Anotomy of a ticking sound upon revs or accelerating ?

[DESSKI]

The Tahoe has 110k on the odometer. I did an oil change recently and switch from 5-30wt oil to 10-40wt. I also put Seafoam in a 1/4 tank of gas and drove 30 miles or so before refueling. Now I get this ticking sound above 1200 rpms when I rev it or upon accelerating which doesn't seem to be coming from the engine. The car has never experience the dreaded piston slap upon start up. Overall the car seems to run fine.

I'm starting to think the ticking sound is coming from the exhaust area on the drivers side. I scan all 8 cylinders to see if I'm getting a missfire but all is good. I did notice my LT fuel trims on drivers side seems to run -1 compared to the passenger side which is usually at 0.

So my question is have anyone experience and exhaust leak from the factory exhaust manifolds or could it be the tick is from a busted catalytic converter?

 

[donut slayer]

exhaust manifold. apparently these engines suffer from broken exhaust studs.

 

[afpj]

does the sound get better after the car warms up? If that and you're missing a bolt or two (or more) where your exhaust manifold attaches to head, then that's likely the source as donut slayer suggested.

 

[DESSKI]

Update!

Bad news...The number 2 cylinder connecting rod wrist pin to a shit is what was making the ticking noise!

So since I know I'll have to pull the motor so should I go with a new 327hp 5.3L GM crate motor or mod the hurt one?

---------- Post added at 12:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 PM ----------

What's my best bang for the buck in terms of performance rebuild? Stall converter is on the list and shorty or longtube headers?

 

[afpj]

Whoa, how did that diagnosis get confirmed? Is the motor apart? stethoscope? Very curious.