I have a sort of ticking noise... not a complete ticking..but it's annoying as anything. It seems to get louder as the RPMs increase. I was wondering if this could be a rusty loose bolt or something letting exhaust escape or could it even be a lifter? My car has 85K or so on it and this noise is so irritating. Makes me feel like I'm driving a pile of crap.

 

If it's an exhaust leak the ticking will generally get louder with greater load, not engine speed. Noises that follow engine speed are usually related to valvetrain. If you can hear it at idle I'd break out the mechanic's stethascope to narrow its location down. It could be as simple as a valve lashing. When did this start? The fuel injectors also have a noisy reputation.

 

It started a few weeks ago. It also gets louder with greater engine load. It gets louder and faster. Do lifters do this? And if its a valve lashing.. how can it be corrected?

 

If you're cruising in 6th gear and it gets louder with more throttle it's likely an exhaust leak. Lifters tend to tick the same regardless of load but will get louder with greater engine RPM.

If this started after racing or a missed shift I'd obviously start looking at relashing the valves, bent pushrods, or collapsed lifters.

From what you've said it sounds like an exhaust leak to me though

 

Its kinda hard to hear in 6th gear because of the muffler noise and road noise.. but I'll try next time I'm on the highway to listen for it. How do you correct a valve lashing and if its a lifter do you have any idea how much it would be just to replace all the lifters? And I think these lifters are hydraulic?! Is this right?

 

Doesn't sound like it's all that noticeable then? It may just be the fuel injectors. I'd certainly find out exactly where it's coming from before I started throwing money at it.

Relashing the valves is fairly simple and doing a search on it here will net you plenty of good answers Considering your mods I highly doubt you're collapsing lifters but they can be had for around $200 for a set, fyi. They are hydraulic, roller lifters.

 

what consists of relashing valves? and how often should they be relashed? if its injectors is there any test to do on them to see if they are bad? if injectors get clogged could they make noise? what makes them make noise in the first place?