I have a tick coming from the drivers side of the engine. The tick is loud enough to hear from about 15 feet away. If the engine is more than about 500 rpms over idle the ticking will go away. It sounds as if the tick is coming from the valvetrain although I'm not sure.

I have had the exhaust checked for leaks and have also adjusted the stock rockers. The motor has a cc305 in it.

Any suggestions before I start the elimination process?

-Kyle

 

I had a loud ticking noise too a couple month ago. To my surprise I found out the hard way. I had a couple Vavle spring that had broke. Now I in the process of rebuilding the motor. It also could be a weak lifter or two. May want to check them things before it is to late.

 

When I had a non-stop ticking it ended up being a lifter. It had flattened itself out and trashed my cam. That was mostly due to the fact that I kept adjusting the rockers with a bad lifter, but the cam looked like it had been like that for awhile. Try a search and look at everything else possible before you tear into your engine. This is something that happened to me so don't go tearing into your engine just yet. You can also try a thicker oil or the STP oil treatment to see if it will pump the lifter up a little more. If it goes away for awhile then it is more than likely your lifter.

 

Hopefully it's just a loose spark plug. Check em out it's pretty common.

 

Z28 rock, I have the exact same problem as he does. do you really think it could be the spark plugs? I just installed headers and I had to remove the sparks, I was pretty sure it was an exhaust leak, It sounds like its coming more from the bottom than the top of the engine, I was under my car for about 3 hrs today trying to find out what it was. Im thinking its an exhaust leak because if you listen to it, it kinda follows the sound of the motor, it only does it when the car reaches normal operating temp. doesnt do it when its cold.(but now that i said that im sure it will).

 

Definately worth a shot to check em out. There's been a lot of guys over the years who have had the tick, that turned out to be a loose plug.

 

I have MAC headers and the only plug and wire i cant get to now is on the passenger side, the 3rd on back, its right underneath the header, i dont have enough room to put some pressure on the boot to get it to click on the plug(MSD special click tell you its locked). what would you do?

 

Do it from under the car. It is possible from up top to get to the #6, and #8 plugs but its far easier under the car. Take the starter off and support it out of the way.

Right now I have been battling with a ticking noise I thought was coming from my driver's side valve cover that is indeed a loose plug banging around and causing a loud ticking. triumph is going to take care of that for me friday. But check that out too if you havent already before you write it off as a bad lifter or loose rocker like I did since I've alreay had one loose rocker before.

 

I had a ticking on the passenger side as well. I had two broke valve springs. The ticking was not that loud and I could only hear it when I was outside the car or with the window open at idle.

 

I cant get to the plugs from under the car. and the ticking noise sounds like its under the headers (from ontop of the car). Then it sounds like its by the headers from under the car. guessing its the spark plugs, ill check them, " i didnt torque them down i only snugged them up". I have to find a way to get to my plug wire on the passenger side though. How would i be able to find out if its a spring, lifter? could i scan it or feel it? I dont want to take the valve cover off.

 

I had a ticking noise coming from my engine. I used a stethescope to try to track it down. It could not be localized although it was more prominent in the front of the block and around the cylinder heads. I readjusted the valves and it seemed to get quieter for a time. Eventually it got louder. I ruled out the W/P and RRs. I even ran the engine with the valve covers off and listened to each RR. I couldn't really isolate the source. I even had a reputable engine builder listen and still had to srcatch our heads.

Well, to make a long story short. I started to tear down the engine to check the Opti bearing and the WP drive assemby and bearing. Those were good. Determined I went further to find something. I then pulled the cam and lifters and found the problem. Several lobes (on a mild, billet cam) were gauled and so were several of the oem lifters. I replaced a ton of parts in the process and resolved the problem as far as I can tell. BTW, my oil pressure is good and I change the synthetic oil and filter religiously.

I hope your tick is not the tick I experienced.