I think I broke it... 97 Z28
 

So, I had the car out at a local time attack, ran it hard for about half the day, then drove it home. Didn't notice anything for about a week, then I started to hear a ticking noise coming from the rear end. I started listening for it every morning, because thats when it seemed to do it the most. Finally I figured out that it only makes the noise at low speed (<20 mph) and when the vehicle is in neutral. Letting it pull itself around at idle in 1st doesn't produce the noise. Any ideas??? :think:

Re: I think I broke it... 97 Z28
 

Definitly out of the rear pumpkin? If so.......

Pull the cover and look for metal from possibly the pinion bearings. You could also drop the driveshaft and rotate the pinion with the rear wheels removed. Feel for any noise or unexpected resisitance. When you are costing the differential is pulling the pinion towards the rear of the car due to the way the teeth are machined. Your going to have more tension on the front pinion bearing. Durign acceleration the pinion is being pushed towards the front of the car.

Hard to really point till you pull it apart and look at the oil ect.

Be sure to look at the u-joints as well. Unless you are positive its the rear end, I would look into U-Joints and make sure nothing is broken or loose around your brake assy's ect. Torque arm bushing, Shock bushing, and control arm bushings can make noise too.

Re: I think I broke it... 97 Z28
 

mine does the same thing (will do it up to about 35mph, then maybe more, but road noise covers it up). ticking is very irregular. doesnt sound like anything bad is happening, just normal. maybe you just started noticing it now?

Re: I think I broke it... 97 Z28
 

Mine is very regular, also if I hold the gear shifter, I can almost feel it twitching with the ticks... maybe its the whole car twitching. I check it again tomorrow. Could it be the diff binding?

Re: I think I broke it... 97 Z28
 

does it happen when youre lightly braking? if you can feel it in the shifter, its probably not the same as mine, but you never know