I've got an 03 G coupe 6MT. Miles are 100k. Its got an annoying ticking sound coming from the right/center of the engine. I've been told it could be a sticky lifter, so I put some seafoam in before an oil change. I drained a little over 4 qts. I put in Havoline 10w40 and some of that mystery oil. Its suppose to free stuck or sticky lifters.. Still ticking. I've got a video. It seems a lot louder in the vid, but all you really hear is the ticking sound. Anyone have/had this sound. What could it be?
Thanks in advance
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Could it be an ignition arch/spark plug wire/coil grounding on something? Also I've heard injectors on other types of motors make a loud ticking like that when they were clogged/sticking. Sometimes when an exhaust gasket between the head & header blows out it can make a tick noise that can be confused with that sound. It certainly doesn't sound like a rod knock, or something severe like that.

 

wow. Thats much louder than I thought. Sounds like you are misfiring. Have you checked your spark plugs/coils yet?

 

Not yet. No CEL though, wouldn't it throw a misfire code? The car runs fine also.

 

wow that's pretty loud - I was expecting slight valve tick or something... but that seems uncommonly loud. Is there a chance it's piston slap?

I have what I consider to be excessive valve tick - but I'm certain its lash adjustment from when I had cams installed... but mine isn't nearly as loud as this.

 

The video makes it seem a lot louder. I'm going to take a video this weekend with it outside instead of the garage. I connected the OBDII reader and nothing came up. Is there a way to find out if the injectors are bad?

 

By the way, The car was cold when i took the video. Its not as loud when warm.

 

piston slap?

 

I thought a piston slap sounded more like a knock not a tick.

 

I would just take it to the local mechanic, and ask him what's up, while doing oil change or something...

Small ticking noise, I think, is normal for older cars (I have '03 with small ticking noise too). But it just sounded too loud on the vid. ...

 

I pulled off the valve cover. I snapped a few pics. But theres a few spots that don't seem right. It looks a bit scratched up. I circled them in the pics.

 

any suggestions?

 

Sure ya already checked, but a loose spark plug? My 00 Camaro Z28 was a real pain to torque the plugs... almost every time I did plugs the #7 would not be tight enough, and sound just like that.

 

Your valves need to be adjusted. My friend just had the same problem after he just built his motor (cams, pistons etc). First it started off with a small tick and then it just got louder and louder. He finally checked it out and found out that his valves were not set to spec causing the valve to hit the cam He had deep scratches on one of the cams and a valve fell out of the head.