OK so I took the 3 day weekend to do valve springs, add 1.6RR's, lt4 KM, and while in there I pulled the TCS, cruise control and a few other little things ...

After about 15 minutes of runtime and a few revs of the motor with no load I could hear the rocker(s) have loosened up, pulled the valve covers and readjusted them all even though only 1 or 2 were loose. BTW all adjustments were done with the motor running. I was all done on Monday morning and still had time to do the whole BBQ thing with friends/family, actually it wasn't bad at all maybe about 10 hours in all.

Last night after work I scanned the car and checked for knock retard and I was getting some false knock when there was a decent increase in throttle (probably my bored MAF), so tuned some of that down and decided to actually road test the car, not easy to do with all the cops around my area...

So I held the car in 1st, and from about a 30MPH roll blew the tires away and bounced off the rev limiter (6500) twice, whoops , yeah I know not a good dea on the first test drive...

I got further up the road and could smell burning oil, so pulled over to make sure everything looked good, then went home doing nothing more then flashing the stall every once in a while (it just sounds good ). By the time I got it back home it was already dark out I popped the hood and could hear an audible tap but not as loud as when the rocker loosened on day 1. Also not sure if I was actually hearing anything serious or it it was just the louder RR's so I scaned the car and nothing was wrong at idle, but a couple blips of the throttle recorded Knock retard that was a little more then earlier but still might be false. The tap is so light I am not even sure if it is the rockers or it's more like an exhaust leak tap, but I didn't touch the exhaust this weekend and it is all stock...

So here are the questions:

• How long does it take to burn off the oil that might have gotten on the exhaust when adjusting the rockers?
• Could rocker(s) loosen a little and cause a slight tapping but not the clanking of when they come really loose?
• What else could cause this slight tapping and Knock retard when blipping the throttle?

Thanks,
John

 

my rocekrs have a tick tap to them..and the oil can take like 2-3 days id say 3 hours of runtime.
daniel

 

Glad to hear that...

I was starting to think I screwed something up when all the sudden there was smoke and oil smell shortly after a high rpm's on the new RR's...

I think total runtime right now has been:
~40 minutes to adjust rockers, shut down the motor.
~10 minutes to listen to it again and rev it a few times (this is when the first rockers loosened up), shut it down again.
~30 minutes to re-adjust the rockers again.
~5 more minutes after the to hear it run and rev it a few more time, I'm sure my neighbors love me .
Then about 40 minutes total runtime last night including the test drive. So I guess if it doesn't go away after another hour then I will start looking for leaks, whoops hold On I just realized that during those adjustment periods it wouldn't count since more oil was hitting the exhaust so crap I only have less then and hour after getting it buttoned up OK 2 more hours before I check for leaks...

 

OK, well checked everything again last night after I got home, and it looks like I might have had a rocker or 2 loosen up on the Drivers side. Thank god it isn't the pass side that is a bitch...

Anyway at idle, it sounds like a light tap that you can barely pinpoint, but when I rev the motor up off idle you can really start hearing it.

I had the wife hold it at about 1200 rpm's and I kept sticking my head in there trying to track it down and it is definitly under the valve cover on the driver side.

But I thought all these were tight before the test drive, I guess there could maybe be one that I missed when going back over the poly locks. I just now have to pull the VC and figure out which one.

Anyone know of any easy way to track it down or should I just redo them all on that bank?

 

You could do all of them on that bank to play it safe. or if you really just want to get the troublesome ones, one way to get an idea which ones need adjustment, take a long screwdriver and resr the tip of it over where each rocker is located while putting your ear to the handle side(makeshift automotive stethoscope). Just an idea

 

OK,

I readjusted all of them on that bank except the very back one because it seemed good and tight and I hate working under the cowl without raising the car because bending over that far hurts my back, yes I am getting old, everything was good for a day or so then I got on it hard again but not real bad and now I hear a tap again...

I went and got one of those mechanics stethoscope and listened to the valve covers with the car running, all I can say is cool this tool kicks a$$, you can hear everything working in there...

Anyway when listening and even reving it up a little I could hear the rockers working and a couple had a slightly more metalic ping to them but nothing like this tap I think I hear. Seriously when the stethoscope is in that area there is nothing out of the ordinary, I guess the next step is to pull the VC and listen to eack rocker directly...

On a better note, my headers came in today, so that is another project for this weekend... Going to be a long weekend I guess...

 

Check your AIR fittings. Mine make a slight tick. There is a little flapper in there to keep it a one way valve, so exhaust cant be forced back through it. It can sometimes make a little noise. SImilar to what you got.

 

Sorry, No AIR fittings on my car, they have been off for years, that one way valve broke on mine and kept blowing out the crappy plastic tube so I pulled it when I did my waterpump. But your right it is a similar sound... I called out "sick" today, and will probably start working on everything later, I think it might be easier to try to track the tapping down before I do the headers because when I get the headers done I probably won't hear it anymore...

 

OK well I hope to figure this tapping out before I start on my next project

I was hoping to get started on the headers tonight but still have this tap, who thinks I should find the tap first or continue with the header install? Actually this might make a good Poll thread...