Hey all,
yep, tapping under the hood...seems like it's coming from the back of the driver side head cover. I've stoped and asked a couple mechanics that I've gotten to know...and they all tell me the same thing...it could be a $500 or $5000 depending on what they see when they open it. How difficult would it be for me to remove the cover and find the source of the tapping? I'm mechnically inclined and have had no problems with doing other work on the car...so I'm pretty confident in taking this one on...but I don't want to be in the middle of tearing her appart and run into a pickle. Here are the recent events leading into these problems: ran 5w/50 then changed my oil and put 5w/30 (mechanics tell me to up to 10w/40 to reduce noise and protect the problem valve/lifter), the day I started noticing the tapping it was HOTTTTTTTTTT (like 106 heat index), also, that day, for the first time, my car turned over, then just died, then started up no prob.
If anyone has done this work before, I would be greatful if you would post any problems you ran into while taking it appart, or any suggestions you may have.

EDIT: one of the mechanics (not a real mechanic...a service station manager) that looked at my car also took out the oil dip stick, mushed some oil on a flat peice of paper and announced that there was metal in the oil.

Thanks,
wade

 

I tried sending you an AIM but you are away.

you need to actually make sure it is a valvetrain problem and not a bearings problem

check your coolant. drain your oil. stir it up, if its milky, thats not good. cut the filter open, if there is lots of metal, that aint good either.

same thing happened to me. thought it was a lifter tick, used a pipe against the each valve cover and every time it sounded like it was coming from the middle in the back of the bottomend. The car did not give off any smoke or anything, turns out i was given heads that were not flat and in turn that didnt compress the head gasket and it leaked and took out the whole motor. 5 bearings were gone. 3 rod bearings, 2 main bearings. number 8 piston was actually hitting the head the bearing was so bad on it. crank is absolutely trashed.

Get me on AIM and i can help you some more.

 

fixed. was a horribly loose rocker arm...now off for a valve adjustment!

HUGE props to thewinner for taking some serious time to chat with me about this problem...you da man!

Peace!
wade