Tapping sound under Valve Cover

Maybe its a bad lifter?

Sounds to me like you have a exhaust leak. I'd really suspect this if you have aftermarket headers.

Check to make sure your bolts didn't back out of your head(s). You may need a new gasket too.

yea man i have the same problem

--no tapping noise at idle
--------car starts up fine idles fine ---
--once i hit 2000rpms or so the tapping starts
---------it gets faster with the rpms and it gets louder---
---------can be heard in and outside of the car------------
if i am crusing on the highway at say 70mph or so and not giving the car gas it goes away

as soon as i touch the gas even a little bit i get the tapping

tappping noise with the clutch pushed in or out makes no differnece

now that i have the blower on i dont want to get into boost because of fear of a bend valve or something

i was told maybe an exaust leak toke the car to an exuast shop and they cant find a leak

i am out of ideas looks like a my be putting this car in an engine shop

Change your oil.

Amazingly enough my Chevy pickup today did the same thing. At first it was very light and almost didn't hear it over the exhaust. As the day went on though it got worse and I checked the oil and it appeared fine. It was dirty, but alright. I called my mechanic and he told me it would be fine to drive, just change the oil when I came back.

I drove it about 80 miles before I stopped and picked up some oil to do the change and checked the oil again. This time it didn't even show on the dipstick. I thought maybe because it was up in the motor so I added a quart anyway. It didn't go away and I figured maybe it burned the oil so I put another quart in. No more ticking all the way home.


I had all the same symptoms. It would come and go. If the engine was parked for a bit it wouldn't do it, when it warmed up it would.