Wicked valve train ticking sound

[TimmyBigHands]

I think by special, me meant SPECIAL. Maybe he rode the special bus... in fact, I bet he was the kid in the back that bangs his head on the window and licks it occasionally

[modifiede30]

My car has been making horrible ticking sounds ever since I installed the stroker. I'm running a 274 cam which I suspect isn't helping matters. I've adjusted the valves several times with no change. I've changed lash settings between .010 and .012 and the spacing difference didn't seem to make much difference either. The whole valve train is new so I know it has nothing to do with warn parts. I've come to the conclusion that its going to be noisy with the cam no matter what I do.

[Spaz]

My car has been making horrible ticking sounds ever since I installed the stroker. I'm running a 274 cam which I suspect isn't helping matters. I've adjusted the valves several times with no change. I've changed lash settings between .010 and .012 and the spacing difference didn't seem to make much difference either. The whole valve train is new so I know it has nothing to do with warn parts. I've come to the conclusion that its going to be noisy with the cam no matter what I do.

injectors?

[modifiede30]

I suspect its a combination of both injectors and valves. The injectors alone wouldn't have the same sound.

[Jonathan M3]

Double check your headers, a header leak makes a loud ticking sound.

[modifiede30]

Double check your headers, a header leak makes a loud ticking sound.

I know there is a leak now, but when they were first installed, the noise was no different. The noise now is really bad due to the leak but its a different sound than your normal ticking.

Sorry for hyjacking the thread by the way.

[EtaSport]

For TJ to start the thread, he would have had of notice a difference from what he has noticed before. So unless injectors just being to start making noise overnight then something isnt exactly normal. True, it is a noisy motor, my car makes a lot of noise, but a lot less than when the valve was hitting the piston. Or when my manifolds were leaking.

[modifiede30]

For TJ to start the thread, he would have had of notice a difference from what he has noticed before. So unless injectors just being to start making noise overnight then something isnt exactly normal. True, it is a noisy motor, my car makes a lot of noise, but a lot less than when the valve was hitting the piston. Or when my manifolds were leaking.

How did you determine that the valves were hitting the pistons? What damage did this cause?

[Digitalwave]

How would the headers make a ticking sound? Anyways, I still have the stock exhaust and manifolds, but the cats and downpipes were removed for my swap. I replaced the gaskets and torqued the bolts properly, but I didn't take the time to scrape off all the old gasket material (they were still intact but very very thin) or to use any type of compound sealant material. Could this very well be my issue?

[modifiede30]

If there is a crack in the gasket from the manifold to the downpipes, the exhaust gases will be pushed out of the crack at intervals consistent with the exhaust valve opening for each cylinder. Depending on where the gases escape, they could be hitting something metalic, making it sound like a ticking noise. Mine is doing this right now and its hitting the tin heatsheild on the fire wall. Its annoying as hell and definitely sounds like something ticking. When I first heard it, I thought my head (the cylinder head) had a bolt flying around in it.

[EtaSport]

When we got my car back, it had aquired the ticking noise. valve adjustments would not make it go away, so we thought the shaft was worn so bad that the valve was moving laterally inside. We went ahead and bought another cylinder head for cheap and swapped it. The number 4 piston had some etching on it in the spot where the exhaust valve opens and closes. There was no damage, but it was very annoying. The spring just didnt have enough force to close the valve in time before the piston came up.

I bought brand new gaskets when i did the head swap and about a week later they were trash. I bought cheap stuff, so thats what you get i suppose. But my exhaust leak sounded like a ticking. I couldnt trace it because i couldnt feel any leaking and really couldnt trace its origin. it sounded like an injector, or a valce, my dad thought it was the y pipe, and one day i just took the manifolds off and the gaskets were burned through.

[Digitalwave]

Well, I need to fix this, bleed my clutch again, find out what is vibrating under accel, find the clunk in my front end, and then trace the reason why I am running lean :roll: Fun stuff.