I have a 97 lt1 with 70,000 on it. The engine has been producing a ticking noise from the driver's side bank. At 1000 rpms, the ticking seems to about 500 ticks/min. Also, the car has been losing power. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

start easy... maybe exhaust gasket? could be leaking causing the o2 sensors to richen it up, creating a loss of power.

 

A rocker arm that has loosened, ticking is audible at idle only as the noise of the engine covers it as the RPMs come up.

It makes it loose power cause the valve is not opening/closing properly. This is just a guess, but I would imagine that would SLAM the lifter pretty hard too and cause extra wear on it. If the lifter is shot, the valve will not open correctly and will cause power losses.

 

The ticking is setting off your spark retard.You may have lost 8 to 12 degrees of ignition timing (or more).That's where your power went.Try a stethescope on the valvecover.If no noise from there,try a couple of feet of tubing with one end in your ear (careful),and probe around your exhaust manifold for the leak.The knock sensor hears the tick and pulls timing,so to get your power back you do have to quiet your engine down.An exhaust leak is what you want to find,because a ticking lifter usually means something is very wrong.If it is a lifter,it's best to adjust it running.With valvecover off and engine idling,turn adjuster nut in slowly until the tick just goes away,then slowly turn in another half turn.You don't want the tick to ever come back, because that means your lifter is bleeding down and can't hold pressure.For more details, go to shbox.com , everything you need is there.

 

I'll have to look into the exhaust gasket leaking. I've adjusted all of the rockers a month or two ago and its still ticking. I've also read that it could be the injectors. I took them off for cleaning and all of them clicked but no where close to the ticking. 3 of the injectors did hum while I was cleaning them though? Thanks again for the help! Its greatly appreciated

 

Something I just thought of...I disconnected the wire going to the knock sensor, and the motor is still losing power...

 

Check for a loose spark plug