I also have this posted in troubleshooting, but not getting too much action over there, so let me try here. I took my chevelle out last night, and got on it alittle. After getting out of the throttle, the motor is making a ticking sound. It's hard to pinpoint where it is coming from. I don't think it's a rod or anything, and it does not seem to be skipping. Does it sound like a lifter? Any suggestions? If it is a lifter, how do I find out which one it is? The oil pressure is still fine also.

Tom,are you sure its not a leaking header gasket?

Chris, I did think of that, but this sounds so much louder. If it is a header gasket, it would have to be at the collector, because while listening to the motor and checking for the sound, I did not hear or feel any exhaust leaks at the heads. I was thinking of getting an engine stethoscope, and trying to listen. I tried the screwdriver to the ear, but did not really hear anything. I am going to cut an old set of valve covers, and using the deflector clips try to pinpoint the sound better with the motor running. The first thing I am going to do though, is check the rockers, to make sure they are all tight. I pulled the covers,and some are loose, but I have to set it up when 1 and 6. Do you think that with the motor running, if I use the stethoscope on the rocker arm, I would be able to hear what lifter it is, if it is a lifter?

sometimes, a tick is hell to find, I would look for soot around the cylinder head to exaust gasts. Or discoloration at the head gasket, if the problem is a lifter I would think a valve ajust would tell what's what, solid lifters, 1 has a huge change in clearence from spec. hydrolic, 1 sounds off from all others, during ajust.

Do you have a manual transmission? I had a ticking, kinda like a lifter, only did while driving, I could not determine if it was lifters, something with the blower, clutch/press.plate or the tranny. I ck'd the lifters, nothing there, blower oil good, no noise in drive. I went to car wash to wash off the oil from where i had the valve covers off. On the way back home about two blocks from the house, I said to myself, if it;s something major this procedure will find it. I throttled her upto about six grand, hit first with my ST10, then hit second and all hell came loose. Rolled into the driveway with a trail of oil behind me. I had cracked the T10 from one corner to another and then down it's back about 8-10 inches. The problem was the tranny. I bought a TH400 built for racing in mind and have not had anymore problems.

Tireburner, take a second to read my recent post 'hydraulic lifters shot?'.
Just got back from the machine shop where they mic'ed all of the lifters and found 2 with more clearance than they should have had. After replacing them, the 'tick' is still there :(
I am resigned to live with it as I have tried everything and talked to everyone I know about it.
I guess if it lets go, I will finally know the cause :rolleyes:

I read the post, I had a 454 once, that always had a noisy lifter. It would usually do it while you were coasting or not really into the throttle. This noise seems much worse. I am going to check all the gaskets to make sure it is not an exhaust leak. I don't feel it is. I will look at it tomorrow. Hopefully it is a minor problem.

I read the post, I had a 454 once, that always had a noisy lifter. It would usually do it while you were coasting or not really into the throttle. This noise seems much worse. I am going to check all the gaskets to make sure it is not an exhaust leak. I don't feel it is. I will look at it tomorrow. Hopefully it is a minor problem.

Tireburner,
The strangest "tick" I ever had was a mechanical fuel pump spring that had broken. It allowed the arm to drop back off the push rod just enough to have a small clearance. Found it with a stethescope.

Good Luck

I still haven't gotten around to looking at it yet, been busy as anything, and then had to get things secured in case we got anything from the hurricane. Of course we didn't, but if I hadn't we would have. Hopefully sometime this week I can get a chance to look at the car

Ok, I finally got around to listening. What I think I found is a bad lifter. On this one lifter, when I push down on the rocker while it is running, it muffles the sound. Then, with the motor off, I can push down on the pushrod, and compress the lifter fairly easy. I tried doing this to the others, but cannot even get the liftes to compress on those. Does this sound like the problem? If so, should I replace all the lifters, or just the bad one? I'm going to have to go through all the trouble of taking the intake off, so should I go the whole route??

Any suggestions? Does this sound like the problem, being able to push the lifter in so easy?

Tom,how is the condtion of the rocker stud and the nut?

Chris, that looks good. I also tried tightening the nut while the motor was running. The noise subsided slightly for a second or two, but came right back. Also, when I pushed on the other rockers with the motor running, I did not hear the noise decrease at all, just that one rocker. It's also got the good nuts, with the locks, so I don't think it was backing off or anything.

Ok, I took the intake off, and pulled the suspected bad lifter. When I took it out, I could push the plunger all the way in, holding it between my thumb and forefinger. Being curious, I took it apart, as I have never seen inside one. there is an innner cup, with a spring attached to the bottom, I think it is a check valve, am I correct? Anyways there was oil in the bottom of the lifter body. I dumped it out, and then reassembled the lifter. I then took another lifter out, and tried to compress that one. NO WAY. So being curious I wanted to see if there was any differences happening. I took that one apart, had to compress it in a vice a little to get the snap clip off it. Every thing inside is the same, even the oil in the bottom. After dumping the oil, and reassembling the lifter, this one pushes in as easily as the first. So, if what I am thinking is correct. The first lifter has a bad check valve, that does not let it "pump up". Does that sound like what is happening? I hope so, cause if not I just took this whole thing apart for nothing. So, should I spring for a whole new set of lifters, or just replace the bad one? When installing a new lifter on an old cam, do you put the graphite on the bottom?

My understanding is the best is a new cam with new lifters. Second best is a used cam with new lifters and the worst is an new cam with old lifters. I would install the new lifter with the break-in lube and fire her up as if it was a totally new kit.

That is my opinion.... any thoughts?

'bear

Back in the early 70,s I worked at a Chevy Dealer and we had many problems with lifter noise...and carbon hanging up valves after a "torch" run. Lots of times we could change oil/filter and get the lifter to come out of the ticking and hanging up. Somehow one or two of the lifters would pump down after being thrashed on and changing the oil would pump them back up! Once and a while we had to change lifters, but that was rare unless owners weren't changing oil often enough! For carbon problems sometimes we had to run marvel mystery oil/water combo thru the carb to break up the carbon. We learned this fix after getting tired of pulling heads off to free up a hung valve. Lots of times the problem showed up after sonny took out Dad,s car and rodded it down the street. Sonny and Dad didn't want to spring for a valve job!

I think I found the problem, I have a lifter that I could push in with my fingers, even though there was oil inside. I think the check valve is gone in it. I'm going to get a new set tonight, hopefully I can get them installed and the car running soon. New radiator coming monday