Ticking Sound

[Geotrash]

I had that noticably in my dads 07 flex 4x4 and it went away immediately after i put new spark plugs and wires in... But now i am wondering if it is the lifters... Please keep us posted on what direction you take and what comes of it ie (what you find out) as this area is my next one after i get the radiator and all its close buddies replaced.

It’s not unheard of for a loose or cross-threaded spark plug to masquerade as a lifter tick.

 

[OR VietVet]

But you should definitely know if you cross threaded a plug. I mean, "c'mon man"!

 

[Geotrash]

But you should dsfinitely know if you cross threaded a plug. I mean, "c'mon man"!

You'd think! But I've seen it happen, and I'll bet you have too in your ASE master tech career days.

 

[Doubeleive]

doesn't sound good to me, but that being said I would take off the belts and start it up and verify that it is not something else, i.e. power steering, water pump, ac compressor, alternator. If the sound is still there then try and look at the fly wheel with a flashlight and mirror thru the inspection plate look for any cracks, get underneath it and see if it might be transmission related or not or if it could be a loose heat shroud, catalytic converter, etc. if nothing pans out then pull the valve cover as mentioned already.
you can also do a oil sample and see if there is anything dramatic going on.
I had a "similar" sound once and it turned out to be a loose bolt in the torque converter but I had a general idea it was transmission related at the time because I had recently had it worked on and the sound was new.
I am just being optimistic, good luck

 

[OR VietVet]

You'd think! But I've seen it happen, and I'll bet you have too in your ASE master tech career days.

Seen some things that literally made my jaw drop. One of the scenarios we had to deal with at times was a rig towed in, owner carries in a box full of parts they took off to attempt the repair/replacement themselves, then proceed to want to argue with me about why the labor would not be half what the labor guide says because he/she already took it all apart. I could explain, till I was blue in the face, how it doesn't work that way and how a tech would pay attention how things/systems came apart and lay those removed parts out in a certain order sometimes and that cleaning the parts and tapping threads is also part of the process. At that point it was either they said "ok" or I said, "here, take your box of parts and find another shop". Then they would complain about the tow bill getting bigger and I had to remind them there were things called phones for that occasion.

 

[AtHeart1CaliGurl]

It’s not unheard of for a loose or cross-threaded spark plug to masquerade as a lifter tick.

I was the first one to change the plugs, they were original... I suspect it was just a coincidence unless it was related to the misfire in cyl 3 (which I was throwing a code for hence why I changed the plugs) that was fixed with the change... I WISH i was knowledgable in this area to be able to offer more than my one experience on this one, but i did find this on YouTube a while back when i first noticed and researched it... maybe it has something helpful to solve your ticking thing

... But i am the furthest thing from a mechanic and just getting started with a Chevy (been a dodge gurl with a chevy dad my whole life).

 

[OR VietVet]

I was the first one to change the plugs, they were original... I suspect it was just a coincidence unless it was related to the misfire in cyl 3 (which I was throwing a code for hence why I changed the plugs) that was fixed with the change... I WISH i was knowledgable in this area to be able to offer more than my one experience on this one, but i did find this on YouTube a while back when i first noticed and researched it... maybe it has something helpful to solve your ticking thing

... But i am the furthest thing from a mechanic and just getting started with a Chevy (been a dodge gurl with a chevy dad my whole life).

Stick around and read thru the threads for top notch answers to lots and lots of questions/concerns. There are some very knowledgeable people on here that know the rigs in and out.

 

[Professor L Gee]

Should I be concerned with the ticking sound? Any guesses what it's from?

My first guess would be a stuck lifter since I've been chasing down the same sound recently (and that's exactly what it was).

Like others have said, if you can eliminate everything else (spark plug/wire/coil, exhaust manifold bolt), the valve cover's gotta come off so that you can search for loose rockers.

 

[itsbo1313]

Update: just got back from the shop. It was time for a tranny service and oil change. I asked about the sound and when I got the truck back he said it wasn’t the lifters and probably a manifold bolt. He said he would change the lifters, cam and put in long tubes if I wanted but it didn’t need it yet.

 

[OR VietVet]

Update: just got back from the shop. It was time for a tranny service and oil change. I asked about the sound and when I got the truck back he said it wasn’t the lifters and probably a manifold bolt. He said he would change the lifters, cam and put in long tubes if I wanted but it didn’t need it yet.

So, let me get this straight. Did you ask for a diagnosis of the noise? The tech looked for the noise and heard it or not heard it? Then he says "probably" because he could not pinpoint or did not hear it? Did he look for manifold bolt problems at all?

 

[itsbo1313]

So, let me get this straight. Did you ask for a diagnosis of the noise? The tech looked for the noise and heard it or not heard it? Then he says "probably" because he could not pinpoint or did not hear it? Did he look for manifold bolt problems at all?

The noise has been gone for a couple days so I showed him the video. Then he says probably the manifold bolt.

 

[OR VietVet]

The noise has been gone for a couple days so I showed him the video. Then he says probably the manifold bolt.

But he did not do a cursory inspection of manifold bolts, correct? If he did not, why? Was it something crazy like a minimum 1 hour diagnostic time?

 

[itsbo1313]

But he did not do a cursory inspection of manifold bolts, correct? If he did not, why? Was it something crazy like a minimum 1 hour diagnostic time?

I’m not sure. I’ll be talking to him again. I might have him replace my trans cooler lines.

 

[OR VietVet]

Lots of owners here will always recommend getting documentation of asked for work, work that was done, items found during inspections and why a part or system is bad. My questions are an example of the details I would want from any tech that I pay good money for working/inspecting my rig. I am not a fan of guessing at things and do understand why a qualified tech would want diagnostic time paid for. Those tools have to be paid for somehow. Good luck and please post here or in a different thread you start, about future findings.

 

[itsbo1313]

Will do

 

[Dustin Jackson]

My first guess would be a stuck lifter since I've been chasing down the same sound recently (and that's exactly what it was).

Like others have said, if you can eliminate everything else (spark plug/wire/coil, exhaust manifold bolt), the valve cover's gotta come off so that you can search for loose rockers.

@Professor L Gee Just so everyone knows, I had this problem and all of my rocker arms were rock solid. My lifter collapsed and when it released it turned sideways in the tray and made a similar sound to this. It wasn’t until I took the head off and inspected the lifter itself is when I found the damage.

A solid rocker arm isn’t a good indicator if there ISNT a problem but a loose rocker arm is a good indicator if there IS a problem.

 

[Professor L Gee]

@Professor L Gee Just so everyone knows, I had this problem and all of my rocker arms were rock solid. My lifter collapsed and when it released it turned sideways in the tray and made a similar sound to this. It wasn’t until I took the head off and inspected the lifter itself is when I found the damage.

A solid rocker arm isn’t a good indicator if there ISNT a problem but a loose rocker arm is a good indicator if there IS a problem.

Good advice.
Sounds like you were one of the unfortunate ones...

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Good advice.
Sounds like you were one of the unfortunate ones...

@Professor L Gee As you can imagine I was sweating bullets when I didn’t find a problem with the rocker arms. When I finally pulled the head and found the smoking gun (tore up lifter) I was yelling “**** yes!” In my driveway, my fiancé came out to see what I was yelling about. It’s not fun to have a rattling motor and then NOT find the problem right away.