was looking under the hood today because one of the caps i put on the air tubes when i took off the smog pump fell off (dont ask me how, i super glued that SOB). while i was fixing it, i noticed a really fast ticking noise comming from the engine. it was on the drivers side, but close to the area by intake runners. pleaseee tell me it isnt the lifters, cuz if it is, i might cry tomorrow ill get a hose and try to listen to where it's comming from exactly, but i was pretty sure it was close to the intake but on the drivers side. might be wrong though because im kinda hard of hearing thanks in advance

 

i dont know if this would help any but i'll tell you what i did today that may or may not have caused the ticking noise. went to discount auto and picked up some lucas fuel injector cleaner and filled up the tank with gas afterwards. saw a gs-r and whored the crap out of it. some how the cap came off the air tube and started to smog up the engine bay, causing my car to overheat - bad thing was that i was too busy looking at a 5.0 stang comming up my *** to notice. the moment i punched it i felt a loss of power from my car, mainly due to the overheating. when i noticed my car was overheating, i went straight home and turned off the car. popped the hood for some unknown reason with the car on and noticed a weird noise comming from the car. looked closer and noticed it was comming from the air tube where the cap used to be. plugged it up again and thats when i noticed the ticking. i doubt the overheating did that, but here's 2 things i noticed. 1) on the passenger side of the car, there looks to be a valve comming from the valve cover that goes right into the throttle body. i think it has something to do with flowing oil into the tb. anyways, i noticed that the pcv-like valve itself had oil all over it and a very small trace of oil on the valve cover. and 2) i noticed a gas smell comming from my car but my brother quicky figured out that it was probably caused by the gas can i had in the back that spilled. i dont smell gas from the engine so i think the gas smell is probably just the gas can. u think it could just be my fuel injectors ticking since i put that fuel injector cleaner in it? how can i tell exactly what it is? thanks guys... thought maybe this could help answer my question since now you know exactly what i did before i noticed the ticking.

 

Just take it in to someone knowledgeable. My friends L98 makes ticking noises from the fuel injectors...sounds a lot different then a lifter tick or rod knock to me. hard to explain the difference though.

 

Exhuast leaks often sound like ticks.

 

That 'pcv' looking valve is just a breather. It just pushes into the hole in the valve cover. Sounds like it has just blown out if there is oil around it. My valvetrain clatters a little as well. Usually just wear or not adjusted properly.

 

my 5.0 towncar has rod knock im sure, its over 385000 kilometers on the original engine, the noise is low pitched tick and is coming from the lowest part of the engine.

check this link for noises

http://remanufactured-engines.com/page5.htm

 

Injectors are supposed to make a clicking sound, if not they're bad. Put your finger on one while listening, you'll know if that's it.

 

That happened to me once. My car was over heating so I started to head home and just before I got there the engine siezed. I popped the hood and that PCV valve that sticks into the valve cover had popped out. Also when you car is really hot it makes a ticking noise. I am not sure what causes it but when the car is abnormally hot it does make noise.