters, I wonder what would be my best bet to go for. I need to get new rockers too.
Thanks, searching for Johnson 2110's there is a lot of positive reviews on it. I'll think I will go down that route, now to find a supplier that will ship to England, UK, would be handy if the same supplier sold rockers too.
I wonder why my Com-Cam lifters failed. With my oil pressure gauge doing funny things I may have issues with the pump or a sensor.
Fwiw the 2110's are used in the Copo Camaros that see 8500 rpm routinely. I went with Morel 5315's but I did not know the 2110's existed until after the fact.
Stock rockers with a trunion upgrade are probably the most popular option. Comp Ultra Pro only come in 1.8 ratio, but they are solid.
09-02-2016, 05:30 AM
Odd ticking noise coming from the engine. 
