Hi Guys, this is my first post here, and I need some help.

My car has a tick coming from the drivers side of the engine. It's there when I idle, but it really gets louder when I put it in gear and drive. It's there if the car is hot or cold, and changing octane of gas did nothing for it. I checked for exaust leaks, and couldnt find any.
I'm thinking it's a valve noise of some kind, but even though I'm an OK shadetree mechanic, I've never done valve adjustments before. Is there somewhere I can go that explains it in simple terms and steps?

If you don't think it's a valve, what else could it be? It's a rebuilt engine with about 30,000 miles on it after the rebuild. Somebody suggested it could be out of time, but I'd never heard of a car being out of time acting like this. It runs perfectly, no misses, good power, but what was a single tick a few months ago has turned into a a tick symphony coming from under the hood.

Thanks,
Mark

 

sounds to me like you have ether a loose rocker arm, or a collapsed lifter, ether way i'd get it taken care of asap