My car has had a ticking sound since the day I had the new engine put in at the dealership. Guy told me if it didn't go away after about 5,000 miles to come back, Well it did go away, but then it came back again. It has gone away, come back, gotten fainter and then louder many times since then, it now has close to 85,000 on the engine. At times it has given a loud ticking sound under load but not in park. The sound does increase with RPM. I thought maybe exhaust gasket, so I replaced it.

I don't think i've noticed the load ticking anymore since, but I don't feel like the car is running smoothly. It vibrates pretty bad at higher RPM sometimes and recently it has started this clockclock sound that lasts only a couple seconds after I start the car. I changed my oil today and found metal shavings that I could rub together with my fingers and it left a gray coating on my fingers and shop towels. I'm semi hoping it is a bad oil pump, since the oil pressure gets pretty low sometimes but do doubt that would cause shavings, but I really can't say. I'm still learning about how to work on cars.

Any help is appreciated.

 

That kinda sounds like a burned up bearing that hasnt quite let loose yet, and then it gets some oil and quiets down. I don't know if your previous noise was related, trying to convey sounds to people is kinda vague.

You could at least try to diagnose where its from, if it only sounds like 8-12 cycles on startup and idle (which for me I also find is about the max I can count in a second timeframe), then most times it's valvetrain related as that is a half-rpm rate cycle. Sometimes though you can get noise from the bottom of the motor on a powerstroke also, but not usually.

If sounds way faster than that, then it's definately in the crank or rotating assembly.

Oh aslo an exhaust leak on a header or manifold will sound slow too since it also occurs at half cycle rpms on the exhaust stroke.

 

Those are some good tips about the speed of the "tick" but a clanking sound is usally a bearing, sorry

 

If it's a deep knock then it's more than likely rotating assy. problems.

 

YUP

 

you say it comes and goes ? mabe its a lifter problem.

 

sounds like a lifter not properly adjusted to me. You say its a new engine. Was it a shortblock or a longblock? (longblock they put new heads as well as block shortblock they reuse your existing heads) If it was a shortblock they might not have adjusted the valve lash properly.

 

It was a long block that I purchased and had installed. It is most times just a ticking while the car is running, but a handful of times I have gotten a "clock" sound for a second or two after i've started it. I have always though the ticking seems to be coming from just under the valve cover. I've taken it off before and listened to my rockers and watched them, but I couldn't be sure of any one particular rocker. Thanks to all who have responded.

 

I'll also mention that it does sound like about 8 - 12 cycles.

 

Sounds like lifter is losing prime or sticking. You could try draining 1 quart of engine oil and install 1 quart of trans fluid to see if lifter frees up.

 

I removed my valve cover and listened with a stetescope and heard nothing out of the unusual. I then found a bad exhaust leak. The tool is incredible and helps to diagnose tons of problems. $10 at Schucks and $6 at Harbor Freight.